Rare fossils record dinosaur making U-turn

Paleontologists in east China's Shandong Province have identified a set of fossils with footprints of a dinosaur making a U-turn, the first evidence of such a maneuver by dinosaurs.

The 28 footprints formed a semicircular trackway left during the early Cretaceous Period (66 to 145 million years ago), according to the dinosaur research center in Zhucheng City, where the fossils were found.

Each with a diameter of about 30 cm, the footprints belong to a Parabrontopodus, a sauropod that walked on four feet. Judging from their depth and other evidence, researchers believe the sauropod was making a counter-clockwise 180-degree turn.

According to the center, tracks of turning dinosaurs have only been found in Morocco, Switzerland and Spain. Those discovered in Zhucheng are the only set to record a U-turn.

The discovery has been published in the journal "Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology".

Parabrontopodus is a new sauropod species discovered and identified in Zhucheng, which has the world's largest dinosaur fossil field.