Lecture 3 Flashcards
Impressions made in substrate of an animal walking, running or leaping
Tracks
Tracks made in ____________ make the best impressions as they preserve the greatest detail
Fine-grained material
Info revealed from a single track
Type of dinosaur
General size of dinosaur (huge/big/medium/small/tiny)
Environment
______ show the subsequent footfalls of an animal (tracks made in sequence while walking, running or leaping)
Trackways
Trackways provide even more information:
How they walked (as a biped or quadruped)
Type of Locomotion (walking/running).
Moving as a pack/Herd?
Dinosaur Height and length (next slide)
The distance between foot falls of the same foot. This can be easily measured from a trackway
Stride
= ~1/2 stride (for a theropod walking)
Hip Height (Theropods height)
The distance from tip of the snout to tip of the tail.
Length
Ankylosaurs Tracks/Trackways
Locomotion: Quadruped
Distinguishing features: pedal tracks (rear limbs) Show 4 rounded digits ( no claws) 4 is unique amongst dinosaurs
Ornithopod tracks/trackways
Locomotion: either (falcultative biped)
Distinguishing feautures: Pedal tracks show 3 rounded digits (no claws) in a wide, U-shaped print
Sauropods
Locomotion: quadruped
Distinguishing feautures:
Pedal tracks are oval in shaped and show 5 digits; typically 3 having claw impressions (Digits 1, 2, 3)
Theropod Tracks/trackways
Locomotion: Biped
Distinguising feautures: tracks show 3 clawed digits in a v-shaped print (wider if it is a big theropod)
Some prints only have four or two toed prints
The _____ allows us to determine whether a Thropod track was made by a left foot or right foot
Theropod Notch
