Over 1,000 dinosaur footprints found in Chile, Chances of a great project
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Scientists have found over a thousand dinosaur footprints in a small village called Huatacondo in northern Chile. The place is now home to the most dinosaur prints in the country.
Experts are evaluating the data collected by the local community. One of the researchers Christian Salazar told Global Times that it is the beginning of a great project as the team sees huge potential. Paleontologists are eager to assess the behaviour of dinosaurs.
Footprints are rarely fossilised because they require extremely particular requirements.
He added that the discovery is "truly unprecedented" as they found over a thousand footprints in 10 days. Five professionals arrived in the Tarapaca region in northern Chile between May 23 and June 3. They found several hundred footprints within 30 square kilometres.
The discovery suggests that the footprints are left by young, mature, and adult theropod and sauropod dinosaurs that lived 150 million years ago. Footprints ranging from 80 cm to one metre were found in the area. This indicates that the animals must have been enormous with a length of 12 metres.
The sedimentary rocks in the region have also preserved worms, plants, and insects. Experts think these fossils will shed light on the ecology and temperature of the time. This will also help figure out the behaviour of dinosaurs.