"Paleontologists in Italy have uncovered thousands of dinosaur footprints on a remote, near-vertical rock face in a national park close to the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics venue of Bormio, officials announced on Tuesday. The footprints, which number up to 20,000 and which date back around 210 million years to the Triassic Period, were spotted by wildlife photographer Elio Della Ferrera back in September. The prints measure up to 40 centimeters wide (15.7 inches) and in some cases are so well preserved that claw marks are clearly visible, making the find one of the most spectacular discoveries in decades."
"Experts believe the footprints were left by herds of long-necked bipedal herbivores similar to a Plateosaurus. The creatures, which measured up to 10 meters in length and weighed up to four tons, would have been present in the region in prehistoric times when the area was a warm lagoon on the edge of what used to be the Tethys Ocean. "There are very obvious traces of individuals that have walked at a slow, calm, quiet rhythmic pace, without running,'' Dal Sasso explained."
Thousands of dinosaur footprints were uncovered on a near-vertical rock face in a national park near Bormio, numbering up to 20,000 and dating to about 210 million years ago in the Triassic Period. Individual prints reach up to 40 centimeters wide, with some preserving clear toe and claw impressions. The tracks are attributed to herds of long-necked, bipedal herbivores similar to Plateosaurus, animals up to 10 meters long and weighing as much as four tons. The footprints were impressed in soft tidal-flat sediments around the Tethys Ocean and later lithified, preserving rhythmic, slow-walking patterns.
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