中国南方首次发现白垩纪哺乳形类足迹
Scientists from China found amazing footprints in Huaiji county, Zhaoqing city, Guangdong province. The footprints are from two kinds of ancient animals — small mammal-like animals and dinosaurs. For the first time ever, they discovered these kinds of footprints together in Cretaceous strata (白垩纪地层) at this site.
One kind of footprint is tiny, just 1.8 centimeters long! The track belongs to a small mammal-like animal, maybe the size of a mouse. Professor Xing Lida, who led the study, said the tiny tracks show the animal had four short toes. He thinks it walked near a lake or river. The other footprints are much bigger dinosaur tracks. These footprints belong to theropod dinosaurs. They show three toes with clear claw (爪) marks. Scientists also found two larger footprints (each 45 cm long). The animals that made these larger footprints walked on all fours.
This discovery helps us understand what animals lived together long ago. “It teaches us about life millions of years ago,” said Professor Xing. “Finding more tracks will help us learn even more.”
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