Dinosaur fossils are found by professional researchers almost every year in different parts of the world. Recently, a 220 million-year-old dinosaur footprint was found on a Welsh beach by a four-year-old girl. The footprint can help find how the creatures walked, scientists have said.
The little girl, identified as Lily Wilder, spotted the footprint at Bendricks Bay in Barry earlier this month, when she was out walking with her father. Experts said the print is over 10 cm long and is thought to be from a dinosaur with a height of just 75 cm. The girl’s mother, Sally, said that her husband had taken a photograph of the print and initially didn’t fully believe it could be of a dinosaur. But little did Lily and her father know that their discovery has the potential to lead to bigger findings of dinosaurs. National Museum Wales paleontology curator Cindy Wells said the discovery is one of the ‘best-preserved examples anywhere in the UK’. She added that it will aid paleontologists to get a better idea of how the creatures walked.
“This fossilised dinosaur footprint from 220 million years ago is one of the best-preserved examples from anywhere in the UK and will really aid paleontologists to get a better idea about how these early dinosaurs walked. Its acquisition by the museum is mainly thanks to Lily and her family who first spotted it,” she said. The dinosaur which left it was described as “a slender animal” which would have walked on its two hind feet and actively hunted other small animals and insects.
