Comparing the tracks of the living animals with the fossil ones

The dog owners walked their dogs on a leash over this ground in an irregular time sequences, one or two at the time. This case illustrates the consequentially of drawing some behavioural conclusions exclusively based on the fossil trackways. Since the tracks in this image are directional (from left to the right and in the opposite direction) and are of the same morphotype (although, they were left by the dogs of the various breed), if these were say, the fossil tracks of some dinosaurs, an enthusiastic paleontologist might jump to a conclusion these were left at the same time by the herd of  animals of various growth stages. Thus implying a gregarious behaviour and even care for their young. Of course, I don't claim the evidence like this should be dismissed in a behavioural research of the fossil animals, but to be cautious in drawing the conclusions.

Dog's trackway in a shallow snow (last Winter). Note the drag marks. Apparently, the drag mark (from the two middle claws of both the front and the hind limbs) is made on two occasions: when the foot has been closing in to meet the ground and also on the way up when the foot was in the process of raising from the ground. Some paleontologists might have interpreted the similar traces in dinosaurs as tail dragging. The dog was going from right to the left.

This ankylosaur trackway from Pula is about 50-60 meters long with mostly poorly preserved footprints. Unfortunately some of the footprints have been lost forever due to the covering with the concrete to make place for sunbathing (this is a tourist resort). At the end of the trackway there are some individual footprints of an animal of giant proportions. The ankylosaurs that left the tracks were probably of a Polacanthinae type.

The left pes footprint is quite nicely visible in the left lower part of the photograph. The one that is a bit higher to the right is poorly preserved. These are positives (casts). The manus prints were preserved only on a couple of places.
There's also another ankylosaur outcrop a couple of km away with some very nicely preserved tracks (see some of the previous posts in my blog). The ankylosaur trackways are quite rare. One of the reasons might be that they are being miss interpreted, because they can easily be mistaken for ornithopod or sauropod tracks. To tell you the truth I first thought these were left by iguanodontoids and sauropods. At the other site I even thought initially, that I have been looking at the theropod tracks. Only later it dawned to me it was an ankylosaur trackway.

 The sites are still not described. I am the only one that knows about these, although this is a tourist beach. they are not easy to notice.

Sauropod trackway (Pula 2009)

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Dangerous waters: A crock farm in Thailand (November/ 2013)

A quiz question: Who left this track?(2)

Guess the tetrapod from the track!
 ... and the answer is: a large iguanodontoid
 

 In the image above:
1) Iguanodontian track from the Main Brijun island. Probably left pes footprint. Note my feet size #46 at the bottom of the photograph.
2) A close up of the hoof (ungual) #3. Note the similarities of the print (cast) with the Romanian true ungual fossils (Fig.4). Note that the base, or the distal part of the ungual also left an impression. In fact, I have discovered that a rather well defined toe impression of an iguanodontoid track maker often preserves and thus could be considered a diagnostic feature.
3) My interpretation of the footprint - red outline.
4) Iguanodontian ungual #3 from Romania, Early Cretaceous (left-bottom; right-top of the hoof), from this paper:

 IGUANODONTIAN DINOSAURS FROM THE
LOWER CRETACEOUS BAUXITE SITE FROM ROMANIA
ERIKA POSMOŞANU
ACTA PALAEONTOLOGICA ROMANIAE V. 4 (2003), P. 431-439


As for the results of the Quiz. There's no winner. Nobody even tried guessing. So, am I just imagining things?

The iguanodontoid tracks from the Main Brijun island

You can download a free PDF of the official brochure for the dinosaur tracks of the Brijuni islands
(... in the production of which I wasn't involved): Promenade of dinosaurs .

In the photograph below is presumably one of the iguanodontoid (left pes) footprints on the peer of the Main Brijun harbour. The yellow outline is my interpretation. Track is about 32 cm long. Note the pointed toe #4 impression.

The probable, very shallow iguanodontoid tracks in my photographs are from the Pogledalo promontory of the Main Brijun island. My interpretative drawings are on the right. I have placed my interpretation in red outline from the bottom picture, over the yellow outline in the upper image for comparison. It seems there's a manus impression between the toes #3 and #4 of the right pes. Note the pointed toe #4 impression, just like in the footprint on the peer.The footprint is about 55 cm long.

The iguanodontoids and sauropods would present a perfect prey for the large theropods that left their footprints on the same promontory.

A quiz question: Who left this track?

Guess the tetrapod from the track!

The Cape Pogledalo, Main Brijun island (V. Brijun) site.

  

To tell you the truth, at first, while looking at it in situ, I miss interpreted the impression in the photograph below. Only back at home when analysing the photograph on my PC, I have concluded I had been totally wrong in my attribution. It is not a typical footprint example for the particular ichno family. So, this task is really a tough one! A specific diagnostic feature made me change my initial speculation. After that I spotted the other characteristic features, that were not that obvious at the site but which confirmed my thoughts. Although, this diagnostic feature is not always present in the footprints of these dinosaurs, it helped me resolve my dilemma quite a few times.

  

I'll give you a couple of hints: The site is the Cape Pogledalo on the Main Brijun island (Istria, Croatia), of the Barremian age (early Cretaceous), described in the paper by Dalla Vecchia ; this print was not described in his paper. Note the tip of my shoe (#46) on the right for size. When watched from the side, the track looks like a large shallow bowl. By the icnology standards the footprint is poorly preserved (except one crucial detail).

I challenge the ichnologists to give the answer and the clues in the comments. What kind of animal left this print? 

 Of course, after some time I'll reveal my interpretation and the  diagnostic hot spots.

The usual suspects are: A) theropod, B) sauropod, C) stegosaur, D) ankylosaur, E) iguanodontoid, F) croc, G) pterosaur, H) turtle, I) lizard, J) bird, K) mammal, L) fish

Please, select one of the answers and post it via Comments below: