A mysterious Australian dinosaur just got downsized

[Eldorado]

In the 1960s, Australian coal miners stumbled across huge, bird-life footprints protruding from the ceiling of their subterranean work site in south-eastern Queensland. The marks, more than a foot long, belonged to a creature that trekked across swampy land around 250 million years ago. They sent palaeontologists into a tizzy, who though the tracks belonged to a carnivorous dinosaur—a creature larger than any other predator of its time.

Some fossil experts across the globe had their doubts about the footprints coming from a predator, though. But they couldn’t quite disprove the carnivore idea because all they had access to was black and white photos and a drawing of the tracks.

With 3D modelling technology today, researchers have been able to analyse the impressions further, and identify the mysterious creature as an herbivore from the group Prosauropoda.

https://www.popsci.com/science/australian-dinosaur-footprints-correction/

[acute]

Being Australia, the dinosaur was probably upside-down too. 

[jmccr8]

 

[jethrofloyd]