Swimming dinosaurs

Fossil footprints left by dinosaurs at the bottom of a river in northern Spain are a strong evidence that at least a few dinosaurs were excellent swimmers.

A large carnivorous dinosaur may have left footprints 125 million years before their nails scratched the bottom of the lake. Dinosaurs ruled the ground about 230 to 65 million years ago. But how they live in the water is still unknown.

At the same time there were many species of sea lizards, including plesiosaurs and seahorses, but they were not dinosaurs and were actually very distant relatives.

Researchers led by Dr. Loic Costeur at the University of Nates in France have described that the fossil mark is left by a dinosaur when swimming at depths of less than 3.2 m and raises nails into the river bed. " Animals move paddles in the pelvis, like the birds that live in the water today."

This sketch shows a large carnivorous dinosaur swimming
in a shallow lake (Photo: Reuters)

There are about 12 spots swimming on a 15 m long path including long and small trenches. These fossils show that the animal is swimming upstream and trying to go straight. The shape of the traces also shows that the animal is a large 2-legged dinosaur, not a big crocodile even though the crocodile also appeared at that time.

Scientists identify new traces that provide evidence of dinosaur swimming behavior and open up new ideas about this ancient species, including some that may proliferate in the environment. country.

MT