Footprints tell tale of giant dinosaur
ONE of the world’s biggest dinosaur tracks has been found in Central West Queensland, in a stretch of land the size of two basketball courts and featuring intricate footprints from the world’s biggest family of dinosaurs.
One of the prehistoric creatures roaming this stretch of outback could have been at least 18m long, or almost as big as a cricket pitch, palaeontologists say, and may have been pulling a younger relative into line.
The 95-million-year-old track at Winton, estimated to weigh 500 tonnes, is being painstakingly transferred to an outback museum, where owners hope it will become a major international tourist attraction and bring the spotlight back to a region hit hard by drought and flood.
Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum executive director David Elliott said the track was found after floods moved a creek bed in 2000, but the landowner initially dismissed the idea the footprints were made by dinosaurs.
A second look by a caretaker inspired experts from the museum to investigate and confirm what has been described as “the best preserved sauropod trackway in Australia”.
“You can see on the track where a little (dinosaur) actually walks in front of the big one, and it looks like it’s pushed it back.”
Mr Elliott said the track appeared to show the preserved footprints of large sauropod dinosaurs, as well as smaller ornithopod dinosaurs, and chicken-sized theropod dinosaurs.
Some of the footprints revealed incredible details about the sauropod’s feet and claws, Mr Elliott said, and a track lasting 40m revealed one 18m dinosaur with 97cm feet and steps as large as 3.3m in length.
“You can see on the track where a little (dinosaur) actually walks in front of the big one, and it looks like it’s pushed it back,” he said. “There’s some pretty interesting stuff.”