A rare looping dinosaur trackway in Colorado reveals new clues about sauropod movement and hints that the massive animal may have walked with a limp.
Researchers studying an unusual looping trail of fossilized footprints in the United States have uncovered evidence suggesting the dinosaur that left them may have walked with a limp.
Near the town of Ouray in Colorado lies one of the most continuous and sharply turning sauropod trackways ever identified. This remarkable series of fossil footprints provides an unusually complete record of a dinosaur’s movement across ancient ground.
Dr. Anthony Romilio from the University of Queensland’s Dinosaur Lab examined more than 130 individual footprints that form a 95.5-meter path created roughly 150 million years ago.
“This was left in the Late Jurassic when long-necked dinosaurs such as Diplodocus and Camarasaurus roamed North America,” Dr. Romilio said.
“This trackway is unique because it is a complete loop. While we may never know why this dinosaur curved back on itself, the trackway preserves an extremely rare chance to study how a giant sauropod handled a tight, looping turn before resuming its original direction of travel.”
