Limping dinosaur’s twisted path puzzles paleontologists, 150 million years later: ‘Very rare’

A dinosaur’s 150-million-year-old footprints show signs of a limp, according to Australian researchers.(Paul Murphey/San Diego Natural History Museum;De Agostini via Getty Images)

“However, a rockslide has destroyed the onein China.So, that leaves this to be the only existing looping dinosaur trackway in the world.”

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Though the exact species is unknown, Romilio said that Camarasaurus and Diplodocus are two dinosaur species that roamed Colorado at that time.

“Camarasaurus was equivalent to being ‘front-wheel drive’, with its weight shifted more over the shoulders and front feet, and so there is a tendency to leave deeper handprints than footprints,” he said.

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“Diplodocus, on the other hand, was equivalent to being ‘rear-wheel drive’ with weight shifted over the hips, meaning its footprints are deeper than handprints.”

The rare Colorado trackway offers an unusually long sequence of steps preserved in stone.(Paul Murphey/San Diego Natural History Museum)

“As paleontologists, we work carefully within the bounds of the evidence, and in this case the information doesn’t yet indicate a confrontation or interaction with another dinosaur,” he added.“That said, the looping path is unusual…the idea that the trackmaker might have been avoiding something is certainly a compelling speculative interpretation.”

Footprints and trackways, Romilio noted, can only be made when an animal is alive — and the remnants can reveal how these ancient creatures walked and ran in ways that fossil bones can’t.

Digital mapping tools let paleontologists analyze the ancient trackway with modern precision.(Anthony Romilio/University of Queensland)

Romilio noted that it was local residents — not scientists — who first discovered the site.

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“The looping trackway has been known to residents since the mid-1950s.It was accessible, frequently visited and quietly appreciated long before it entered scientific discourse,” he said. 

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“It was only much later that the site was formally communicated to researchers, with the first scientific study undertaken roughly five years ago.”

The paleontologist said that the long trackways make detailed analysis logistically difficult, but thanks to digital tools, they’re able to analyze them “with far greater precision and completeness than was previously possible.”

The trackway “was accessible, frequently visited and quietly appreciated long before it entered scientific discourse,” Romilio said.(Paul Murphey/San Diego Natural History Museum)

The latest discovery is one of many dinosaur-related finds that made headlines in 2025.

Earlier this year, a Connecticut high school student found a150 million-year-old fossilfrom the Jurassic era at a Montana dig.

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At around the same time, scientists announced the discovery of anew dinosaur speciescalled Joaquinraptor casali in Argentina.