Paleontologists have recorded 16,600 dinosaur footprints in Bolivia’s central highlands, offering an extraordinary look at the behavior of the massive creatures that roamed the region more than 60 million years ago, reports AP.
The tracks, found in and around the village and national park of Toro Toro in the Bolivian Andes, belong to theropods—the two-legged dinosaur group that includes Tyrannosaurus rex. The six-year study, led primarily by researchers at Loma Linda University in California and published Wednesday in PLOS One, documents the largest known collection of theropod footprints anywhere in the world.
“There’s no other site in the world with such an abundance of theropod tracks,” said Roberto Biaggi, co-author of the study led by Spanish paleontologist Raúl Esperante.
The prints reveal a variety of ancient behaviors, including evidence of dinosaurs attempting to swim. Scientists identified 1,378 claw marks etched into soft lake-bottom sediment—scratches made just before rising waters covered and preserved them.
“These tracks provide a remarkable window into dinosaur life at the end of the Cretaceous,” said Richard Butler, a paleontologist at the University of Birmingham who was not involved in the research.
Despite surviving for millions of years, the site faces modern threats from farmers, quarrying activity, and highway construction. Unlike other fossil-rich areas of South America, Toro Toro lacks dinosaur bones, teeth, and eggs—suggesting the animals likely passed through the region rather than living there permanently.
Footprint sizes vary widely, indicating that giant theropods standing roughly 10 meters (33 feet) tall shared the landscape with much smaller dinosaurs only about 32 centimeters (1 foot) high at the hip. Because tracks capture movement in real time, they reveal details skeletons cannot—showing when dinosaurs walked, ran, stopped or changed direction.
Why so many dinosaurs gathered in Toro Toro remains uncertain. Some experts propose they were drawn to an ancient freshwater lake, while others think the animals may have been migrating or escaping danger.
Biaggi said research is ongoing and that more tracks are likely to emerge along the edges of the exposed areas as studies continue.
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
