A tiny footprint of a baby dinosaur has been found in China. What’s more interesting is that it measures just 2.24 inches in length and its exact species is yet to be determined. However, it’s believed to be a diminutive stegosaur. The stegosaurus species is known to be 20 foot-long, plant-eating giants and have protruding backplates and mace-like tail.
“This footprint was made by a herbivorous, armored dinosaur known broadly as a stegosaur – the family of dinosaurs that includes the famed stegosaurus,” said Dr. Anthony Romilla, a co-author of the study from the University of Queensland. “Like the stegosaurus, this little dinosaur probably had spikes on its tail and bony plates along its back as an adult.”
Researchers who discovered the Lower Cretaceous Tugulu Group of Xinjiang Province, China, claim the footprint was surrounded by larger footprints as well. The team suggests that the baby dinosaur was around fully grown dinosaurs who can be family members.
The experts mentioned in their scientific paper, that the footprint was made by a dinosaur called ichnogenus Deltapodus. They also suggest that the shape of the track reveals young stegosaurs had a different gait than the adults.
Adult tracks are elongated which suggests that adult dinosaurs walked with their heels touching the ground, similar to humans. However, the baby stegosaur had its heels lifted, walking on toes, without touching the bottom of its foot on the ground.
“The stegosaur could have transitioned to heel-walking as it got older,” Dr. Lida Xing, founder of the print, said. “A complete set of tracks of these tiny footprints would provide us with the answer to this question, but unfortunately we only have a single footprint.”
The team also said the footprints nearby the tiny track are around six times larger. It’s very rare to find a stegosaur track smaller than around 12 cm. The previous smallest ever discovered footprint measured 8 cm in length.
