Fossil Find Reveals First Evidence of Footprints Left by an Armored Dinosaur Sporting a Tail Club
In the foothills of British Columbia's Canadian Rockies, a significant discovery has been made that sheds light on dinosaur evolution in North America. An international team of researchers, including Charles Helm, a scientific advisor at Tumbler Ridge Museum, have identified the first ankylosaurid footprints known to science. These fossilized footprints, discovered near Tumbler Ridge, represent a new ankylosaurid species named Ruopodosaurus clava.
The footprints, dated to the middle of the Cretaceous period, around 76 million years ago, fill in a gap in North America's fossil record and demonstrate that nodosaurids and ankylosaurids shared this region millions of years ago. The ankylosaurid track shows three distinct blunt pedal digits, differentiating it from previously identified track types such as Ruopodosaurus clava. This suggests possible variation in ankylosaur foot morphology or behavior.
The footprint evidence provides several key characteristics and wider implications. The ankylosaurid footprint occurs alongside tracks from at least five ceratopsians, small theropods, and large tyrannosaurids, providing the first evidence of a mixed-species dinosaur herd moving together during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The parallel and regular spacing of ceratopsian tracks combined with the ankylosaurid track suggest gregarious (social) behavior and possibly complex interspecies interactions.
The discovery is significant because dinosaur footprints and trackways are extremely rare in this fossil-rich region known primarily for skeletal remains. These natural moulds (concave epireliefs) of footprints provide new methodological approaches for identifying tracks in this area and offer more dynamic data about dinosaur locomotion, ecology, and community structure not evident from bones alone.
The footprint assemblage also includes two large tyrannosaurid tracks set perpendicular to the main herd, interpreted as potential stalking behavior of apex predators, adding behavioral context to this Late Cretaceous ecosystem.
In summary, the new ankylosaurid species is recognized from unique three-toed footprint evidence found within a rare mixed-species tracksite in Canada's Peace Region. This discovery underscores ankylosaurid diversity and behavior while illuminating multi-species herd dynamics and predator-prey relationships during the Campanian period in the Dinosaur Park Formation. The study adds another piece to the ankylosaur fossil record puzzle and highlights the potential for further discoveries in the Peace Region regarding the ankylosaur fossil record.
- In the future, further studies on dinosaur evolution in North America might be possible with the advancements in science and technology, as demonstrated by the discovery of the Ruopodosaurus clava footprints in British Columbia.
- Gizmodo might report on the ongoing research in the science and technology fields related to this remarkable find, helping to spread awareness about ankylosaurid diversity and behavior.
- Medical-conditions involving the development and structure of legs could benefit from comparative studies with the foot morphology of ankylosaurids, shedding light on our understanding of these structures' evolution.
- Space-and-astronomy enthusiasts who are amazed by the vastness of our universe might take an interest in this discovery, contemplating the possibility that such complex behavioral patterns were prevalent millions of years ago in the distant past.
