(ORDO NEWS) — Lame dinosaur footprints discovered in Spain An article about this was published in PLOS One.
Carlos Herrera-Castillo of the Autonomous University of Madrid and colleagues examined a set of six unusual footprints from the Las Hoyas area.
The footprints date back to 129 million years ago and were left by an unknown dinosaur from the Therope hoard.
Scientists have noticed that in the tracks left by the right foot, all three fingers are visible, and in those left by the left, only two are clearly visible.
The marks from the third were short, as if the finger was missing or injured. In addition, the footprints were unusually wide for a theropod. In addition, the right footprint was specifically deformed, as if the animal was carrying more weight on the right foot.
A similar walking pattern can be observed in modern birds that have injured their legs. Thus, paleontologists were able to see how dinosaurs adapted to lameness.
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