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Animals with bird-like ft have been roaming the planet greater than 200 million years in the past, scientists say.
Analysis of historic footprints, which consultants have been calling Trisauropodiscus, recommend these creatures have been more likely to have been three-toed.
It is unclear who made the observe marks, however consultants speculate they might have come from a dinosaur or a reptile.
Birds are some of the various teams of animals on Earth with 10,000 extant species, but their early evolutionary historical past continues to be shrouded in thriller
Study authors
But they mentioned the findings, revealed within the journal Plos One, confirmed bird-like ft advanced a lot sooner than thought, probably by 60 million years, and will assist shed new gentle on how birds got here into existence.
The authors wrote: “Birds are one of the most diverse groups of animals on Earth with 10,000 extant species, yet their early evolutionary history is still shrouded in mystery.”
The 4 units of footprints uncovered in Lesotho, southern Africa, have been analysed by a group of consultants from the University of Cape Town, which additionally included an 80-metre-long tracksite discovered within the village of Maphutseng.
The group recognized two distinct traits among the many units of footprints, the primary of which was much like non-bird dinosaur tracks whereas the second resembled modern-day hen footprints in measurement and proportion.
The form of the tracks is per fashionable and extra recent fossil hen tracks, however it’s doubtless a dinosaur with a bird-like foot produced Trisauropodiscus
Study authors
The researchers say it’s doable that these tracks have been produced by dinosaurs however notice they may even have come from different reptiles that advanced to have bird-like ft.
At over 210 million-years-old, the footprints are 60 million years older than the earliest identified fossils of true birds, they mentioned.
The authors wrote: “Trisauropodiscus tracks are known from numerous southern African sites dating back to approximately 215 million years ago.
“The shape of the tracks is consistent with modern and more recent fossil bird tracks, but it is likely a dinosaur with a bird-like foot produced Trisauropodiscus.”
