The large rocks used as decoration for the foyer of a rural Australian high school, are actually covered with dinosaur footprints. It took about 20 years for everyone to realize it. After examining ancient rocks, paleontologists at the University of Queensland’s Dinosaur Institute believe the stones are characterized by one of the highest concentrations of a fossilized footprint. These small trucks were created by dozens of small, two-legged herbivores during the early Jurassic period. The team will explain their findings in a study published in the journal on March 10th Historical Biology.
Biloella State High School in eastern Australia is located near the Kalido Coal Mine. Workers in this large operation often blow up rock formations to reach the payload. About 20 years ago, geologists working at the site noted the formation of rocks dotted with what looked like chicken footprints. Geologists extracted the rocks before the area was scheduled for mining and donated it to Biora State High School, where his wife taught him.
For years, Boulder greeted students and faculty members as symbols of the area’s geological history. However, following local media attention regarding the fossils of newly discovered dinosaurs in 2021, the school decided to seek detailed examinations of rock experts from the coal mine. Anthony Romilio, a University of Queensland paleontologist, visited Biloela State High School, where he quickly realized the importance of the slab.
In the new study, Romilio and colleagues recorded a total of 66 fossilized footprints from 47 separate dinosaurs.
“It’s a huge number of dinosaurs and the highest number you can see in a single Australian slab,” Romilio said. NBC News.
After analyzing the cast made with footprints, the team determined they belong to anomoepus scambusA plant-eating dinosaur that existed in the early Jurassic period about 200 million years ago. A. Scambus It was a relatively small animal, with leg heights ranging from about 10 centimeters to just over a foot.
Talk to Australian Broadcasting CompanyRomilio described discoveries like Biola State High School as a reminder of how important it is for mining work to carry out their work carefully.
“If you have an industry like open pit mining, the general assumption is that you can’t extract and store dinosaur footprints for the process. [to mine] It’s very destructive.” He said on March 11th. “You can get these amazing fossils, so that’s another idea that has been shattered.”
