- Title: GERMANY-DINOSAUR/FOOTPRINT German scientists find rare dinosaur tracks
- Date: 24th August 2015
- Summary: REHBURG-LOCCUM, GERMANY (AUGUST 21, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS CLOSE UP OF DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS AT THE DINOSAURIER-PARK MUNCHEHAGEN IN REHBURG-LOCCUM FOOTPRINT TRAIL CLOSE UP OF FOOTPRINT VARIOUS OF WORK ON COURSE VARIOUS CLOSE UP OF WORKERS AT SITE VARIOUS OF WORK ON COURSE (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF EXCAVATIONS, BENJAMIN ENGLISH, SAYING: "It's very unusual how long the trail is and what great condition it's in. And also that the prints come from such a big dinosaur of which no skeleton has been found. That means it's a species we haven't seen before from this era." VARIOUS OF WORK ON COURSE (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF EXCAVATIONS, BENJAMIN ENGLISH, SAYING: "The prints are between 135 and 140 million years old, we can't be precise about that yet. The investigations are still on and we estimate, by the height and the depth of the prints, an approximate weight of about 30 tons, so it was a giant." VARIOUS OF PRINTS AT SITE FOOTPRINT TRAIL PRINT EXHIBITION AT THE MUENCHEHAGEN DINOSAUR-PARK FAKE DINOSAUR ON DISPLAY AT FOOTPRINT EXHIBITION CHILD LOOKING AT DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS CLOSE UP OF FAKE DINOSAUR PAWS VARIOUS OF FAKE DINOSAURS ON DISPLAY AT THE MUENCHEHAGEN DINOSAUR-PARK VISITORS WALKING AT PARK PEOPLE WALKING NEXT TO FAKE DINOSAUR AT PARK SIGN READING "DINO-PARK" ENTRANCE TO MUENCHEHAGEN DINOSAUR-PARK
- Embargoed: 8th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVABJ2BOUB0NN2AGDKOEF0YHKDTD
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: German scientists have found an unusually long trail of footprints from a 30-tonne dinosaur in an abandoned quarry in Lower Saxony, a discovery they think could be around 145 million years old.
"It's very unusual how long the trail is and what great condition it's in," excavation leader Benjamin Englich told Reuters at the site, referring to 90 uninterrupted footprints stretching over 50 metres. Their diameter measured 1.2 metres.
Englich and his team found the impressions in the central German region while excavating at the quarry in the town of Rehburg-Loccum near Hanover on Wednesday.
Englich said the elephant-like tracks were stomped into the ground sometime between 135 and 145 million years ago by a sauropod - a class of heavy dinosaurs with long necks and tails.
"And also that the prints come from such a big dinosaur of which no skeleton has been found," said Englich. "That means it's a species we haven't seen before from this era."
Englich estimates that the prints are between 135 and 140 million years old, adding that they can't be precise yet as the investigations into that are still ongoing. The prehistoric prints are not only big, said Englich, but also unusually deep. The impressions sink more than 40 centimetres into the ground, suggesting they were made by a creature that weighed up to 30 tonnes.
Experts hope the trail could help shed light on conditions in the Cretaceous period, the mysterious era which ended 65 million years ago with the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
The biggest dinosaur prints ever found, measuring up to two metres in diamater, were discovered by amateur diggers in the French Jura region in 2009. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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