This is the oldest dinosaur footprint ever found in Thailand and Asia.

Thailand’s Ministry of Mineral Resources has just made a breakthrough discovery of prehistoric animal footprints in the Phetchabun-Khon Kaen border area of the country, Nationthailand reported on January 14, 2024.

The footprints are estimated to be more than 225 million years old, making them the oldest dinosaur footprints ever found in Thailand and Asia.

The footprints were discovered by a team of paleontologists from the Department of Mineral Resources (under the Ministry of Mineral Resources of Thailand) during a survey of the area in January 2024.

Thailand’s Ministry of Mineral Resources issued a statement on its official Facebook page, noting that the footprints belonged to five different species .

Reconstructed image of a Theropod dinosaur.

Among them were “Theropod” (bipedal meat-eating dinosaurs), “Sauropod” (long-necked dinosaurs) and “Ornithopod” (a group of large herbivores that included the hadrosaurs). duck).

The footprints were found in a layer of mudstone from the late Triassic period (252-201 million years ago). They are extremely well preserved, revealing details such as the dinosaur’s toes, claws and soles.

During the late Triassic period, Earth’s continents merged into a single supercontinent, Pangaea. The discovery of these footprints will provide new insights into the dinosaurs that lived in Southeast Asia during this time.

Dinosaur footprints. (Photo: Nationthailand).

The discovery of these footprints is significant because it provides new insights into the diversity and ecology of dinosaurs in Thailand during the Late Triassic period. The footprints also help fill in gaps in scientists’ understanding of dinosaur evolution in Asia.

Thailand’s Ministry of Mineral Resources plans to further study these footprints to determine the specific dinosaur that created them. The footprints will also be protected and preserved for future generations.

The discovery of dinosaur footprints is a major scientific breakthrough that has the potential to change our understanding of the history of life on Earth.

The footprints provide a glimpse of a world that existed millions of years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, Thailand’s Ministry of Mineral Resources said.

Now, Thai authorities will work with local agencies to conduct probes and provide more detailed documentation. They had to move quickly before the rainy season arrived, potentially washing away and destroying any remaining traces.

These signs will contribute largely to academic research in the fields of biology and geology.