Matching sets of dinosaur footprints found
September 2, 2024 7:25 AM Subscribe
finally my theory about dinosaur jesus is confirmed
posted by moonmilk at 8:05 AM on September 2 [13 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 8:05 AM on September 2 [13 favorites]
These are clearly cartoon dinosaur feet.
posted by Glinn at 8:06 AM on September 2 [1 favorite]
posted by Glinn at 8:06 AM on September 2 [1 favorite]
It blows my mind that as recently as when my parents were in highschool (1950s), plate tectonics wasn't taught because it wasn't settled science, or really even fully understood until the technology to map ocean floors was developed in the 1960s.
We knew the chemical make up of the stars before we understood the mechanics of how our continents evolved.
posted by gwint at 8:23 AM on September 2 [7 favorites]
We knew the chemical make up of the stars before we understood the mechanics of how our continents evolved.
posted by gwint at 8:23 AM on September 2 [7 favorites]
Question… If this was some sort of dinosaur highway, why are these
prints so pristine and alone? Where are all the others? Did the dinosaur walk through the mud and then that mud dried out and got covered and protected?
posted by njohnson23 at 8:30 AM on September 2 [1 favorite]
prints so pristine and alone? Where are all the others? Did the dinosaur walk through the mud and then that mud dried out and got covered and protected?
posted by njohnson23 at 8:30 AM on September 2 [1 favorite]
Whoa! That's amazing, but chariot, how could you not link the next article:
Mysterious symbols found near footprints shed light on ancient humans’ awareness of dinosaurs, scientists say
I'm sure creationists are having a field day with this, but I'm really hoping it's not a hoax.
I can so see an observant early Roy Chapman Andrews with a spear and a loin cloth finding these prints saying, "Hey guys, look at these! Let's do some art doodles." Early homs weren't stupid, and they were probably more observant about nature and its anomalies than we are.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:45 AM on September 2 [4 favorites]
Mysterious symbols found near footprints shed light on ancient humans’ awareness of dinosaurs, scientists say
I'm sure creationists are having a field day with this, but I'm really hoping it's not a hoax.
I can so see an observant early Roy Chapman Andrews with a spear and a loin cloth finding these prints saying, "Hey guys, look at these! Let's do some art doodles." Early homs weren't stupid, and they were probably more observant about nature and its anomalies than we are.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:45 AM on September 2 [4 favorites]
So it is that all of us have legacies in ways and places we can never predict. Comforting in its way, but frankly most of ours are going to be more microplastics-based.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:43 AM on September 2
posted by Countess Elena at 10:43 AM on September 2
Catchy headlines and all, but the word “matching” seems to be doing a lot of heavy lifting here. At first I thought it was like, the exact same dinosaur or maybe a posse and was like whooooah. “Similar,” maybe. Still cool stuff.
posted by gottabefunky at 10:50 AM on September 2 [2 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 10:50 AM on September 2 [2 favorites]
I'm struggling to find the news in this, and folks should not miss this part late in the article:
The dinosaur tracks in Cameroon were first discovered in the late 1980s, and Jacobs reported on them at the First International Symposium on Dinosaur Tracks and Traces, convened by paleontologist Martin Lockley, in 1986.
Jacobs then became friends with study author Ismar de Souza Carvalho, now a professor within the department of geology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Jacobs was studying dinosaur movements from the African side, while Carvalho was studying them from the Brazilian side.
It seems to me like matching fossil records across the Atlantic Rift has already been a known thing for decades. See also chavenet's link above -- from 2005!
I think somebody's got a good public affairs office.
posted by intermod at 11:52 AM on September 2 [3 favorites]
The dinosaur tracks in Cameroon were first discovered in the late 1980s, and Jacobs reported on them at the First International Symposium on Dinosaur Tracks and Traces, convened by paleontologist Martin Lockley, in 1986.
Jacobs then became friends with study author Ismar de Souza Carvalho, now a professor within the department of geology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Jacobs was studying dinosaur movements from the African side, while Carvalho was studying them from the Brazilian side.
It seems to me like matching fossil records across the Atlantic Rift has already been a known thing for decades. See also chavenet's link above -- from 2005!
I think somebody's got a good public affairs office.
posted by intermod at 11:52 AM on September 2 [3 favorites]
That's absolutely incredible, seriously.
I wish our society would invest more money into science and tracking down the history of the planet, and so on... which is part of my fantasy about what the world should be like, rather than the way it is, I suppose.
posted by jokeefe at 8:46 PM on September 2 [1 favorite]
I wish our society would invest more money into science and tracking down the history of the planet, and so on... which is part of my fantasy about what the world should be like, rather than the way it is, I suppose.
posted by jokeefe at 8:46 PM on September 2 [1 favorite]
I don't care enough about this to read the actual article, but as a long-term MetaFilter citizen, I care passionately that someone must make a Footprints in the Sand joke about this FPP. So I had to check in and make sure someone has. I am relieved to see that Moonmilk and lock robster have similar enough sensibility that my participation is not needed. Kudos!
posted by seasparrow at 9:20 AM on September 3
posted by seasparrow at 9:20 AM on September 3
why are these prints so pristine and alone? Where are all the others? Did the dinosaur walk through the mud and then that mud dried out and got covered and protected?
A vanishingly small fraction of animals and their effects are preserved in the fossil records. Yes, this would have been covered shortly after the mud dried, before it had a chance to erode. It got buried deeper and deeper and became rock. It stayed buried for tens of millions of years until erosion uncovered it [geologically] recently.
"Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record."
posted by neuron at 9:33 AM on September 3
A vanishingly small fraction of animals and their effects are preserved in the fossil records. Yes, this would have been covered shortly after the mud dried, before it had a chance to erode. It got buried deeper and deeper and became rock. It stayed buried for tens of millions of years until erosion uncovered it [geologically] recently.
"Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record."
posted by neuron at 9:33 AM on September 3
Metafilter: I don't care enough about this to read the actual article
posted by cinnamonduff at 6:27 PM on September 4 [3 favorites]
posted by cinnamonduff at 6:27 PM on September 4 [3 favorites]
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