Dino stampede in China reports BBC News, 6 February 2010. Scientists in China have uncovered approximate 3,000 dinosaur foot prints all facing the same way in a 2,600 sq m (0.64 acre) rock slope in the Zhucheng area, dated at 100 million years old. The prints are very well preserved and are from dinosaurs of many sizes, ranging from 10cm (4 in) to 80cm (2ft 9in), and at least six different kinds, including tyrannosaurs, coelurosaurs and hadrosaurs. Fossil experts said they could be “a migration or a panicked attempt to escape predators.”
Editorial Comment: A mass of footprints like this does indicate a lot of dinosaurs were running away from something. As tyrannosaurs are considered to be the top predators in the dinosaur world, we wonder what the researchers think they were running away from. For the foot prints to be so well defined and preserved they would have been made in soft sediment and then quickly covered by another layer of sediment. This could occur if the dinosaurs were running away from rapidly rising water, as in a very big flood. (Ref. fossil, sedimentation)
Evidence News 24 Mar 2010