| Dinosaur tracks |
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Dinosaur tracks have been discovered in multiple locations around the world, and are one of the ways that scientists learn about dinosaur behaviour. Dinosaur tracks are a particular type of trace fossil, that is made by an impression that a dinosaur has left on the substrate millions of years ago. Trace fossils are also know as ichnofossils; and also include burrows, borings, feeding marks, and root cavities. Trace fossils can be contrasted with body fossils, which are the actual remains of an organism rather than an impression that an organism has made upon the Earth. The trace fossils of dinosaurs can provide us with a lot of valuable information on these animals; such as their weight, speed, and social behaviour patterns. Dinosaur tracks are also an important way to identify the living and hunting locations of specific dinosaur species. One likely situation for fossil preservation is when dinosaurs walk around in a clay rich area, leaving their footprint impressions on a clay surface that eventually hardens into mud. If water eventually rises over these hard impressions and buries the prints in sand and silt, they have a much better chance of being preserved. Over time, the dinosaur prints harden and preserve their tracks. Sometimes, millions of years later, scientists are lucky enough to find these trace fossils, and can study them to learn about the behaviour of different dinosaur species. Fossils from dinosaur tracks are one of the major ways that scientists can learn about dinosaur behaviour, and the lay person is often very surprised to learn how much information scientists can gather from a single set of dinosaur prints. |