Diners in southwest China have discovered dinosaur footprints that date back 100 million years after one of them was observed in an outside courtyard of a restaurant by a keen-eyed customer.
According to Lida Xing, a palaeontologist and associate professor at the China University of Geosciences, several stone holes at the restaurant in Leshan, Sichuan province, revealed the footprints of two sauropods, a kind of dinosaur that existed during the early Cretaceous period.
Using a 3D scanner, Xing’s team verified the discovery on Saturday.
The largest animals to ever roam the Earth were the sauropods, who were distinguished by their long necks and tails. They were so large—up to the length of three school buses and so heavy when they walked that the ground must have trembled beneath them.
According to Xing, the two sauropods that left the imprints had bodies that were probably around 8 metres (26 feet) long.
Sichuan has produced a significant number of discoveries of Jurassic-era dinosaur fossils, but much fewer Cretaceous-era fossils. Dinosaurs “truly flourished” during the Cretaceous period, according to Xing, who said that this discovery is “like a jigsaw puzzle,” adding another piece of information on the diversity of dinosaurs in Sichuan during the Cretaceous period.
According to Xing, China’s recent rapid expansion has made palaeontology the study of ancient life through fossil records more challenging.
Fossils are hard to find in the city since they were completely buried by construction, he claimed. Within 48 hours of getting a notification, his team seeks to examine prospective discovery sites out of concern that they “may become destroyed by building work in days,” he noted.
The site was previously a chicken farm, and the dinosaur footprints were hidden beneath several feet of sand and soil to protect them from erosion and environmental deterioration.
Only recently, when the restaurant opened, was the dirt cleaned. According to Xing, the owner decided against levelling the uneven stone with cement because he loved the way it looked when it was left as is.
“These footprints were properly safeguarded” as a result, Xing said. The tracks were fairly deep and obvious when we arrived, but nobody had given the notion any credence.
Xing stated that the restaurant owner has now gated off the site to prevent people from walking on the pits and may erect a shed to protect them further. She added that this was a positive indication of increased public interest in science.
“Nobody would send me pictures of probable dinosaur (fossils or footprints) if it were ten years ago,” he stated. But these days, I get a lot from regular people, and I confirm a number of dinosaur footprints every year.
