Giant dinosaur footprints found on cave roof
Giant fossilised dinosaur footprints 鈥� some of the largest yet found in the world 鈥� have been discovered on the roof of the Castelbouc cave in the south of France.
Well-preserved history
The footprints measure up to 1.25m and date from the Jurassic period 168 to 166 million years ago. Some are very well preserved, showing marks of the fingers, foot pads and claws. This shape of footprints was previously unknown, so the scientists have named the dinosaurs Occitanopodus, after the region of Occitanie.
They walked on all-fours and were sauropods, similar to brontosaurus or diplodocus. They may have measured up to 30m long and weighed up to 50 tonnes.
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Exploring their environment
The studies conducted in the cave 500m beneath the limestone plateau of the Causse M茅jean in the Loz猫re show that the sauropods lived in a coastal environment and left their footprints on the edge of a lagoon, near a conifer forest. The prints have been left exposed after soft rocks beneath were hollowed out by acidic rains to form what is called a karstic cave.
Palaeontologist and Burgundy university lecturer Jean-David Moreau told Connexion: 鈥淯sually, we find dinosaur footprints of 20-30cm. From an international perspective, it is the first time that footprints of sauropods have been found in a natural cavity. And it is the first time we have discovered this type of footprint in Middle Jurassic deposits in France.鈥�
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The palaeontologists, from the Association Pal茅ontologique des Hauts Plateaux du Languedoc (APHPL), have been studying the site with researchers from the Laboratoire Biog茅osciences of Burgundy university since 2015. The Grands Causses region, where they were found, has yielded many dinosaur footprints over the last century.
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