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Dinosaur Footprints from 125-Million Years Ago Discovered in Utah

August 22,2014

Dinosaur Footprints

       In 2009, a Moab, Utah hiker discovered 125-million year old dinosaur footprints and since then, the location has been kept a secret…until now.

        For the first time, the public will have a chance to see the footprints left behind by dinosaurs 125-million years ago.

        Scientists from the University of Colorado and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) studied the site north of Moab and started excavations last year. Now, volunteers are helping prepare the site for its public debut.

        Volunteers have been sweeping, scraping and brushing the stuff that’s hidden the tracks from view for eons.

      “Over 200 tracks that we’re aware of so far that we’ve uncovered,” volunteer Lee Shenton said. “And at least one case where there’s 17 consecutive prints from the same animal. I think it’s going to be something really important. It has at least a dozen different animals.”

      “It’s tracks of the past, really, and it’s very cool to be trying to preserve that information,” science writer and volunteer Allyson Mathis said.

        BLM is trying to document them with 3-D photography. “And then we’ll be able to replicate any of the tracks, should they ever be damaged or destroyed,” BLM paleontologist Rebecca Hunt-Foster told KSL TV. “And, also, people will be able to study them without doing damage to the actual surface.”

       “It’s pretty awesome to know that an animal walked right underneath where you’re working and that these creatures were once living, breathing creatures that were all over the place,” Hunt-Foster said.

       The BLM is currently raising funds to build a trail to the dinosaur tracks, which will hopefully be available for public viewing in October.

Mr. Zhou1

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Mr. Zhou

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Mr. Zhou222

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Mr. Zhou

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