Discovered several hundred dinosaur footprints in Beijing

According to the Xinhua News Agency, paleontologists said they had discovered several hundred dinosaur fossil footprints at a geopark in Yanqing district, China's Beijing suburb.

Paleontologist Zhang Jianping of the Chinese University of Geology said the footprints of the first dinosaur imprinted in the city were found. According to Mr. Zhang, these footprints belong to dinosaurs 140-150 million years ago, Jurassic.

A group of scientists from the Chinese University of Geology discovered the footprints for the first time in July 2011 at the Guihuamu Geopark, famous for being the center of ancient fossils.

In an area that gathers most of the footprints, paleontologists have counted several hundred footprints as well as 7-8 rows formed from successive footprints.

These footprints are thought to be of thyreophora dinosaurs , theropods (or large carnivorous dinosaurs), ornithopods (bird dinosaurs) and possibly even sauropods (lizards).

Zhang said the discovery will enrich Chinese fossil dinosaur samples at the end of the Jurassic and early Cretaceous period.

"This is the first time China has discovered the footprint of thyreophora, theropod, ornithopod and possibly the sauropod of that period, which helps us better understand how these species move through China," he said. .