Dino myth win! Adorable baby dinosaur’s footprint discovered in China is only 6 cm long and is the smallest stegosaurus imprint ever found
- Footprints were found by experts in Xinjiang Province in northwestern China
- It measures only 5.7 cm long and is thought to belong to a stegosaurus
- Expect the animal that made it to be a baby stegosaurus with relatives
A small footprint of a baby dinosaur has been discovered in China.
The print is only 5.7 cm long and the exact species that made it remains unknown, but it is considered a small stegosaurus.
The best known stegosaurus is the Stegosaurus, a 21-foot giant plant-eating giant known for its protruding backplates and a potato-like tail.
Download for video
It is suspected that a footprint found in China belongs to a baby stegosaurus. Xperts believe it would be armored and have a tail, just like the big adults (photo, impression of artist).
Pictured right, the small stegosaurus footprint found in China. It is shorter than the 12 inch (30 cm) footprints of the much larger adult stigosaurus footprints that also occur on the site (left), indicating that young stegosaurs may have walked on their toes, such as birds and cats
Dr Anthony Romilla, co-author of the study from the University of Queensland, said: ‘This footprint was made by a herbivorous, armored dinosaur commonly known as a stegosaurus – the family of dinosaurs that the famous stegosaurus.
“Like the stegosaurus, this small dinosaur probably had nails on its tail and bony plates along the back as adults.”
Researchers who found the footprint in the Lower Cretaceous Tugulu Group of Xinjiang province, China, say the footprint was found near much larger versions.
The international team of paleontologists say this indicates that the dinosaur was probably surrounded by older, adult family members.
The experts write in their scientific article, published in the journal Palaios, and believe that the orbit was continued by a dinosaur known as ichnogenus Deltapodus.
They say the other footprints in the area are about six times larger and the baby print is ‘the smallest compelling example of a Delta Podus currently known’.
It is very rare to find a stegosaurus footprint of less than about 12 centimeters, with the previous smallest ever discovered being 8 cm long.
The footprint has three short, wide, round toe impressions that, according to researchers, are proof that it belongs to a stegosaurus.
In the photo, the analysis of the small footprint (left) reveals the three, small, rounded toes of stegosaurs
They also say that its shape reveals that young stegosaurs had a different course than the much larger adults.
Adult spores have been elongated, meaning the giant dinosaurs walked on the ground like humans with their heels on.
But the baby stegosaurus raised his heel, indicating that he was walking like a cat or bird on his toes, with the bottom of his foot not on the floor.
“The stegosaurus could have switched to heel walking as it got older,” said Dr. Lida Xing, the paleontologist from China University of Geosciences in Beijing, who found the pressure, said.
A complete set of footprints from these small footprints will give us the answer to this question, but unfortunately we have only one footprint. ‘