Dancing Dinosaurs

Published: 14th Jan 2016

It seems some predatory theropod dinosaurs used fancy footwork to try to attract a mate. Palaeontologists have found numerous dinosaur ‘scrapes’ in the rock surface.  Scrapes are shallow scratch marks made by the dinosaurs that echo behaviour of modern ground nesting birds. It is the first time that such scrapes have been found associated with dinosaurs.

Discovered in Colorado there were up to 60 scrapes about 2 metres long in just one site. These were crossed by numerous dinosaur trackways. At first scientists were puzzled by the meaning of the scrapes until they compared them to the mating ritual of ground nesting birds, such as puffins.

During this the males start getting excited and show off to their mates by scratching as if to say: - I am a good nest builder. As the ritual develops they scratch, and move and scratch again and so on. Numerous of scratches are made in a short period of time.