A summer stroll on the beach turned into a prehistoric adventure for a 10-year-old girl in the U.K. when she spotted a set of enormous footprints. While strolling along the beach with her mom in Penarth, Tegan spotted five large footprints that dinosaur experts believe belong to Camelot, who roamed the area 200 million years ago. BBC Report.
The huge footprints, measuring 75cm across, are believed to have been made by a large herbivorous animal at the end of the Triassic period. Paleontologists are now working to confirm the discovery, with the National Museum Wales’ palaeontology curator expressing confidence that the prints are genuine, leaving Tegan and her mum thrilled to walk in the dinosaur’s footsteps.
“We’ve found five footprints and we’re talking about half to three-quarters of a metre between each one. These footprints are so large they must be from some type of dinosaur, called Sauropodomorpha,” Cindy Howells told the BBC’s The Dinohunters programme.
The incredible discovery was made on the South Wales coast, where the girl’s mother, Claire, lived.
“It was pretty cool and exciting. We just went out to see what we could find, we didn’t think we would find anything. We found these big holes that looked like dinosaur footprints, so mom took some photos, emailed the museum and found out it was a long-necked dinosaur footprint,” Tegan said.
Following this remarkable discovery, Claire contacted Cindy by email just a few days later. The dinosaur footprints were found in red siltstone at Lavernock Point, a location located between Cardiff and Barry along the Glamorgan Heritage Coast.
Cindy, a seasoned dinosaur expert with 40 years of experience in the field, was convinced of the authenticity of the footprints because they had a similar walking pattern. “The alternating left and right feet, with equal distance between them, tells it all. If they were just random holes, we would have been skeptical, but this pattern indicates deliberate movement. This is an important discovery, and when someone contacts us about a confirmed discovery of a dinosaur, the excitement is palpable – it’s really thrilling”, she explained.
“It’s hard to comprehend that you’re walking on the same beach where a giant prehistoric animal lived millions of years ago. You could spend a lifetime looking for dinosaur treasure, so for Tegan to have this happen at her age is a huge thing,” he said.
