An 80 - million - yr - honest-to-goodness dinosaur step , measuring 1.2 meters ( 4 feet ) across , has been found in Bolivia .
It is easily one of the largest ever found , and likely belong to anAbelisaurus , a bipedal , herculean predatory carnivore that once stalk the field of South America long before the famousT. rexentered the affray . Based on this print , the grotesque tart - serrate hunting watch would have been 15 meters ( 49 foot ) long .
“ This mark is bigger than any other we have found to date in the field , ” Sebastian Apesteguia , a paleontologist from the Argentinian - based National University of La Plata , toldReuters . “ It is a record in size of it for carnivorous dinosaur from the end of the Cretaceous period in South America . ”
The gargantuan clay mold was found by a holidaymaker guide 64 klick ( 40 naut mi ) from the central Bolivian city of Sucre . The ancient Lucius Clay in this region is inherently flaccid , and the area is famous for preserved dinosaur tracks as a effect .
There is much aboutAbelisaurusthat stay unknown to researchers . Most of what they do eff is establish on a single fogy , one that consist of a part - preserved fossilised skull unearthed in Argentina in 1983 . free-base on this , the type specimenAbelisaurus comahuensiswas roughly 9 meters ( 30 feet ) in duration , but this is unmanageable to ascertain from just its head size of it .
This raw footprint feed researchers a raspy melodic theme of how unfeignedly massive this variety of beast was , based on reasonable and well - established connectedness between dinosaurian pes sizing and height . These dinosaurs were likely all feathered , and just like the fearsomeT. rexthat appeared 13 million year later , they were the apex predators of their environment .
The bushel skull of the single recovered Abelisaurus fogy . Kokoo / Wikimedia Commons ; CC BY - SA 2.5
Although theybit the dust66 million years ago , the non - avian dinosaur left behindplenty of bonesfor paleontologist to comb over . Thanks to these fossils , we get laid that elephantine animal find the world for 186 million year , range from the utterly weirdMurusraptorto the adorableChasmosaurus .
However , it ’s not just bones they left behind . Fossilized footmark , a type of “ tincture fogey , ” are becoming increasingly important in the field of operations of paleontology . Footprints reveal so much that bones simply do n’t – how dinosaurs walk or ran , and at what speed , and whether or not they travelled alone or in groups . The also constrain overall size of it estimates when bone - based grounds is scarce .
One recent study interpret a serial of closely - spaced chemical group of footprint made by severalT. rexto suggest that theyhunted in packs , and were n’t always alone predator . Another paper showcased the find of the caterpillar tread marks of anadolescentT. rexto bring out it was move at a slow pace of 8 kilometers per hour ( 5 mile per hr ) .
