SOUTHWEST CHINA YIELDS SENSATIONAL 200-MILLION-YEAR-OLD DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS

Tue 09 December 2025:

Paleontologists have discovered over 20 dinosaur and other vertebrate footprints on a rock face in southwest China’s Sichuan province, a find they believe provides new insights into early dinosaur evolution around 200 million years ago.

The tracks were initially spotted by a hiker in Dujiangyan city last month, and their authenticity was later verified by a research team led by Xing Lida, an associate professor at China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Xinhua News reported on Sunday.

This marked the first time dinosaur footprints have been reported in Dujiangyan.

According to Xing, the footprints include various theropod tracks made by meat-eating dinosaurs, as well as chirotherian-like prints, which resemble human hands and are attributed to early archosaur reptiles.

“What makes this site particularly valuable is that at least four layers preserve footprints, suggesting dinosaurs lived here for a long period,” Xing stated.

Researchers also discovered pieces of petrified wood near the tracks, including fallen logs and upright stumps still in place, offering further insights into the local ecosystem over 200 million years ago.

Jiang Shan, a researcher at the Zigong Dinosaur Museum in Sichuan, noted that this newly found material will assist scientists in gaining a deeper understanding of the early evolutionary history of dinosaurs in China.

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Dinosaur Footprints Discoveries Around the World

Dinosaur footprints (trace fossils called ichnites) are found on every continent, including Antarctica, and give us snapshots of behavior that bones alone can’t.

Australia (1920s–present): Walmadany, Western Australia has over 20 dinosaur trackways from 130 million years ago, including the world’s largest known sauropod prints (up to 1.7 m long) and theropod tracks. In 2021, Indigenous knowledge helped locate hundreds more.
United States: The Paluxy River in Texas (Dinosaur Valley State Park) has famous 113-million-year-old sauropod and theropod tracks, some appearing to walk side-by-side. Colorado’s “Dinosaur Freeway” along Highway 40 has thousands of prints from the Jurassic.
United Kingdom: The Isle of Skye, Scotland keeps revealing Middle Jurassic tracks (170 Ma), including sauropod “swim tracks” and theropod prints. England’s Sussex coast regularly exposes new Early Cretaceous prints after storms.
South America: Bolivia’s Cal Orck’o cliff (near Sucre) is the planet’s largest single tracksite: a near-vertical limestone wall with over 12,000 prints from at least 294 trackways (68 Ma), including long sauropod highways.
Asia: China’s Sichuan and Gansu provinces have “dinosaur dance floors” with hundreds of prints, some showing theropods running at 40+ km/h. South Korea’s southeast coast has over 5,000 prints, including the smallest known theropod tracks (1 cm).
Africa: Morocco’s Kem Kem region has giant theropod and sauropod prints. Namibia has 200-million-year-old early dinosaur tracks, among the oldest known.
Antarctica: Discovered in 1990s–2000s, Early Jurassic tracks prove dinosaurs lived even on polar continents.

New discoveries happen almost every year because erosion constantly exposes fresh rock. Stormy coasts (England, Korea, Portugal) and quarries/mines (China, Bolivia) are current hot spots.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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