MASERU, Lesotho — They found the giant footprints near a dirt road between the villages of Ha Mokhosi and Ha Matobo in Lesotho, a small country encircled entirely by South Africa.
Nearly two feet long, the size and spacing of the three-toed footprints allowed the scientists that discovered them to estimate the proportions of the creature that created them. Their calculations showed the beast responsible for the tracks was about 30 feet long, with its hip at a height several feet above a person’s head.
The tracks were that of a very large carnivorous dinosaur new to science — a true monster that walked the earth 200 million years ago.
“The latest discovery is very exciting and sheds new light on the kind of carnivore that roamed what is now southern Africa,” says University of Manchester researcher Fabien Knoll in a press release on the find. “…it is the first evidence of an extremely large meat-eating animal roaming a landscape otherwise dominated by a variety of herbivorous, omnivorous and much smaller carnivorous dinosaurs. It really would have been top of the food chain.”
Dubbed Kayentapus ambrokholohali, the newly discovered dinosaur belongs to a group known as “megatheropod,” a classification that includes the infamous Tyrannosaurus rex.
While the research on the tracks is newly published, the discoverers say they are indebted to a professor David Ambrose of the National University of Lesotho, who first introduced them to the potential for such tracks in the area over 15 years ago.
“We hereby acknowledge not only the generous hospitality we received from him and his wife, Dr. Sumitra Talukdar, during our repeated visits, but also their meticulous bibliographic work on the paleontology of southern African and other countless regional topics,” the study authors write.
Including scientists from University of Cape Town and Universidade de São Paulo, the international team that made the find says Kayentapus ambrokholohali is currently the largest known carnivore to ever roam southern Africa.
“In South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Namibia, there is good record of theropod footprints from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic epochs,” Knoll says. “In fact, there are numerous palaeosurfaces where footprints and even tail and body impressions of these, and other animals, can be found. But now we have evidence this region of Africa was also home to a mega-carnivore.”
Palaeosurfaces refer to ancient ground preserved as it was in prehistoric times. The researchers say the palaeosurface Kayentapus ambrokholohali was found on also preserved ripples from water and cracks from when it dried out. This, they write, indicates the tracks were likely made when the giant reptile visited a watering hole or river to drink or catch prey. Indeed, the nearby palaeosurface was also “covered with the tracks of much smaller theropod dinosaurs.”
A tremendously significant find, Kayentapus ambrokholohali changes ideas about the size of dinosaurs that lived in that part of the world during the early Jurassic epoch. Until its discovery, it was thought that a dinosaur of its type and size didn’t yet exist in that area. Such large predators are usually thought to have emerged millions of years later, around the time of T. rex.
“Globally, these large tracks are very rare,” says Lara Sciscio, a researcher at University of Cape Town. “There is only one other known site similar in age and sized tracks, which is in Poland.”
Details of the discovery were published last week in a paper in the journal PLOS ONE.
Another reason to be glad the things are all dead.
At first glance they look like they were carved in the 1970’s as an impromptu road sign. Which is why they don’t let me search for dinosaur tracks, I suppose.
Asteroid impact, my eye. They ate each other into extinction.
Those are so fake. All “dinosaur” tracks and bones are carved by skilled artists posing as “archaeologists”. These ones aren’t even convincing. Looks like Big Bird. HAHA!
Luddite.
Bring them back! Any extinct animal recreated, like the recently extinct European Aurochs Bison, would be a rewarding venture,
Well lets see 200 million yrs ago? Lets face it there is not much that would remain after that many years i mean come on people really! not even rock will last that long, i put that no more than 10,000 yrs ago, also how do they know it is a carnivorous by just tracks, this whole idea of millions of years is bogus!
Of course rock could survive. Soil compacts itself, layer upon layer, year after year. You are not a geologist, nor are you a paleontologist.
As for being a carnivore by the tracks, most herbivores during the Mesozoic were quadrupeds (would have front and back tracks) who also had four and five toed feet. “Therapods” is the giveaway. Two legged walkers, three toed (thera pod) dinosaurs. Therapods ate meat, and had great senses of smell (you can tell by looking at skull cavities).
The more you learn, the more you know.
How do you know what are of expertise he has? And what difference would that make? We can all reason. Don’t be afraid to think outside of what you have been trained to think. You will find it refreshing.
I’ve studied paleontology and geology. I can tell by his comments that Rykko is just pulling his opinion out of his áss. It isn’t reason, but rather speculation based on ignorance.
EDIT: I can tell by YOUR comments that you know little about either geology or paleontology. Don’t be ashamed, pick up a book and LEARN. Geez. The ridiculousness of the young.
Regarding Evolution…. “It hasn’t been observed while it’s happening”. – Richard Dawkins.
If he’s correct in this instance (and he is), it means Evolution fails the scientific method.
Bruiser you failed to understand the concept of the law of entropy and the amount of time you guys slap shit in there to fit your opinions. If and that is a big *IF* something was 200 millions of years old there is no way you could test it with any consistency to validate that amount of time e.g. “did the decay rate speed up or slow down in that amount of time?” Also need to point out Jack Horner a leading Paleontologist who worked on the Jurassic Park movies even advise that T-Rex could not have a been a carnivore in the sense of hunting live prey, either a herbivore or a scavenger like a vulture, but evolutionist just like Spielberg wanted the action in his movies you guys want T-Rex to be what it was probably not.
Also i am not a Paleontologist or a Geologist but i did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night.
Of course you can test. Look, son, go take a few courses. They’re available at most junior colleges. I can wait.
Bruiser: incorrect;
First, rocks of known age always show vastly inflated radioisotope “ages.”
Second, various radioisotope methods or even various attempts using the same method yield discordant ages more often than concordant ages.
Third, many dating methods that don’t involve radioisotopes—such as helium diffusion, erosion, magnetic field decay, and original tissue fossils—conflict with radioisotope ages by showing much younger apparent ages.
Fluctuations Show Radioisotope Decay Is Unreliable:
http://www.icr.org/article/6246
Radioactive Decay Rates Not Stable:
For about a century, radioactive decay rates have been heralded as steady and stable processes that can be reliably used to help measure how old rocks are. They helped underpin belief in vast ages and had largely gone unchallenged. But certain decay rates apparently aren’t as stable as some would hope.
Several decades ago, strange fluctuations were observed in several radioactive decay systems. These systems have unstable nuclei that emit various particles and radiation until they stabilize. It was finally established that these seasonal fluctuations corresponded to the distance between the earth and the sun. When the earth is closest to the sun, solar neutrinos evidently accelerate nuclear decay.
Now, Italian research shows evidence that a process called “cavitation” accelerated the nuclear decay of thorium (Th228). In particular, it seems that cavitation caused radioactive thorium decay to accelerate by a factor of 10,000 times during a 90-minute experiment. Cavitation can occur when water flows so fast that vapor bubbles are produced. These bubbles collapse to produce shock waves—very powerful on tiny scales—that have been known to rapidly destroy boat propellers and pump parts, catastrophically erode water tunnels, and create light sparks. Cavitation may also affect the nuclei of atoms in heavily resonating solutions.
The mutability of decay rates is not a surprise to some scientists. Creation researchers had found clear evidence that radioactive decay was accelerated dramatically in the recent past. For example, some radioactive decay acceleration event must have been the cause of the profusion of helium atoms that exist in zircon crystals associated with radioactive uranium.
Whether cavitation, neutrinos, or something else had a part in the accelerated nuclear decay of earth’s past is not yet known. What is known, however, is that the stability of radioactive decay is open to question. Likewise, the vast age assigned to the earth based on radioactive measurements is by no means set in stone.
*BTW* your comment was not a educated one, if your going to demand a educated question or answer at least show some intelligence, thank you.
If you download the photo, there’s lots of detail in the surface and I can’t help but wonder how much of the other markings are 200 million years old.
No guarantee they were thirty feet long. After all, I’m a biped whose feet are a foot long, and I’m only six feet tall. By their reckoning I’d be fifteen feet. Maybe you’re factoriing in distance between steps.
One thing I noticed is that the footprints aren’t that big. Narrow toes and impressions not super deep. Was there also a body impression to give an approximate size? Toes that narrow could not have held much mass and allowed rapid movement.
The Earth is only 6,000 years old. This is all BS.
troll-adon
^troll-alert^
I don’t think its 6,000 years old but it certainly isn’t 1 billion plus either.
The age of the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old. You both need to stop smoking what ever mind numbing hallucinigenics you are smoking.
There are some good things to be said for global extinction events. Can you imagine,”Why were you late?” “Ah, Well,I had to kill a T-Rex over on the 405.”
How old are you?
Too old for you.
If the tracks are all you have, then why could those have not been made by a big bird – maybe THE Big Bird. If you look at the silhouette image comparing this beast to a human, you will see that when it steps, the center of the foot has a lot of pressure, which would make that part of a track maybe deeper. Many bird tracks I’ve seen have even pressure into the mud because of the way birds walk. I think it’s a bird track, but that’s just me. I’m no expert but I have seen a lot of tracks in the mud and muck on my farm over the years.
Maybe the tracks evolved on their own from that of an amoeba. With time even the impossible becomes possible with Darwinian Theory.
You really need to read Darwin’s Origin of Species before you comment on it.
Darwin’s book? You mean that one about “Favoured Races”?
You do realize that led directly to eugenics, and provided the basis for Hitler’s ideas on the superiority of the Aryan race, don’t you?
He specifically wrote it to try and fight God.
.
It is not possible for anything to exist with God being the causal factor.
Almost everything you said is blatantly false. The Origin of Species is not about “Favoured Races” nor did he “wrote [sic] it to try and fight God” I am sorry you are so illiterate you can not comprehend basic English. Finally, “You do realize that led directly to eugenics, and provided the basis for Hitler’s ideas on the superiority of the Aryan race, don’t you?” whats your point? Reality, truth, and ideas are not responsible for the actions men take in their name. Will you blame nuclear physics for the countless lives destroyed by atomic bombs, despite the fact God uses the same Nuclear Reactions which power the sun and allow you to live?
Any other info you need to get up to speed on observed, historical facts?
.
Why not repent of your rebellion against your Creator, who loves you so much he even died on a cross to save you from your sins?
Poor Perditor…. (Which means LOSER BTW)
She lived up to here name…
“The Origin of Species is not about “Favoured Races”
OOPS
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life)
By Charles Darwin, M.A., 1859.
” I am sorry you are so illiterate you can not comprehend basic English” LOL
You were very gracious.. Keep up the good work soldier!
Lets get Satans fraudulent lie of “Evolution” OUT of the Science classes and INTO the Philosophy classes where it belongs…
“I think in fifty years, Darwinian evolution will be gone from the science curriculum…I think people will look back on it and ask how anyone could, in their right mind, have believed this, because it’s so implausible when you look at the evidence.”
(Dr. Johnathan Wells, author of the book, “Icons of Evolution”)
“Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled Atheist”
Richard Dawkins
http://www.evolutionfairytale.com
Very well put, Chico.
Evolution requires belief in the god of aeons of time.
That god is so powerful, it can turn sponges into jellyfish in just 10 years!!
(or does it need some more zeroes thrown in before its magic kicks in?)
“That god is so powerful, it can turn sponges into jellyfish in just 10 years!!”
No.. Wait!! It gets even better than that!! THEN, while some of those Jellyfish
were evolving ZERO over the course of “500 Million Years” (“Living Fossils”)
Some of their BROTHERS, were evolving into HUMANS!!!! (I kid you not!!)
“I myself am convinced that the theory of evolution, especially to the extant that it’s been applied, will be one of the greatest jokes in the history books of the future. Posterity will marvel that so flimsy and dubious a hypothesis could be accepted with the incredible credulity that it has.” (Malcolm Muggeridge)
“Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled Atheist”
Richard Dawkins
http://www.evolutionfairytale.com
Yes, already Evolution is quietly acknowledged by some of the “top” Evolutionists to be indefensible. However, it’s the best thing they’ve got going to avoid having to face the option – that God created everything, and they will have to stand before him in judgment one day.
.
What will happen, is that Satan and his angels will appear, which will instantly falsify Evolution. Then, without any worldview to anchor onto, Evolutionists will all be swept up into whatever error Satan tells them – like that he is the Christ.
Birds are therapods.
I didn’t get the impression they were describing a bird, large or otherwise.
They weren’t. I was just stating that birds are therapods. Of course the inverse is not always true.
The facts: They found some footprints. The rest is speculation (in other words, a story). It could have been a dinosaur. It could have been a bird. And the age is just opinion.
no grant money 4u!
No, age is not an opinion. You can narrow it down within a few million years by the rock.
How do they know how old the rock is?
It’s older than the rock layer above, which is older than the one above it. Do that 200 million times
Yay science.
And since the rock layer below was laid down about 2 minutes before this layer?
Knowing something is older than something else does not determine the age of either.
something above doesnt mean it is older..
They date the rock by the “Index Fossils” and then date the Fossils by the Rock.. Circular Reaoning 101…
RIP DARWINISM 1851 – 2017
MY PROPOSAL HERE PUTS THE KNIFE INTO THE HEART OF THE DYING DOG OF DARWIN..
.
I have a REASONABLE question that I would like answered if you wish ANYONE to take Evolution seriously..
.
Man has 10 INTERDEPENDENT VITAL Organs and support systems. FACT
.
Man NEEDS all 10 of his VITAL Organs or he dies. FACT
.
Either those 10 VITAL Organs came together ALL AT ONCE (Creation) OR they Evolved separately.. FACT
.
If they “Evolved” Separately they must have had an order of Evolution FACT
.
For “Evolution” to be even considered to qualify as a hypothetical hypothesis There MUST BE a PLAUSIBLE or FEASABLE Explanation as to the evolutionary order that would be possible. For Example.. What comes First? Man is Irreducibly Complex (BY DEFINITION)
.
Stomach? Skin? Heart? Lungs? Brain? Upper Intestine? Liver? Lower Intestine? Pancreas? Kidneys? Remove just ONE and Man Dies.. And Bye Bye Evolution.
.
So which one do we start with..? Here, let me help you out.. 1 Skin? 2 Stomach? 3 Brain? 4 Heart? You see… Whatever way you start you cause more problems for the myth.. Because ALL 10 NEED TO BE THERE.. TOGETHER, WORKING IN TANDEM, AT THE SAME TIME
.
Atheists like to point out Lungfish or Nematodes that dont have all ten organs as if that helps their case. IT DOES NOT… Lungfish and Nematodes are ALSO IRREDUCIBLY COMPLEX!!! So unless you can show a FEASABLE OR PLAUSIBLE Pathway for them to turn into a Human, they are a NON SEQUITUR…
.
THEREFORE
.
If UCA for all flora and fauna were to somehow be true, and If we slowly go back in time, Our “Ancestor(s)” would, at some point, have 9 Interdependent vital organs, then 8, then 7, then 6 5 4 3 2…
.
THE MATH IS NOT HARD HERE!.
.
Allow me to give you a BIG head start.. I will allow you to start out with Abiogenesis (Quite generous don’t you think?) AND a bag of skin…. Now you have 1 billion years to turn it into a Man… What are the next “Steps” in the Evolutionary ladder? Come on.. Just give me something!!! Let us analyze it together using logic and critical thinking…. You guys are starting to make me think this really isn’t about “Science” Anymore, Rather a Religious belief in godless Metaphysical Naturalism,..
.
A Microbe has ZERO interdependent interlocked VITAL Organs and their support systems. A Microbiologist has TEN interdependent. interlocked. VITAL Organs and their support systems.
.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 THE MATH IS SIMPLE HERE.
.
On the billion year journey from Organless Microbes to Organ Dependent (10!) Microbiologists there had to be an ORDER (Unless you believe that ALL TEN “Evolved” at the EXACT SAME MOMENT) AKA Creationism.. STOMACH- SKIN- HEART- LUNGS- BRAIN- UPPER / LOWER INTESTINE LIVER PANCREAS – KIDNEYS
.
The inability to answer this simple question is what reduces the Microbes to Microbiologists fairytale to the joke that it is… http://www.evolutionfairytale.com TRY AGAIN?
.
THE PROBLEM IS.. All of the Observable Creatures that we see are fully formed, complete, and complex that merely Vary or Adapt…. For example.. there are 5000 “Species” of Ladybugs. 2000 “Species” of Chiclids” 9000 “Species” of Birds, 6000 “Species” of Lizards..Where is the Evolution? Nowhere…(I could go on all day) But here is the catch… By going back into the Nebulousphere of “Long ago and far away” they are trying to use slow minute changes to account for a Microbe turning into a Microbiologist.. What good is a barely or partially formed VITAL organ?? My thesis here puts everything in perspective… As of now.. NO ONE has even TRIED to answer it.. Like to try?
Makes sense.. A Hillary supporter who also believes that they are an Accidental ape that evolved from pond scum for no reason…
RIP DARWINISM 1851 – 2017
MY PROPOSAL HERE PUTS THE KNIFE INTO THE HEART OF THE DYING DOG OF DARWIN..
.
I have a REASONABLE question that I would like answered if you wish ANYONE to take Evolution seriously..
.
Man has 10 INTERDEPENDENT VITAL Organs and support systems. FACT
.
Man NEEDS all 10 of his VITAL Organs or he dies. FACT
.
Either those 10 VITAL Organs came together ALL AT ONCE (Creation) OR they Evolved separately.. FACT
.
If they “Evolved” Separately they must have had an order of Evolution FACT
.
For “Evolution” to be even considered to qualify as a hypothetical hypothesis There MUST BE a PLAUSIBLE or FEASABLE Explanation as to the evolutionary order that would be possible. For Example.. What comes First? Man is Irreducibly Complex (BY DEFINITION)
.
Stomach? Skin? Heart? Lungs? Brain? Upper Intestine? Liver? Lower Intestine? Pancreas? Kidneys? Remove just ONE and Man Dies.. And Bye Bye Evolution.
.
So which one do we start with..? Here, let me help you out.. 1 Skin? 2 Stomach? 3 Brain? 4 Heart? You see… Whatever way you start you cause more problems for the myth.. Because ALL 10 NEED TO BE THERE.. TOGETHER, WORKING IN TANDEM, AT THE SAME TIME
.
Atheists like to point out Lungfish or Nematodes that dont have all ten organs as if that helps their case. IT DOES NOT… Lungfish and Nematodes are ALSO IRREDUCIBLY COMPLEX!!! So unless you can show a FEASABLE OR PLAUSIBLE Pathway for them to turn into a Human, they are a NON SEQUITUR…
.
THEREFORE
.
If UCA for all flora and fauna were to somehow be true, and If we slowly go back in time, Our “Ancestor(s)” would, at some point, have 9 Interdependent vital organs, then 8, then 7, then 6 5 4 3 2…
.
THE MATH IS NOT HARD HERE!.
.
Allow me to give you a BIG head start.. I will allow you to start out with Abiogenesis (Quite generous don’t you think?) AND a bag of skin…. Now you have 1 billion years to turn it into a Man… What are the next “Steps” in the Evolutionary ladder? Come on.. Just give me something!!! Let us analyze it together using logic and critical thinking…. You guys are starting to make me think this really isn’t about “Science” Anymore, Rather a Religious belief in godless Metaphysical Naturalism,..
.
A Microbe has ZERO interdependent interlocked VITAL Organs and their support systems. A Microbiologist has TEN interdependent. interlocked. VITAL Organs and their support systems.
.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 THE MATH IS SIMPLE HERE.
.
On the billion year journey from Organless Microbes to Organ Dependent (10!) Microbiologists there had to be an ORDER (Unless you believe that ALL TEN “Evolved” at the EXACT SAME MOMENT) AKA Creationism.. STOMACH- SKIN- HEART- LUNGS- BRAIN- UPPER / LOWER INTESTINE LIVER PANCREAS – KIDNEYS
.
The inability to answer this simple question is what reduces the Microbes to Microbiologists fairytale to the joke that it is… http://www.evolutionfairytale.com TRY AGAIN?
.
THE PROBLEM IS.. All of the Observable Creatures that we see are fully formed, complete, and complex that merely Vary or Adapt…. For example.. there are 5000 “Species” of Ladybugs. 2000 “Species” of Chiclids” 9000 “Species” of Birds, 6000 “Species” of Lizards..Where is the Evolution? Nowhere…(I could go on all day) But here is the catch… By going back into the Nebulousphere of “Long ago and far away” they are trying to use slow minute changes to account for a Microbe turning into a Microbiologist.. What good is a barely or partially formed VITAL organ?? My thesis here puts everything in perspective… As of now.. NO ONE has even TRIED to answer it.. Like to try?
Did you read the actual paper or merely this brief news article? It would be wise to withhold judgment until such time as you have read the full paper in Plus One.
I find it very suspicious that the beast’s feet were conveniently shaped in the form of directional arrows. Or perhaps the prints of this particular animal is the source for the directional arrow pictogram.
Next year or so we will be reading in the very very fine print of some scientific journal how this “event” was actually a hoax. These guys are experts in deceiving the gullible who think everything said in the name of science is absolutely true without reservation. Watch how many people are threatened by this post. lol
Gotta keep that grant money coming!
It’s a chicken!
The giant chicken from Family Guy!!!
Facts..Paluxy River bed, TX..USA..100s of 3′ lizzard (dinosaur) prints in the rock of the river bed..along side large HUMAN feet prints..”NBA size”..proving only that big MEN walked along w dinosaurs while the river bed was still mud. Crickets from MSM for decades.
its an old arrow pointing a direction lmao ok new species my butt
Just exactly how many of yall were alive 6000years ago?maybe 200 million years ago?
These are likely from the elusive ManBearPig!!!!