Dinosaur Highway | 07 Jan 2025

Source: TH

Recently, hundreds of dinosaur footprints, dating back to the Middle Jurassic Period (around 166 million years ago), were discovered at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, UK, earning the site the nickname "dinosaur highway" due to the large number of footprints found.

The footprints include Sauropods, large herbivores like Cetiosaurus (up to 60 ft), and Megalosaurus, a 30-ft carnivore with triple-claw prints.

Dinosaurs: Dinosaurs were prehistoric reptiles that lived from about 245 million years ago to 66 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous periods).
- Modern birds are descendants of non-avian dinosaurs.
Classification:
- Ornithischia: Beaked plant-eaters (e.g., Stegosaurus, Triceratops).
- Sauropodomorpha: Long-necked herbivores (e.g., Diplodocus).
- Theropoda: Carnivores (e.g., T. rex, Velociraptor), ancestors of birds.
Size: Dinosaurs ranged from massive species like Argentinosaurus (110 tons) to small ones like the bee hummingbird.
Diet and Movement:
- Meat-eaters: Two-legged, hunted alone or in groups.
- Plant-eaters: Two or four-legged, grazed on plants.
Distinctive Feature: The key feature distinguishing dinosaurs from other reptiles is the hole in the hip socket, allowing upright walking.
Extinction: Dinosaurs went extinct around, likely due to an asteroid impact in the Cretaceous period, creating a crater in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico).