Uncover the ancient secrets of Brisbane's dinosaur history! A recent study has revealed a 230-million-year-old dinosaur footprint, making it Australia's oldest. But here's where it gets controversial... The footprint, discovered by a teenage fossil hunter in 1958, has been formally identified as the continent's earliest confirmed dinosaur trace. This finding challenges previous beliefs about the presence of dinosaurs in the region, as no skeletal remains have been found in the Aspley Formation. The footprint, measuring 18.5 cm (7 inches) long, was collected at Petrie's Quarry in Brisbane, Queensland, along with a slab bearing a narrow linear groove interpreted as a possible tail trace. Although fragmentary, the Albion footprint preserves impressions of three forward-pointing digits and shows a fan-shaped outline with weak central toe dominance, features consistent with a bipedal dinosaur. The detailed 3D modeling and morphometric analysis indicate that the track closely resembles the ichnogenus Evazoum, a type of footprint associated elsewhere with early sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Based on the footprint's dimensions, Dr. Anthony Romilio and his colleague, Professor Bruce Runnegar, estimate that the dinosaur stood about 78 cm (31 inches) high at the hip and weighed roughly 144 kg (89 miles). Using established scaling equations, they calculate a theoretical maximum running speed of about 60 km per hour (37 mph). But this is the part most people miss... The associated tail trace, about 13 cm (5 inches) long, is consistent with structures sometimes interpreted as tail drags in dinosaur trackways, but the authors caution that, without associated footprints preserved in place, it cannot be confidently attributed to a dinosaur. So, what do you think? Do you agree with the study's findings? Or do you have a different interpretation? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
