Matching dinosaur footprints found more than 3,700 miles apart
A team of paleontologists found matching dinosaur footprints on what are now two different continents, separated by thousands of miles of ocean. The footprints, dating back to the Early Cretaceous period, were found in Brazil and in Cameroon , researchers wrote in a study published Monday by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. The discovery shows where land-dwelling dinosaurs were able to cross freely between South America and Africa before the two continents split apart millions of years ago . The study showed that the more than 260 footprints that were examined were imprinted in mud and silt along historic rivers and lakes; the footprints in South America and Africa were separated by more than 3,700 kilometers. Paleontologists discovered that they shared similarities in terms of age, shape, and plate tectonic and geological settings. According to Louis Jacobs , a paleontologist at Southern Methodist Universit y, dinosaurs left their mark 120 million year...