(dpa)
British scientists excited about a 50-meter-long trail of an early relative of the dinosaurs on a Welsh beach. The prints indicated that large, long-necked dinosaurs lived in the area more than 200 million years ago, the Natural History Museum in London tweeted on Friday. Possibly they were representatives of the Sauropodomorpha. The well-known genus Diplodocus also belongs to this group. Hobby researcher Kerry Rees discovered the tracks in 2020 on Penarth Beach near Cardiff, it said.
She was skeptical at first, said museum expert Susannah Maidment. But after detailed investigations, she and her colleague Paul Barrett are of the opinion that there are traces from the Triassic period, which is around 200 to 250 million years ago. The prints indicated a walking animal, Barrett said. There are also places where mud has been pushed up. “These structures are characteristic of active movement in soft ground.” The impressions are documented with the aid of 3D images.
A series of tracks on a public beach point to the presence of large, long-necked dinosaurs in Wales over 200 million years ago.
The Penarth footprints are believed to have been left by sauropodomorphs, a group which includes the iconic Diplodocus ? https://t.co/i4ef9WM8jk– Natural History Museum (@NHM_London) December 31, 2021
The scientists have published their findings in the journal “Geological Magazine”.