Ten-year-old schoolgirl surprises experts after unearthing dinosaur footprints that went undiscovered for 200 million years
A 10-year-old schoolgirl astonished experts when she found dinosaur footprints on the beach during a summer holiday walk.
The girl, who was only named because Tegan was convinced the footprints could date back to prehistoric times, contacted paleontologists to find out.
Museum experts believe the five footprints, found near Penarth in South Wales, are more than 200 million years old and may have come from a dinosaur called a camoltia, a suborder of sauropodomorphs.
Tegan, from Pontardawe, near Swansea, said: ‘It was so cool and exciting.
We were just looking for what we could find, but we didn’t think we would find anything.
Tegan was scanning the beach when she noticed a series of holes of the same shape on the rocky shore
Tegan believed the footprints could date back to prehistoric times – and her mother Claire contacted paleontologists to find out
Museum experts believe the five footprints, found near Penarth, South Wales, are more than 200 million years old
The footprints are so large they must have come from a type of dinosaur called a sauropodomorph, experts say
“We discovered that they were big holes that looked like dinosaur footprints. So mom took some pictures and sent them to the museum. From the pictures it turned out that it was a long-necked dinosaur.”
The stretch of coastline is a favorite with fossil hunters and is close to where four-year-old Lily Wilder found a perfectly preserved footprint in 2021.
Palaeontologist Cindy Howells from the National Museum Wales examined the tracks in the rocks and said she was “pretty confident they are real dinosaur prints”.
Cindy told the BBC programme The Dinohunters: ‘We have five footprints and the distance between the prints is about half a metre to three-quarters of a metre.’
‘These footprints are so big, they must be some kind of dinosaur called a sauropodomorph.
‘If they were random holes, we would be wary, but because we have a left foot, a right foot, a left foot, and another right foot… there is a constant distance between the holes.
“It’s quite a significant find. It’s amazing how excited you get when someone contacts us with a definitive dinosaur find.”
She added: ‘We think these prints were made by a fairly large, herbivorous dinosaur.
Although we don’t have bones here, bones of similar dinosaurs have been found across the Bristol Channel.
‘A camelotia was about 3 meters high and 4-5 meters long and is an early sauropodomorph with a relatively long neck, a long tail and walked on two legs, but could also walk on all fours when grazing in search of food.’
Tegan’s mother Claire added: “It’s hard to believe you’re walking on the same beach where a huge prehistoric animal lived hundreds of millions of years ago,” she said.
“You can spend a lifetime looking for dinosaur treasures, so for that to happen to Tegan at this age is amazing.”
Tegan’s mother Claire said: “You can spend a lifetime looking for dinosaur treasures, so for that to happen to Tegan at this age is amazing.”
Palaeontologist Cindy Howells from the National Museum Wales examined the tracks left in the rock and said she was ‘pretty confident they were real dinosaur prints’
Bones of similar dinosaurs were found across the Bristol Channel
Cindy Howells claims these prints were made by a fairly large, herbivorous dinosaur
Tegan said: ‘It was so cool and exciting. We were just looking for what we could find, we didn’t think we would find anything.’
The stretch of coastline is a favorite with fossil hunters and is close to where four-year-old Lily Wilder found a perfectly preserved footprint in 2021.
