Bird X-rays could be the secret to understanding dinosaur tracks

Bird X-rays could be the secret to understanding dinosaur tracks
(Image credit: iStock)

An X-ray video of a modern bird foot could help scientists better understand dinosaur tracks from more than 250 million years ago.

The tracks of Corvipes lacertoideus, a dinosaur roughly the size of a chicken, contain marks that scientists believe were left when the dinosaur picked up its feet. But without X-rays, they couldn't fully explain the features, Live Science reports.

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The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help paleontologists better understand how dinosaurs walked. Live Science reports that the researchers' next step will be to "search for hints to evolution in tracks, looking for alterations in motion as dinosaur bodies changed."

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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.