Chinese paleontologists and geologists examined numerous fingerprints “chicken legs”, which in March 2019 on the wall of the bomb shelter “Sharen” in the National forest Park in Chongqing Geleshan found climbers. It turned out that these tracks were left by dinosaurs about 190 million years ago.
a study published in the journal Historical Biology, and briefly about it, reports China Daily. The discovery took place in South-West China. Specified by the climbers of the site studied, an interdepartmental team made up of researchers from different institutions. Its membership included the geologists.
Scientists have found that the strange marks on the stone wall left a whole group of dinosaurs. It was the predators of early Jurassic. The prints are well preserved on two sites. Two lanes of tracks located at a distance of three meters one from the other. A total of 46 found traces of theropods from the group Kayentapus.
Length of the large print is 35 inches, and the smallest 16 inches. Measuring the length of steps, the researchers suggested that the tracks were left by large and medium-sized theropod, which probably ran in this place.
the age of the fossils is around 190 million years. For China this is a very important discovery. There is a hypothesis that in Asia in the early Jurassic period was dominated by theropods. But to confirm their morphological diversity is still not managed.
the Kayentapus footprints are widely distributed around the world. However, in Asia, they are rare. Previously, these prints were discovered in Lupane and Zinedine in Yunnan province, in Panzhihua and Xichang in Sichuan province, as well as in Jijo in Shaanxi province.
as for the newly found traces, the scientists suggest that the largest of them could leave Sinosaurus – the so-called Chinese dinosaur. Its length up to 5.6 meters, it weighed about half a ton and had two large crests on the head. At that time it was the most violent large predatory dinosaur.
