Dinosaur Family Group

Published: 18th Aug 2015

Prehistoric footprints found in Germany show a unexpected glimpse into the social side of the lives of two dinosaurs taking a wander along a beach 142 millions of years ago. The footprints of two Megalosauripus dmeonstrate tht the smaller of the two dinosaurs had to speed up occassionally to keep up with the larger dinosaur - probably its parent.

The footprints, that were found in Münchehagen in Germany between 2009 and 2011, have been studied for th first time by a biologst - Pernille Venø Troelsen - who has come up with a different view on the tracks. Troelsen Has looked at the behaviour of the individual dinosaurs. They were walking quite slowly, so obviously in no rush, with the larger of the two moving at about 3.9 miles per hour and the smaller walking at 6 miles per hour.

Megalosauripus was a carivourous dinous about the same size as Velociraptor. It is impossible to say that the footprints were made at the exactly the same time they could have been a few years apart. However there are a growing number of discoveries that indicate that several dinosaur species were social animals, hunting in packs and taking care of young when they hatched.

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