SCIENCE NEWS: Research suggests that dinosaurs followed the same route across Africa and South America about 120 million years ago before the continents drifted apart.
Scientists have discovered more than 260 dinosaur footprints from the early Cretaceous period in present-day Brazil and Cameroon, reports CNN. These two regions are located more than 6,000 kilometers apart across the present-day Atlantic Ocean.
The footprints are of the same age, size and geological background, according to paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs, who led a study of these footprints, which was recently published by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
According to research associate Diana P. Vineyard, most of the fossil footprints belonged to three-fingered theropod dinosaurs.
The publication further stated that a small number of footprints belonged to four-legged sauropods, or ornithischians, which had a bird-like hip structure.
These tracks provide insight into how shifting landmasses created favorable conditions for dinosaurs, before supercontinents broke up into today’s continents.
According to Jacobs, the footprints have been preserved in mud and silt found along the banks of old rivers and lakes in Gondwana, a continent that broke away from Pangaea.
They also pointed out that northeastern Brazil and Cameroon once formed a narrow connecting route between Africa and South America, possibly allowing animals to move between the two continents.
About 140 million years ago, the continents of Africa and South America began to move away from each other, causing cracks to appear in the Earth’s crust.
As the tectonic plates shifted, molten rocks from below created a new layer on the ocean floor. This gradually led to the formation of the South Atlantic Ocean between the two landmasses.
Dinosaur footprints
Dinosaur fossils help scientists learn about ancient creatures, but footprints offer different clues about their lives. While fossils are more common, footprints are valuable because they reflect the behavior of dinosaurs. According to Jacobs, it shows how they walked, what groups they were with, their surroundings, their direction and their specific location, CNN said.
