2024-01-12 20:18:55
Scientists have discovered the footprints of an anthracosaur in rock in Cape Breton. This dinosaur looked like a crocodile and lived in marshy lands at the time.
As always, the great discoveries of paleontology are made by chance and this one is no exception to this rule. A Cape Breton University student noticed the marks while exploring the Creignish Rocks in Inverness County for other reasons in November.
After checking with his teacher, Jason Loxton, and New Brunswick Museum assistant curator Matt Stimson, these traces are indeed prints. Rare and ancient marks from a world that has now disappeared.
Scientists estimate that they date back regarding 320 million years, at the end of the Carboniferous period and the beginning of the formation of Pangea, at a time when Cape Breton was a thick swamp with a tropical climate.
These prints are as big as my hand, an adult’s hand. They are those of a large beast, explains Jason Loxton of Cape Breton University.
Open in full screen mode
Jason Loxton, a geology professor at Cape Breton University, was one of the first to see the footprints.
Photo : Radio-Canada / George Mortimer
They are literally the fingerprints of an animal that drags its legs while it swims, brushing the ground, adds the geology professor.
The anthracosaurus, a super-predator in Nova Scotia
We don’t know the exact animal that left these tracks, but given the time period, size and shape of the feet, we can say that it is probably an anthracosaur, a transitional animal between amphibians and terrestrial reptiles. There are a few other possibilities, but this is probably the most likely animal, says Matt Stimson, assistant curator at the New Brunswick Museum.
The anthracosaurus has an elongated body, a large flat head, and short, massive legs. A look reminiscent of a crocodile. It moved between water and land.
Open in full screen mode
Cape Breton University geology professor Ted Matheson and student Jessica MacIsaac examine the landscape near Creignish, where Matheson spotted the first fossilized tracks.
Photo: Other image banks / Jason Loxton
The discovery is major for these scientists accustomed to discovering footprints and fossils of only a few centimeters in this area of the province.
It’s a new piece in the Cape Breton paleontological puzzle.
Finding this large footprint made at this time by a super-predator at the top of the food chain is a significant discovery, adds Matt Stimson.
The discovery was made on a block of sandstone two meters long by one meter wide and approximately 15 centimeters thick. For now, scientists don’t know if they will be able to safely move this block to show it to the public. If not, it might be reproduced in 3D.
With information from Information Morning Sydney
1705092195
#million #year #fossils #discovered #Cape #Breton
