When you think of the normal day in the life of a young child, crayons and cartoons probably come to mind. Discovering an immaculately preserved 215 million-year-old dinosaur footprint? Probably not.
But that’s exactly what happened when 4-year-old Lily Wilder was taking a nature walk with her father on a rocky beach in Bendricks Bay near the Welsh town of Barry last month.
The indented print spotted by Eagle-eyed Lily is just four inches long. Experts believe it was created by a two-legged dinosaur that was probably around 30 inches tall and 8.2 feet long.
His species, one that has not been seen before, is a mystery that has ignited the scientific community. Karl-James Langford of Archeology Cymru hailed the find as “the best impression of a 215-million-year-old dinosaur footprint found in Britain in a decade.”
“Lily saw him as they were walking and she said, ‘Daddy, look!'” Said Lily’s mother, Sally Wilder, in a statement widely released by the UK media.
“When Richard came home and showed me the photograph, I thought it looked amazing… Richard thought it was too good to be true. They put me in touch with experts who took it from there.
“We were excited to discover that it really was a dinosaur footprint and I am happy that it is taken to the national museum where it can be enjoyed and studied for generations.”
After Natural Resources Wales granted permission to legally remove the fossil from the beach, the specimen was transported to Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum in Cardiff, where expert paleontologists hope to uncover its secrets.
They believe that by studying it, they will be able to better learn how those dinosaurs actually walked. “Their spectacular preservation may help scientists establish more about the actual structure of their feet, as the preservation is clear enough to show individual pads and even claw prints,” said a spokesperson for Amgueddfa Cymru. The Daily Mail.
“Its acquisition by the museum is mainly due to Lily and her family, who saw it for the first time,” said Cindy Howells, Cindy Howells, curator of Amgueddfa Cymru Paleontology. The Irish Times, giving credit to whom it corresponded.
In addition to its scientific potential, Howells also noted that Lily’s dino-mite discovery was part of a perhaps unexpected, but hopefully upward trend for coronavirus lockdown.
“During the Covid pandemic, scientists at Amgueddfa Cymru have been highlighting the importance of nature at people’s doorsteps, and this is a perfect example …
“Obviously, we don’t all have dinosaur footprints on our doorstep, but there is a lot of local nature for you if you take the time to really look closely.”
What if you want to find something really spectacular? Just bring your favorite 4 year old as a scout.
(GET TOGETHER the girl who made the paleontological find in the ITV News video below).
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