Quarry workers in England have discovered the clawed footprints of a 30-foot-tall predator and sunken footprints of other dinosaurs, in what paleontologists are calling one of the most significant finds in Britain in nearly three decades.
A trail of five distinct tracks was discovered last summer at a quarry in Oxfordshire, about 60 miles northwest of London, scientists announced this week. The tracks date back to both herbivores and carnivores that roamed the area during the Middle Jurassic period, about 166 million years ago.
Rather than the grasslands that cover the area today, Jurassic Oxfordshire was more like the Florida Keys, wet with lagoons and muddy marshes – the best terrain for dinosaur feet to sink into.
The area, which was first excavated in 1997, was already known as the “dinosaur highway” among paleontologists. Scientists found more than 40 footprints on about 200 yards of track. Emma Nicholls said the new tracks make it one of the world's biggest dinosaur discoveries. vertebrate paleontologist and collections manager at the Natural History Museum, University of Oxford.
“These latest discoveries prove that there is still new evidence of these animals waiting to be discovered,” Ms Nicholls said.
Quarry workers initially didn't think much of the anomaly they found while cleaning clay in late 2023. Mark Stanway, who runs the quarry, said the first dinosaur footprint was just a hump on the ground.
“It probably wasn't as dramatic as it looked,” he said.
The pattern of humps, each about 10 feet apart, turned out to be the last remains of giants that died tens of millions of years ago.
Paleontologists from the University of Birmingham and Oxford University first visited the site in November 2023 and found clawed, three-toed footprints in the form associated with dinosaurs in popular culture.
“It's like a caricature of a dinosaur,” said Dr. Nicholls.
The footprints were made by Megalosaurus, a beastly predator that was about 30 feet tall, weighed one and a half tons, and walked on its hind legs. It was a Megalosaurus the first dinosaur It was scientifically named and described in Oxford in 1824.
“We were digging new tracks of the megalosaurus in 2024, which is of course the 200th anniversary,” said Dr. Nicholls. “Totally random, but really spine-tingling.”
The other four tracks belong to a species, probably a herbivorous sauropod, a a family of dinosaurs known for their long necks and tails, small heads, and thick columns for their feet—characteristics that make them the largest land animals ever.
Kirsty Edgar, professor of micropaleontology at the University of Birmingham, said the footprints were more than three feet long and a foot and a half deep, about the size of a baby bathtub.
The researchers said they couldn't say for sure which type of sauropod was imprinted, but based on previous fossil finds at the site, they believe it was a setiosaurus, a dinosaur that was about 60 feet long and weighed about two tons.
The tracks give scientists some insight into how animals behave, particularly at the point where the tracks of different species interact, the scientists said.
For most of the way, the sauropods walk in a steady gap going north. But suddenly one of the animal's left legs comes very close to the previous leg, indicating that it is standing and perhaps looking over its shoulder.
Although scientists can't pinpoint exactly when the prints were made, the prints point to a moment of interaction.
“It's very possible that Setiosaurus actually stopped to look back at Megalosaurus,” said Dr. Nicholls.
The sets of sauropod footprints also vary in size, suggesting that the animals moved in a herd with juveniles or traveled with smaller herbivores. At that time, Megalosaurus, the apex predator, moved alone.
“A corpse is the death of a fossil animal,” said Dr. Edgar, “whereas we get a kind of picture of what these numerous animals do in life.”
In addition to its wetland features, Jurassic Oxfordshire was also affected by higher sea levels.
Inside the tracks, scientists found evidence of marine life, including brachiopods, gastropods, bivalves and echinoids, shelled invertebrates that resemble molluscs and sea urchins today, Dr Nicholls said.
In the nearly 30 years since the tracks were first discovered in the area, technology has advanced rapidly, allowing scientists to more successfully record their findings.
During their seven days at the site last summer, teams of scientists took hundreds of photographs, created casts, recorded drone footage of the site, and created three-dimensional models that now allow for continued study of traces that can be lost to the elements. .
Mr Stanway, who said work at the quarry continued unaffected, said he would not be surprised to find even more traces in the coming years.