Scientists document largest trove of dinosaur footprints in central Bolivia

Legend once held that the enormous three-toed prints scattered across Bolivia’s central highlands came from monsters of supernatural strength, capable of sinking their claws even into solid rock. Then scientists came here in the 1960s and determined that this windswept plateau was actually the stomping ground of gigantic, two-legged dinosaurs. Now a team of researchers has discovered 16,600 footprints belonging to theropods – the group of dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex – in ancient waterways. Paleontologists, primarily from Loma Linda University in California, along with Bolivian researchers, published a study last Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, saying the discovery represents the largest number of theropod footprints recorded in the world.