Evidence supporting the idea that dinosaurs may have been able to swim has been unearthed in Spain in the form of twelve fossilized footprints in a sandstone lakebed. The tracks stretch a distance of 15 metres and show that the dinosaur scraped the ground as it swam through three-metre deep water. Researchers say that ripple marks fossilized alongside the footprints suggest the dinosaur was attempting to maintain a straight path while moving against a current. The structure and characteristics of the tracks indicate that they were made by a large bipedal theropod dinosaur, similar to Tyrannosaurus rex. Studying the tracks will help scientists produce better biomechanical models and gain further insight into the physiology behind dinosaur swimming.
SOURCE: Geology
