The beginning of a set of dinosaur step embossed on the roof of a cave near Mount Morgan , Australia has finally been identified . The explanation is not as raving mad as some previous hypothesis , but the means it emerged shows how much chance can matter in science .
Dr Anthony Romilioof the University of Queensland explained to IFLScience that , sadly , dinosaur did not dance on the ceilings of caves , bat - like . Instead , they oftentimes walked over soft clay sediments , leave behind tracks . These depressions often filled with sand , and when both layers deform to stone under the air pressure of still more textile above , the sandstone were often harder than the mudstones .
finally , pee erosion washed off the softer material to create caves , leaving the footprint sticking out of the rock above at many Queensland sites .
Although the ceiling prints make much confusion in the early twentieth century , by the time those at Mount Morgan were give away the formation process was well realize . More puzzling was the question of what sort of dinosaur made them . The prints here are in two sizes , and paleontologists ab initio assign them to a theropod take the air on all fours .
Theropods ' arms were n’t in the main quite as runty compared to the respite of their bodies as those of thememe - inspiringT. rex , but their forelimbs were ill - suited to walking . If Mount Morgan did indeed show quadrupedal theropod movement it would be a very substantial discovery indeed . " You do n’t assumeT. rexused its arms to take the air , and we did n’t expect one of its earlier predatory relation of 200 million years ago did either , ” Romilio suppose in astatement .
For tenner the question pillow , and the site is now closed so those seeking an response have been ineffective to find young evidence , until Romilio converge dentist Dr Roslyn Dick .
Australian Ph.D. scholarships are not very remunerative and Romilio told IFLScience : “ I supplement my income with a occupation at the market . ” In between spruiking the toll of cauliflower and broccoli Romilio told the customers he got to know what he was studying . When Dick responded her father had discovered some dinosaur Romilio was skeptical , but her revelation she was the daughter of Queensland fogy search fable Ross Staines left him speechless .
Staines take high - resolution photographs of the Mount Morgan caves , as well as elaborated notes , all of which were now hive away in a cupboard under Dick ’s sister ’s stairs .
Using techniques and knowledge unavailable to Staines , Romilio analyse these record book and unveil in a paper published inHistorical Biologythe print were made by two two-footed dinosaurs of dissimilar sizes .
Romilio told IFLScience the large dinosaur in all probability had legs a meter ( 3.3 feet ) long , while the smaller one was about half as mellow . The larger prints were made first , but they could have been minutes or hours later . The two were in all probability different species , but Romilio ca n’t decree out an grownup and juvenile person of the same species .
yield the prints ' 200 - million - yr age , the more splayed photographic print Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and short central toe score the pair as herbivores , but Romilio could n’t provide more contingent on their dieting or lifestyle . The original theropod identification came about through muddiness with subsequent dinosaur phylogeny , when two - legged herbivores developed thicker toes .
