A boulder used as decoration at an Australian high school has revealed a surprising secret – it’s covered in dinosaur footprints. The ancient rock, discovered by geologists at the Callide Coal Mine, features 66 fossilized tracks from 47 different dinosaurs. According to University of Queensland paleontologist Anthony Romilio, this is the highest concentration of dinosaur fossils found in a single slab in Australia.
The tiny footprints were created by dozens of small, two-legged herbivores during the early Jurassic period, about 200 million years ago. The team analyzed casts made of the footprints and determined they belonged to Anomoepus scambus, a plant-eating dinosaur that was relatively small, with a leg height ranging from 10 centimeters to over one foot.
The discovery highlights the importance of careful excavation methods in mining operations. Romilio notes that previous assumptions about the destruction caused by open-pit mining have been proved incorrect, allowing for the preservation of valuable fossils like these. The study’s findings were published on March 10 in the journal Historical Biology.
Source: https://www.popsci.com/science/school-dinosaur-footprints