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New Jurassic-era dinosaur footprints found
Delemont (Switzerland), Sept 22: Some 50 Jurassic-era dinosaur footprints have been discovered near a highway construction site in a mountainous region of Switzerland, authorities said today.
Delemont (Switzerland), Sept 22: Some 50 Jurassic-era dinosaur footprints have been discovered near a highway construction site in a mountainous region of Switzerland, authorities said today.
The site, at Chevenez in the northwestern Jura region, is still being cleared and scientists are analyzing the find, said Wolfgang Hug, head of the paleontology department at the cultural office of Jura Canton (state).
The prints are not the first found in the Jura, a chain of mountains which forms the border between Switzerland and France.
Earlier finds there led scientists to give the mountains' name to the Jurassic period. Scientists believe the era, 180 to 135 million years ago, was characterised by the dominance of dinosaurs and the appearance of flying reptiles and birds.
Preliminary tests indicate that the rock containing the prints was lodged in a layer of sediment dating back 150 million years.
Several different tracks and paths at the Chevenez site indicate the presence of three or four creatures, thought to measure three to four meters high, Hug said.
Hug told the news agencies that the prints were likely from the same kind of sauropods that were discovered in 2002 in nearby courtedoux, one of the largest fossilized footprint sites in Europe.
Sauropods were a group of plant-eating dinosaurs, all of which had small heads atop long necks and massive bodies that ended with muscular tails, like the brontosaurus and diplodocus.
Bureau Report
The prints are not the first found in the Jura, a chain of mountains which forms the border between Switzerland and France.
Earlier finds there led scientists to give the mountains' name to the Jurassic period. Scientists believe the era, 180 to 135 million years ago, was characterised by the dominance of dinosaurs and the appearance of flying reptiles and birds.
Preliminary tests indicate that the rock containing the prints was lodged in a layer of sediment dating back 150 million years.
Several different tracks and paths at the Chevenez site indicate the presence of three or four creatures, thought to measure three to four meters high, Hug said.
Hug told the news agencies that the prints were likely from the same kind of sauropods that were discovered in 2002 in nearby courtedoux, one of the largest fossilized footprint sites in Europe.
Sauropods were a group of plant-eating dinosaurs, all of which had small heads atop long necks and massive bodies that ended with muscular tails, like the brontosaurus and diplodocus.
Bureau Report