Fossil Site in Bolivia Records Thousands of Cretaceous Dinosaur Tracks, Tail Traces, and Swim Tracks
The Carreras Pampa site in Torotoro National Park, Bolivia, records 1,321 tracks and 289 solitary tracks, totaling 16,600 theropod dinosaur tracks; 280 swimming lanes, totaling 1,378 swimming lanes; and several tracks with tail marks.
Dinosaur footprints at the Carreras Pampa site in Torotoro National Park, Bolivia. Image credit: Esperante and others., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0335973.
Bolivia has one of the most extensive and diverse dinosaur footprint records in the world, spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
However, despite the abundance of trail sites, very few scientific studies have been published.
In a new study, paleontologist Raúl Esperante of the Geoscience Research Institute and his colleagues have documented an unprecedented variety of dinosaur tracks at the Carreras Pampas site in Torotoro National Park.
In nine localities studied, they found 16,600 tracks left by three-toed theropod dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous.
These tracks vary in size from small (less than 10 cm) to large (more than 30 cm) and record a variety of dinosaur behaviors, including running, swimming, tail dragging, and even sharp turns.
“Most (80%) of the caterpillar creators had hip heights between 65 cm and 1.15 m, with a larger percentage between 75 cm and 1.05 m,” the paleontologists said.
“Very few track builders exceeded a height of 1.25 m. »
Most of these tracks are oriented roughly northwest-southeast, with ripple marks preserved in the sediment, suggesting that these dinosaurs roamed along the ancient shoreline.
“The Carreras Pampas site sets new world records for the number of individual dinosaur footprints, continuous tracks, tail tracks and swimming tracks,” the researchers said.
“This unprecedented abundance suggests that this was a high-traffic area, and the parallel orientation of some footprints could indicate that groups of dinosaurs traveled together.”
“Many other footprints remain to be explored at this site and others in Bolivia,” they added.
“This site is an amazing window into this region’s past. Not only how many dinosaurs moved through this area, but also what they did while they moved.”
“It’s amazing to work on this site, because everywhere you look the ground is covered in dinosaur tracks.”
The team’s findings appear online in the journal PLoS ONE.
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A. Hopeful and others. 2025. Morphotypes, preservation and taphonomy of dinosaur footprints, tail tracks and swimming tracks at the largest track site in the world: Carreras Pampa (Late Cretaceous), Torotoro National Park, Bolivia. PLoS One 20 (12): e0335973; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0335973
