SCIENCE

Scientists have described a remarkable collection of dinosaur tracks on beaches in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. (BBC)

How do paleontologists drone for dinos in the Kimberley?

Teachers, scroll down for a quick list at key resources in our Teachers Toolkit, including today’s MapMaker Interactive map of “Australia’s Jurassic Park.”

Discussion Ideas

• New research details the rich ichnofauna of the northern Western Australian coast. What is ichnofauna?
  • Ichnofauna describes the diversity of an area’s animal life as indicated by trace fossils such as tracks, footprints, and burrows. Ichnofauna is only an indication of the true biodiversity of the area, as some fossils are preserved more abundantly than others.

• The world’s biggest dinosaur footprint yet discovered was identified in Western Australia. What type of dinosaur made the footprint? Watch the short CNN video above for some help.
  • The largest dinosaur footprint was made by a sauropod. The four-legged, long-necked, plant-eating sauropods were the largest dinosaurs to walk the Earth. Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, and Brontosaurus were all sauropods.

• If this Australian sauropod left the biggest footprint yet discovered on Earth, why is it just being discovered now? Take a look through our study guide on dinosaurs in the Kimberley for some help.
  • Fossils are (usually) not so easy to find! Fossil hunting is a skill.
    • Footprints are rare: Environmental conditions need to be perfect for loose sand to harden to sandstone and preserve a footprint for millions of years, with no significant erosion due to wind or water.
    • Identification is difficult: Some dinosaur footprints don’t look like footprints at first glance. Giant sauropods, for instance, left circular prints that can blend in with natural weathering and erosion patterns. Here is a sauropod print, and here is a photo of Australian paleontologists using silicon rubber to make a cast of a sauropod print that might not be obvious unless you know what you’re looking for.
    • The landscape is forbidding: Some of the footprint fossils are found along jagged cliffs, crumbling rocky reefs, and underwater in intertidal zones. According to the BBC, “Many are only exposed for a few hours each day, and only a few days each year, meaning the team has to work quickly.”
    • It’s a remote area: The Kimberley region, the most northwestern part of Australia, is among the most sparsely populated areas on the continent.

• The Western Australian coast is so rich with dinosaur footprints its been nicknamed Australia’s “Jurassic Park.” Besides sauropods, what other types of dinosaurs have left their mark in the Broome Sandstone? Take a look at the second bookmark in today’s MapMaker Interactive map for some help.
  • “Twenty-one different types. There are about six different types of tracks for meat-eating dinosaurs; about the same number for sauropod dinosaurs; about four different types of ornithopod dinosaur tracks—so, two-legged plant-eaters—and really exciting, I think, are six types of armored dinosaur tracks, including stegosaurs, which we’ve never seen before in Australia.” So, besides sauropods:
    • theropods such as Australovenator, a swift predator of the Early Cretaceous
    • ornithopods such as Muttaburrasaurus, which was first identified on the other side of the continent, in Queensland, Australia, in 1963
    • thyreophorans such as Minmi, and, now, stegosaurus, whose bodies were covered with plates of armor

• How do paleontologists tell the difference between sauropod, theropod, ornithopod, and thyreophoran footprints?
  • They’re differently shaped, differently sized. Identifying species (taxa) through footprints and other trace fossils is called ichnotaxonomy. Here’s a great introduction to spotting dino footprints.
    • Sauropod footprints are big and blobby.
    • Theropod footprints look like bird footprints, with three articulated toes.
    • Ornithopod footprints also have three toes, but tend to be wider than theropods.
    • Thyreophoran footprints can have more than three toes.

Artwork courtesy and copyright Jo Manjun. “The Dinosaurian Ichnofauna of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Walmadany Area (James Price Point), Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia.” Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2016.1269539

Photograph by Greg Willis, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-2.0

• Who is Marala, and what does he have to do with dinosaurs in the Kimberley?
  • Marala is a mythical being of the Aboriginal Australian Dreamtime. Marala “was the ‘lawgiver,’ and instilled in country the codes of conduct for behavior needed to help ensure its well-being.”
  • Marala was the “emu man,” who, “in the process of moving through the Song Cycle from south to north, as well as in and out of the sea, left behind three-toed tracks. He also left behind the grooved impressions of his tail feathers when he sat down to rest and create his law ground. Today, three-toed dinosaur tracks (typically those assigned to Megalosaurus broomensis, a theropod) and impressions of cycad-like plants are seen as testimony to Marala’s journey as narrated in the Song Cycle.”
  • Marala has left his impression on the sky as well as the sand(stone). His emu-shaped figure is represented by the dark, cloudy nebulae running the length of the Milky Way.

TEACHERS TOOLKIT

BBC: Kimberley fossil tracks are Australia’s ‘Jurassic Park’

Nat Geo: Dinosaurs in Western Australia map

Nat Geo: Droning for Dinosaurs study guide

Stephen Hui Geological Museum: Dinosaur Footprints

(extra credit!) Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: The Dinosaurian Ichnofauna of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Walmadany Area (James Price Point), Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia