A new study corrected the initial findings from a dinosaur fossil footprint that was unearthed 50 years ago from Australia. Experts first thought that the owner of the prehistoric clue was a giant meat-eating predatory dinosaur. However, the latest research suggests a contrasting result, confirming that the fossil was actually from a plant-eating species.
Australia's Giant Fossil Footprint Not a Predatory Carnivore
The fossil footprint is determined to have been imprinted 220 million years ago during the Triassic Period. Previous studies have theorized that the fossil was made by a dinosaur specifically from the Eubrontes family. This family is said to have a large anatomical build and is fond of eating meat. The new study was led by the University of Queensland's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences expert Anthony Romilio, along with colleagues.
Romilio was joined by other collaborators from various institutes to analyze and examine the said fossil footprint that was originally a clue left by a herbivore species of dinosaur called Prosauropod. The expert said that the discovery and identification of the data from the fossil support the first and single confirmation of the existence of a plant-eating dinosaur in Australia during the carnivore-dominated Triassic period.
The fossil was originally discovered from one of Australia's biggest coal mines. The excavation site was located in a city near Brisbane. The fossil was originally buried in the deepest points of the coal mine, measuring to up 200 meters underground. Based on the initial information of the first dig, the experts theorized that the dinosaur who owned the fossil had a towering height, with legs measuring over 2 meters in length. Because of the whopping size of the dinosaur, experts first thought that the fossil was possibly from the largest predatory carnivore dinosaur that ever existed during the specified period.
However, Romilio was intrigued with the initial records due to the consistency of the information harnessed from the fossil footprint. The expert said in a CNN report that based on the fossil records they were able to encounter throughout numerous studies, there was no evidence that points out such footprint length and even the shape of Triassic's carnivorous species.
Prosauropod Owner of Fossil Footprint
According to the study, the closest identification of Argentina's massive fossil footprint is from a herbivore dinosaur that most likely is a member of Prosauropods. One strong indication that gave away the identity of the dinosaur is the formation of its toes. Romilio said that most of the predatory dinosaurs had each of their toes compiled extremely near to each other, as opposed to the herbivore species that had their toes spread apart.
The fossil footprint was examined, and based on their findings, the experts concluded that the dinosaur is a long-necked species that had 1.4 meters of leg height and 6 meters of leg length. Surprisingly, the head of the suspected dinosaur is relatively small compared to the standard head measurement from Triassic and was able to walk on just two feet. The study was published in the journal Historical Biology, titled "Saurischian dinosaur tracks from the Upper Triassic of southern Queensland: possible evidence for Australia's earliest sauropodomorph trackmaker."
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