Palaeontologists have discovered the world's biggest known dinosaur footprints along a remote stretch of coastline in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
At least 21 different species have been found - so many that researchers have dubbed the area "Australia's Jurassic Park".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Dr Steve Salisbury, who has studied the prints, says the animal that made them would have measured around 18ft from floor to hip.
Speaking to ABC News, he said a footprint that big might at first seem scientifically impossible and the sheer size of the prints had caused them to be overlooked at first.
"These animals did exist," he added. "They were out there and we're seeing evidence of them having existed in the Kimberley 130 million years ago based on these tracks."
The sauropod family, which includes the brontosaurus, lived around 130 million years ago at Walmadany in Kimberley, north of Broome. That makes them considerably older than the previously oldest-known dinosaur fossils in Australia, which are between 90 million and 115 million years old.
The soft ground the prints were made in has since hardened to form sandstone rock platforms on the coast.
-
Trump wants a weaker dollar but economists aren’t so sureTalking Points A weaker dollar can make imports more expensive but also boost gold
-
Political cartoons for February 3Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include empty seats, the worst of the worst of bunnies, and more
-
Trump’s Kennedy Center closure plan draws ireSpeed Read Trump said he will close the center for two years for ‘renovations’
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Australia weighs new gun laws after antisemitic attackSpeed Read A father and son opened fire on Jewish families at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing at least 15
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
