Limping dinosaur's twisted path puzzles paleontologists, 150 million years later: 'Very rare'

Paleontologists whitethorn person uncovered the traces of a dinosaur that whitethorn person been limping, acknowledgment to fossilized footprints preserved successful chromatic for implicit 150 cardinal years.

In a Nov. 25 property merchandise from the University of Queensland (UQ), Australian officials announced that the find was made astatine an past trackway adjacent Ouray, Colorado.

Measuring implicit 310 feet long, the trackway consists of astir 130 footprints. The dinosaur that made the way was apt four-legged and long-necked, belonging to the sauropod clade. 

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Speaking to Fox News Digital, UQ paleontologist Anthony Romilio said a long, looping dinosaur trackway similar the Colorado 1 is "very rare."

"Trackways that are turning are adjacent rarer," helium said. "Trackways that loop… well, determination are lone 2 known successful the world; the 1 successful Colorado and 1 successful China."

A dinosaur's 150-million-year-old footprints amusement signs of a limp, according to Australian researchers. (Paul Murphey, San Diego Natural History Museum; De Agostini via Getty Images)

"However, a rockslide has destroyed the 1 successful China. So, that leaves this to beryllium the lone existing looping dinosaur trackway successful the world."

Though the nonstop taxon is unknown, Romilio said that Camarasaurus and Diplodocus are 2 dinosaur taxon that roamed Colorado astatine that time.

"Camarasaurus was equivalent to being ‘front-wheel drive’, with its value shifted much implicit the shoulders and beforehand feet, and truthful determination is simply a inclination to permission deeper handprints than footprints," helium said.

"Diplodocus, on the different hand, was equivalent to being ‘rear-wheel drive' with value shifted implicit the hips, meaning its footprints are deeper than handprints."

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Whether the dinosaur was limping due to the fact that of a struggle with different dinosaur is besides unknown, for now.

"It is hard to find whether different dinosaurs were contiguous astatine the time," said Romilio.

The uncommon Colorado trackway offers an unusually agelong series of steps preserved successful stone. (Paul Murphey, San Diego Natural History Museum)

"As paleontologists, we enactment cautiously wrong the bounds of the evidence, and successful this lawsuit the accusation doesn’t yet bespeak a confrontation oregon enactment with different dinosaur," helium added. "That said, the looping way is unusual…the thought that the trackmaker mightiness person been avoiding thing is surely a compelling speculative interpretation."

Footprints and trackways, Romilio noted, tin lone beryllium made erstwhile an carnal is live — and the remnants tin uncover however these past creatures walked and ran successful ways that fossil bones can't.

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"In presumption of taking trackway-measurements, agelong trackways similar this 1 let america the accidental to adjacent undertake statistical analyses," helium noted. 

"By assessing the quality betwixt the steps made with the near limb versus that from the right, we recovered determination was a statistically important quality crossed the 130-plus footprints."

Romilio added, "There was intelligibly a difference, but whether that was owed to a anterior wounded resulting successful a persistent limp and simply having penchant for 1 broadside implicit the different is speculation. We'd request a time-machine to cognize for sure."

Digital mapping tools fto paleontologists analyse the past trackway with modern precision. (Anthony Romilio, University of Queensland)

Romilio noted that it was section residents — not scientists — who archetypal discovered the site.

"The looping trackway has been known to residents since the mid-1950s. It was accessible, often visited and softly appreciated agelong earlier it entered technological discourse," helium said. 

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"It was lone overmuch aboriginal that the tract was formally communicated to researchers, with the archetypal technological survey undertaken astir 5 years ago."

The paleontologist said that the agelong trackways marque elaborate investigation logistically difficult, but acknowledgment to integer tools, they're capable to analyse them "with acold greater precision and completeness than was antecedently possible."

The trackway "was accessible, often visited and softly appreciated agelong earlier it entered technological discourse," Romilio said. (Paul Murphey, San Diego Natural History Museum)

The latest find is 1 of galore dinosaur-related finds that made headlines successful 2025.

Earlier this year, a Connecticut precocious schoolhouse pupil recovered a 150-million-year-old fossil from the Jurassic epoch astatine a Montana dig.

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At astir the aforesaid time, scientists announced the find of a caller dinosaur taxon called Joaquinraptor casali successful Argentina.