Remarkable Dinosaur Footprints in Canada Reveal an Unprecedented Phenomenon

Wealth of his fossils, but so far, the imprints remained rare there. It was in 2024 that paleontologists spotted a site called Skyline Tracksite, scanning a thin border of sediments moved on the surface of a stone slab. This almost invisible detail has led to the discovery of more than twenty partially preserved imprints, representing several species. The researchers used manual tools, 3D models by photogrammetry and a differential GPS to map and analyze the surface. This approach made it possible to identify with precision the types of dinosaurs according to the morphology of traces, revealing in particular tracks attributable to Ceratopsians, an ankylosaurian and several theropods.

It was the concave imprints left in the mud, called natural casts, which have delivered the most convincing clues. The site is located in an old flood plain, where successive floods have favored the preservation of fingerprints. According to the study published in PLOS One, this discovery offers a new method of prospecting in badlands, erosion landscapes where these imprints are often hidden under unstable layers.

Possible cohabitation between giant herbivores

The tracks found show at least five Ceratopsiens moving in the same direction, with regular spacings, suggesting a group movement. By their side, another herbivore seems to be walking at the same pace. The morphological analysis of its imprints, although enigmatic, would correspond to those of an ankylosaurian, a stocky dinosaur covered with bone armor. The Natural History Museum in London emphasizes that this configuration, associating several herbivorous species, could constitute the first proof of mixed herds in the world of dinosaurs.

This collective behavior would recall that observed in certain modern species of mammals. On the African plains, for example, zebras and wildebeest form interspecific groups to protect themselves from predators. The logic of this strategy is based on the complementarity of the senses and the strength of the number. If this interpretation is confirmed, it would then mark a turning point in our understanding of social relations between missing species.

Hunting clues by the river

A few meters from herbivorous footprints, two large predators left their marks in the same layer of mud. The imprints elongated with marked claws correspond to tyrannosauridae, according to Australian paleontologists cited by Science Alert. These two carnivores seemed to walk together, in a direction parallel to the herd. Another small theropode, whose identity remains uncertain, also left a more discreet imprint nearby.

However, it remains difficult to determine whether these species met at the same time or if they set the ground a few days apart. The wet ground, conducive to the recovery of the fingerprints, was able to remain exposed for an extended period. The idea of an ambush therefore remains speculative, but the accumulation of clues evokes a scene of ecological tension. In current ecosystems, large carnivores often watch over the water points where their prey are gather. At that time, the fossilized river bed was therefore one of these strategic places.

These traces superimposed in space, if not in time, sketch a complex image of a world where herbivores and carnivores coexisted in a dynamic more nuanced than that offered by skeletons alone.