100millionyearold dinosaur footprints found in Chinese restaurant
A restaurant in Leshan, China was the scene of the discovery;
An avid paleontology customer found the footprints while visiting the site;
It is estimated that the animals were about 8 meters long.
A restaurant in Leshan, China, was the scene of an unusual discovery. When the customer, Ou Hongtao, a paleontology enthusiast, was at the facility on July 10, he identified the footprints of dinosaurs more than 100 million years old. It is estimated that the animals were about 8 meters long.
Lida Xing a paleontologist and associate professor at the University of G Geosciences in China explains that the footprints found are from two sauropods, a species that inhabited the planet in the early Cretaceous period. A 3D scanner confirmed the find.
The footprints have been supported by layers of sand and earth to preserve them over the years. The material accumulated during the agricultural use of the site. when the current owner took over the rooms, the dirt was removed.
“The owner liked the natural look of the jagged stone, so instead of leveling it with cement, he left it as is,” Xing said in an interview with CNN.
As a result, the marks that enhanced the site’s decoration were identified as footprints. “They were very deep and very obvious, but no one had thought of the possibility,” the researcher said.
Xing led the team of paleontologists that discovered the types of dinosaurs and when they left their footprints. She says dinosaurs really “thrived” in the Cretaceous period, but finding fossils from that period is more complicated. Most of the materials found in Sichuan date from the Jurassic period. “This discovery is truly like a jigsaw puzzle, adding evidence of Sichuan’s Cretaceous Period and dinosaur diversity.”