A dinosaur chase that took place millions of years ago has been re-created in 3D by a team of researchers. Old photographs of sauropod and theropod footprints were used to determine the sequence of steps taken by the ancient creatures.
The Paluxy River tracks were first discovered in Texas in 1917. The first scientific excavation of the feature took place in 1940, headed by American paleontologist Roland Bird. The features showed evidence of one dinosaur chasing another, around 112 million years ago.
The area represents a "...colossal wealth of information about dinosaur palaeobiology, being exceptionally well preserved and extremely extensive," researchers wrote in the article announcing their development of the model.
Over time, the artifact was broken into several pieces and fragments were shipped around the world for display. Before the artifact was broken into pieces 70 years ago, Bird took photos of the entire structure, which stretched for nearly 150 feet.
Photographs created by Bird were combined with laser scans of remaining tracks to determine exactly how the chase unfolded. A total of 17 of these pictures were used as the basis of a new 3D model. Early re-creations were compared to maps developed by Bird.
Peter Falkingham of the Royal Veterinary College in London led the development, along with James Farlow and Karl Bates.
"In recent years technology has advanced to the point where highly accurate 3D models can be produced easily and at very little cost just from digital photos, and this has been revolutionizing many different fields. That we can apply that technology to specimens, or even entire sites, that no longer exist but were recorded photographically is extremely exciting," Falkingham said.
Deep in the ancient past, the tracks were created when a theropod chased a sauropod, likely in the course of a hunt. Theropods were mostly meat-eaters, and first evolved 230 million years ago. They are one of the ancestors of modern birds. The other animal in the chase, the sauropod, was a long-necked herbivore. Some of these animals grew to a tremendous size.
Lessons learned during the development of the 3D model may assist other researchers attempting to recreate behavior of extinct animals from photographs of footprints and other evidence of life.
Once 3D models are created from old photographs, it could be possible to recreate lost artifacts on 3D printers for research and private collections.
Development of the 3D model from Bird's original photo was detailed in the online journal Plos One.
