Small tracks

[Jeff Hecht <jhecht@WORLD.STD.COM>]

Dinogeorge wrote:
>
>Just finished reading the relevant section of Lockley's The Eternal Trail,
>wherein he notes chicken- to sparrow-size theropod tracks from Navajo
>Sandstone (prints 1.5 inches long), from Connecticut, from Newark, from
>Argentina, from Brazil (Botucatu Fm.). See pp. 121-122. I believe Ellenberger
>has tracks in this size range from South Africa, too. These small dinosaurs
>were apparently distributed worldwide during Late Triassic through Late
>Jurassic times, most widespread during Early to Middle Jurassic.

In his semi-popular Tracking Dinosaurs, Lockley notes (p. 30) that small
tracks may represent juveniles, and adds that track shapes for three-toed
carnivores remain surprisingly constant as the size increases. This raises
the possibility that some of these small tracks may have been hatchlings or
juveniles. However, it doesn't prove it, and the footprints clearly show
that something small and dinosaur-like (perhaps avian dinosaur-like) was
wandering around at the time.

Do the sizes and shapes give any clues? Has anybody reported the size and
shape of the feet of the Oviraptor embroys found in eggs in Mongolia? That
could be a very useful data point in trying to sort small adult footprints
from those of nestlings.


-- Jeff Hecht, jhecht@world.std.com