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full screen A footprint of a dinosaur unearthed by scientists in Oxfordshire, UK. Photo: Emma Nicholls/AP/TT
Around 200 dinosaur footprints, dating back 166 million years, have been unearthed by scientists in the UK – a find believed to be the largest ever made in the country.
The discovery was made by research teams from the universities of Oxford and Birmingham at a quarry in Oxfordshire in central England after a person working to remove mud with an excavator came across “unusual irregularities”.
Five extensive paths with tracks have now been found at the site, the longest of which is over 150 metres.
Four of the tracks are believed to have been made by a long-necked herbivorous dinosaur, most likely a Cetiosaurus. The fifth track probably belongs to a nine-meter-long carnivorous Megalosaurus, which is known for its distinctive feet with three toes and claws, according to the University of Birmingham.
Emma Nicholls of the Natural History Museum at the University of Oxford calls the find “rare” and says the area “could turn out to be one of the world’s greatest sites for dinosaur tracks”.