The drought in the United States does not only resurface human remains, as on the dry shore of Lake Mead, near Las Vegas. The one that touches Texas revealed the traces left, some 113 million years ago, by an acrocanthosaurus (Acrocanthosaurusliterally “high-spined lizard”).
The footprints of this bipedal predatory dinosaur have been revealed in a dry riverbed, said Stephanie Salinas Garcia of the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife.
These deep footprints were once buried, filled with sediment and covered by the water of the Paluxy River, which helped in their preservation. “Due to extreme drought conditions this summer, the river has completely dried up in most places, which has revealed new traces in the [Dinosaur Valley State Park] “, located 120 kilometers from the city of Dallas, explained Stephanie Salinas Garcia.
World’s longest dinosaur footprints
It could be one of the longest streaks of dinosaur footprints in the world, according to footage posted by the park on social media. We see volunteers helping to clean them in order to better distinguish them. “Most of the tracks that have recently been discovered at different places on the river in the park were left by a Acrocanthosaurus », said Stephanie Salinas Garcia. Adult, this theropod could measure up to 5 meters and weigh 7 tons.
Other traces were left by a sauroposeidon, a dinosaur that could measure up to 18 meters in length and weigh 44 tons as an adult. Visitors may not be able to admire these prehistoric footprints for long, as they will soon be covered in water again with the onset of rain.