The Earth might be made up of multiple continents now, but long, long ago, all of the land was connected. At least, that’s one of the theories that many scientists have about the earliest days of our world, like when the dinosaurs roamed freely. Now, new evidence supports this with two matching dinosaur footprints that were found on two different continents.
These particular tracks were discovered in two different places—completely across the ocean from each other. That’s certainly a long way apart, and it obviously matches up with the belief that all of our continents were once interconnected, allowing dinosaurs to simply waltz from place to place.
In total, the matching dinosaur footprints were found over 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) apart. According to a press release, they were preserved thanks to sediment found within ancient lakes and rivers. Further, the fossils found with the footprints suggest that they were left over 120 million years ago.
It’s believed that the land bridge that once connected the continents together started to break apart and disappear around 140 million years ago. So, when these footprints were left, the dinosaur responsible could have been moving through a constantly shifting environment.
Documenting the tracks left behind by dinosaurs can teach us a lot about their movements and the world they lived in. Further, because these matching dinosaur footprints were found so far apart, they can help us pinpoint where the two continents in question—South America and Africa—connected back then.
The paleontologists behind this latest research say that the footprints’ shape is almost identical and that the geological and plate tectonic contexts of the areas are very similar, too. As such, these footprints give us a unique glimpse into history and a time when creatures much larger than us once ruled the land—before that dino-killing asteroid came around and ruined it all.
