Find Dino Mite! The footprint of a cute baby dinosaur discovered in China is only 6cm long and is the smallest stegosaur print EVER found
- Footprint was found by experts in Xinjiang Province in northwestern China
- It measures just 2.24 inches (5.7 cm) in length and is believed to belong to a stegosaur
- Expect the animal that created it to be a baby stegosaur with relatives
A small footprint of a baby dinosaur has been discovered in China.
The print is only 2.24 inches (5.7 cm) long and the exact species that created it remains unknown, but it is thought to be a diminutive stegosaur.
The most famous stegosaurus is the Stegosaurus, a 6 meter long herbivorous giant known for its protruding back plates and club-like tail.
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A footprint found in China is believed to belong to a baby stegosaurus, experts believe it would be armored and have a pointed tail just like the huge adults (photo, artist’s impression)
Pictured right, the tiny footprint of a stegosaur found in China. It is shorter than the 12-inch footprints of the much larger adult stegosaur footprints that can also be found on the site (left), suggesting that young stegosaurs have tiptoed like birds and cats
Dr. Anthony Romilla, a co-author of the University of Queensland study, said: ‘This footprint was created by a herbivorous, armored dinosaur commonly known as a stegosaur – the family of dinosaurs to which the famous stegosaurus belongs.
“Like the stegosaurus, this little dinosaur probably had spines on its tail and bony plates on its back as an adult.”
Researchers who found the footprint in the Tugulu group of the Lower Cretaceous in Xinjiang Province, China, say the footprint was found close to much larger versions.
The international team of paleontologists says this indicates that the dinosaur was likely surrounded by older, full-grown relatives.
Writing in their scientific paper, published in the journal Palaios, the experts say they believe the trail was created by a dinosaur known as Iichnogenus Delta Mode.
They say the other footprints in the neighborhood are about six times larger and that the babyprint is “the smallest convincing example of a Delta Mode currently known.”
Finding a stegosaur footprint smaller than about 12cm is very rare, with the previous smallest ever discovered being 8cm long.
The footprint has three short, wide, rounded toe prints that researchers say are evidence that it belongs to a stegosaur.
Pictured, small footprint analysis (left) reveals three small rounded toes of stegosaurs
They also say its shape shows that young stegosaurs had a different gait than the much heavier adults.
Adult tracks are elongated, which means that the giant dinosaurs walked with their heels on the ground, just like humans.
But the baby stegosaurus’s heel was lifted, indicating that it was walking on tiptoe, like a cat or bird, with the bottom of its foot not touching the ground.
“The stegosaur could have switched to heel walking with age,” said Dr. Lida Xing, the paleontologist at the China University of Geosciences in Beijing who found the imprint.
“A complete set of traces of these tiny footprints would give us the answer to this question, but unfortunately we only have one footprint.”