Bolivia: discovery of a gigantic carnivorous dinosaur footprint – Le Figaro

The Aberlisaurus which would have left traces that could have reached almost 12 meters high. But some experts remain wary about the circumstances of the discovery recently revealed by a local tour guide.

In an interview with CNN, Sebastian Argentine paleontologist Apesteguia, said it would be in “the biggest footprint of carnivorous dinosaur ever discovered in the world.” In late July, Grover Marquina, a tourist guide who was on a hike near the city of Sucre, Bolivia, said he saw a dinosaur footprint on the crater of Maragua. This footprint, which measures 1.20 meters long, belong to a carnivorous species extinct for 70 million years: the Aberlisaurus.

This dinosaur, which lived in the Late Cretaceous, like as two peas in Tyrannosaurus. Like him, it was for example able to move on its two hind legs, had a strong jaw and small arms. Today, scientists have him a fossil: a skull exposed at the Provincial Museum of Cipoletti, Argentina. Thanks to him, they were able to achieve a “sketch” of the animal. And the discovery of this new footprint could enable them to confirm their assumptions about its size. Until estimated between 6.50 and 9 meters, the height of the specimen that has left it could reach 12 meters …

A discovery that a problem

But now archaeologists are surprised. In general, the tracks left by dinosaurs, and found in this region are far short of that length. Sebastian Apesteguia has not hidden his surprise: “Normally, these types of footprints are between 85 and 100 centimeters.”

When contacted by Le Figaro , Ronan Allain, paleontologist dinosaurs at the National Museum of Natural History, declined to communicate on the subject: “As long as no scientific study is not output, it is difficult to decide on this” discovery “; especially since we do not know what were the circumstances. “Moreover, for him, is not to exclude interest that motivated him who says to have seen. The hiker is “perhaps not at its first discovery” …

Even reserve side of John the Loeuff, paleontologist and director of the Dinosaur Museum, in the Aude. For him, it’s complicated “to determine whether a footprint belonged to a particular dinosaur.” To begin, we need to know “if there really is an impression, not a sub-footprint”. In other words, be sure that the initial impression was not impaired. He confirmed that usually members of this species are “not very big.” Many lived “in South America but also in Africa and Europe.” However, it ensures that if the fingerprint has been properly maintained, this 1m20 size is “considerable for a dinosaur.”