Thursday 13 August 2015

Ancient Footprints Show Dinosaur Duo Strolling Along the Beach

by Laura Geggel, Staff Writer | August 13, 2015 07:26am ET

About 142 million years ago, two carnivorous dinosaurs wandered along a beach and left their large footprints behind in the sand, a new study finds.

These footprints, now fossilized, are helping researchers understand what types of dinosaurs lived in what is now modern-day northern Germany. The tracks show that one dinosaur was large, and the other small. Their prints suggest they walked at a slow, strolling pace — about 3.9 mph (6.3 km/hour) for the large one and about 6 mph (9.7 km/h) for the little one.

At some points, the small dinosaur began trotting, possibly to keep pace with the large one. The footprints also indicate the dinosaurs skid here and there, likely slipping on the wet sand, said study researcher Pernille Troelsen, who earned her master's degree in biology from the University of Southern Denmark in June.

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