Scientists validate "restaurant dinosaur tracks"

Scientists have confirmed that the fossilized footprints found in a restaurant in southwest China were left by long-necked dinosaurs that lived on Earth around 100 million years ago.

The unprecedented discovery was made last year by a Chinese diner and soon captured headlines all over the world due to the unusual location. Now, an international team of paleontologists have had their findings published in the latest edition of the journal Cretaceous Research, after they used a 3D scanner to analyse these "restaurant tracks."

They confirmed that the tracks, ranging from 50 cm to 60 cm in length, were probably left by sauropods measuring eight meters to 10 meters long.

With small heads, long necks and tails, sauropods are believed to be the largest animals known to have ever lived on land. However, this monstrous creature took very short steps, with a traveling speed of 2 km per hour, according to the study.

On July 10, 2022, a patron named Ou Hongtao at a restaurant in the city of Leshan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, noticed some special dents on the ground in the yard. Having a great interest in paleontology, he speculated that the marks were probably dinosaur footprints and contacted Xing Lida, associate professor with the China University of Geosciences and also a well-known dinosaur expert.

Six days later, Xing led a team of researchers and carried out an investigation at the site, which is just 5 km from the Giant Buddha of Leshan, the world's largest stone Buddha statue.

The 'dents' had been spotted in the 1950s, but at that time the house's owners had covered them to smooth the ground. The new owners turned it into a dining room three years ago, and the dents were exposed again, said Xing, lead author of the study.

But still nothing was thought to be unusual, until the day in 2022 when an observant diner pointed out that these dents might be something more than simply holes in the ground.

"The footprints went unnoticed for so long, but once you know what they are, it's hard to unsee them," said Anthony Romilio, a University of Queensland researcher and part of the international team.

"The region has no skeletal record of dinosaurs, so these fossil tracks provide valuable information about the dinosaurs that walked in the area," Romilio noted.

The Australian researcher also highlighted the importance of everyday people making valuable scientific discoveries in a media release.

"For some lucky people discoveries can come from unlikely places - even while you're having a bite to eat."