Tracks of Swimming Dinosaur found in Wyoming

October 19, 2005 9:22 PM

Tracks of Swimming Dinosaur found in Wyoming The tracks of a previously unknown, two-legged swimming dinosaur have been identified along the shoreline of an ancient inland sea that covered Wyoming 165 million years ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate student.
posted by hostile7 (15 comments total)

Can ostrichs even swim? That dinosaur in the picture doesn't look very sea-worthy to me either, it looks like it would tip over and drown. Pretty neat-o story otherwise.
posted by fshgrl at 10:06 PM on October 19, 2005

I'm always impressed by how much can be determined with such little evidence. It's a dino, it was wading into the water, it was a carnivore, about the size of an ostrich... and according to the graphic had nice orange stripes.
posted by scheptech at 10:47 PM on October 19, 2005

For a second, I was all excited thinking this was a viral marketing ploy for the new tv show Surface, and it was talking about recently-made dinosaur tracks.
Just for a second though.
posted by nightchrome at 11:51 PM on October 19, 2005

Maybe it was walking onto drier, harder ground thus leaving less of an impression.
posted by Joeforking at 12:01 AM on October 20, 2005

I bet it was a dragon.
posted by secret about box at 1:19 AM on October 20, 2005

I'm personally hoping that they've tracked down Marc Bolan's oldest known ancestor...
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:25 AM on October 20, 2005

The tracks of a previously unknown, two-legged swimming dinosaur have been identified along the shoreline of an ancient inland sea that covered Wyoming 165 million years ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate student.

This guesstimate is off by about 165 million years.
posted by bevets at 5:39 AM on October 20, 2005

I was gonna make that joke, bevets! Good on you!
posted by you just lost the game at 6:11 AM on October 20, 2005

This guesstimate is off by about 165 million years.

No it isn't it.

It's fun to make statements without any attempt to back them up with a sensible argument isn't it.
posted by juiceCake at 6:49 AM on October 20, 2005

This guesstimate is off by about 165 million years.

Bevets, I've got some oceanfront property in Wyoming I'm willing to let a stand-up guy like you take off my hands for a very reasonable sum.
posted by PhatLobley at 7:17 AM on October 20, 2005

I'm every bit as enamored of dinosaurs as the next ten-year-old, and love to hear about the discovery of new species, but I question this one. It's just footprints, after all-- what leads them to the conclusion that it's a whole new type of dinosaur? I was expecting webbed duck-feet, or something like that, at the very least.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:31 AM on October 20, 2005

"This guesstimate is off by about 165 million years"

So it's 330 million years old? Awesome.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:33 AM on October 20, 2005

"I bet it was a dragon."

Nah:


posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:36 AM on October 20, 2005

I live in Wyoming. It'd be totally sweet if we could get an ocean. Can Bevets or his diety bring back the water? Just make sure I'm on the coast and not on the bottom. Thanks.
posted by JeremyT at 11:59 AM on October 20, 2005

Even the most braindead newborn baby knows that the Earth was created a week ago last Tuesday, so this cannot be a dinosaur trail.

Geez, you people.
posted by aramaic at 12:11 PM on October 20, 2005