Dinosaurierspuren vom Monte Buso, Dinosaur footprints site at Monte Buso, Trentino, Italy.
The Dinosaurierspuren vom Monte Buso are trace fossils preserved in the rock ceiling of a tunnel in Trentino, Italy. The impressions are three-toed and show claw marks at the front, recording in detail how these animals placed their feet as they walked.
The tracks date from the Early Jurassic and were found in 2010 by researchers from the Trentino Natural Science Museum while examining the tunnel. The tunnel itself had been cut into the rock by the Austro-Hungarian army for military use between 1916 and 1918.
The footprints sit inside a tunnel that was dug for military purposes, giving the site an unusual double nature. Information panels on site explain in plain terms what the tracks reveal about how these animals moved and behaved.
The site is reached from the western entrance of the rock tunnel, with the footprints found roughly 130 meters inside. Bringing a torch is a good idea, as it helps pick out the finer details of the fossil marks on the ceiling.
The footprints appear on the ceiling of the tunnel rather than on the floor, because the rock layers were flipped over millions of years by geological forces. This means the animals originally walked on what is now above the heads of visitors looking up at them.
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