A worker digging up clay in an English limestone quarry discovered a “dinosaur highway” made up of 200 tracks dating back 166 million years. The Oxfordshire footprints include a mix of footprints from both herbivores and at least one carnivore. Most dinosaur toes pointed northward.
So just who were these creatures, where were they heading and why were they going there?
Following the Footprints
At least four sets of tracks were likely made by the long-necked herbivores Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet long. Another set looks like the distinctive three-toed feet of the Megalosaurus, a 30-foot-long predator. One stretch shows the carnivore and herbivore tracks crossing, raising questions about whether and how the two were interacting.
Richard J. Butler, paleontologist at the University of Birmingham, who worked at the site, applied some deductive reasoning to pinpoint the dinos’ intentions.
“Most of the tracks seem to be heading in the same direction (broadly towards the north), probably following the coastline,” Butler says. “The herbivores must have been heading towards somewhere with food – because there was no vegetation on the mudflats in which the tracks are preferred. One possibility is that the carnivore might have been following/shadowing herds of herbivores.”
Read More: Why Is the Isle of Wight Rich in Dinosaur Fossils?
Sauropod Sweet Spot
The Southeast England location appears to have been a sweet spot for sauropods. The first Megalosaurus bones were found within 15 miles in 1824 – essentially launching dinosaur science. Then in 1997, researchers found similar footprints within a half mile, but in a different quarry of the same rock type. The two are likely connected.
“They are in the same limestone surface so actually the 1990s discoveries and the new ones form parts of a huge track site,” says Butler.
Together, the sites document hungry sauropods that were likely constantly on the march for food.
“It’s clear that a lot of large sauropods were traveling through this particular area, perhaps in herds,” says Butler. “Where were they traveling to? That’s unclear but it must have been somewhere with plants because these giant herbivores needed to consume a lot of vegetation daily.
Read More: Dinosaur Prints In Jordan Highlight A Largely Unexplored Region
Documenting the Past
Until the discovery this summer, that earlier location was considered the most scientifically important set of dinosaur prints. However, those have been buried and are now largely inaccessible.
It’s unlikely a similar fate will befall the new ones. And they have already become well documented. Scientists snapped over 20,000 digital pictures and deployed drones to create 3-D models of the prints. Paleontologists will draw on this data to help understand each dinosaur's size, stride, and speed. The quality of the tracks should make such calculations easier and help reconstruct the world in which these dinosaurs roamed.
“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet squelched in and out,” Duncan Murdock, an Earth scientist at the Oxford museum and one of the scientists studying the scene, said in a press release. “Along with other fossils like burrows, shells and plants we can bring to life the muddy lagoon environment the dinosaurs walked through.”
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University of Birmingham. Major new footprint discoveries on Britain’s ‘dinosaur highway’
Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.
