It’s a footprint about 166 million years old, and it’s impressive. It was discovered in April 2021 by an archaeologist who was looking for shells on an English beach in the Cleveland Basin, in the Scalby formation, dated to the Middle Jurassic. With nearly a meter long, it would belong to a theropod, a carnivorous dinosaur, probably gigantic! This one would possibly belong to the genus Megalosaurusthe very first genus of dinosaur described, almost 200 years ago!
With ” a height at the pool of 2.5 to 3 meters according to John Hudson, geologist and first author of the article published in the journal Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, this predator was in any case a giant who imprinted in the soil of Yorkshire the largest trace of theropod that has ever been found there. If the attribution of fossilized footprints to a specific species or biological genus is almost impossible, they provide us with a lot of information on the real behavior of the animals that left them.
By observing this footprint, the researchers were able to determine that the large predator was resting or crouching, while other dinosaurs whose traces have been found in Yorkshire walked, ran, and even swam! Ultimately, ichnofossils are precious testimonies that give us the most faithful moments of life of extinct species.