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The footprint
from a giant sauropod dinosaur was among 21 types of tracks
found on the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia, 130 km (80
miles) from the beach resort town of Broome.
"They are bigger than anything that has been recorded anywhere
in the world," said Steve Salisbury, the lead author of a joint
study by the University of Queensland and James Cook University.
Sauropods were four-legged plant-eaters with long necks and
tails, pillar-like legs and immense bodies. Sauropod footprints
measuring 1.2 metres (4 feet) were found in Germany in 2015.
The rocks containing the tracks at Dampier date back 127 million
to 144 million years, older than previous dinosaur fossil
discoveries in Australia, Salisbury said.
"Most of our dinosaur fossils come from the east coast, or east
Australia, and they are between 115 million and 90 million years
old," Salisbury said.
The scientists also found tracks from six types of meat-eating
dinosaurs and the first evidence of armoured stegosaurs.
The study was initiated by the indigenous Goolarabooloo
community, which has known about the tracks for generations and
feared the footprints on James Price Point would be lost after
it was chosen as a potential site for an LNG project, Salisbury
said.
Scientists used drones and light aircraft to photograph the
tracks on the peninsula, which is known for its difficult
terrain, weather and tides.
"What makes it really tricky is that the rocks where the tracks
occur are only in the intertidal zone," Salisbury said.
"They are under water half the time and there are daily tides of
up to 10 meters," he said.
(Reporting by Benjamin Weir; Editing by Darren Schuettler and
Clarence Fernandez)
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