A team of paleontologists from the University of Queensland in Brisbane discovered the world's biggest dinosaur footprint in what's know as Australia's "Jurassic Park," according to a report published Friday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Scientists said of the 5-foot-9-inch footprint belonged to a sauropod, or a long-necked dinosaur.
Steve Salisbury, the lead author of the study, noted that it's also the first evidence that Australia was home to a diverse population of dinosaurs.
The Walmadany area is home to the world's largest dinosaur tracks. Law Boss Richard Hunter and a 1.7m sauropod track https://t.co/B3NAlwBreD pic.twitter.com/X2Ii5GiC7u
— Steve Salisbury (@implexidens) March 27, 2017
Twenty-one different types of dinosaurs were identified within an approximately 15-mile stretch of the Dampier Peninsula, the University of Queensland said in a press release.
“The tracks provide a snapshot, a census if you will, of an extremely diverse dinosaur fauna," Salisbury told Gizmodo. "We have never seen this level of diversity before, anywhere in the world. It’s the Cretaceous equivalent of the Serengeti! And it’s written in stone.”
Sauropod dinosaur tracks from the Walmadany area, WA, and their potential trackmakers. #DinosaurCoast #UQ https://t.co/B3NAlwBreD pic.twitter.com/ThYZuSrNYo
— Steve Salisbury (@implexidens) March 27, 2017
Salisbury dedicated 400 hours over the course of five years to documenting the thousands of dinosaur tracks along the stretch of land called Walmadany.
He added that most of Australia's dinosaur fossils come from the eastern side of the continent and are between 115 and 90 million years old. These tracks, however, which are between 127 and 144 million years old, are some of the oldest dinosaur remains on the continent.
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