Surprise! Beachgoer Discovers 130-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Footprints in West Australia

A beachgoer got the surprise of a lifetime after stumbling upon 130-million-year-old dinosaur footprints in Cable Beach, West Australia.

According to The Guardian, the dino footprints were buried in the sand for almost 50 years. A beachgoer named Bindi Lee Porth was collecting shells in Cable Beach, near in the town of Bromme, when she found the footprints. She felt an indent beneath her foot, and from there, she just brushed away all the sand and finally saw the prints. She said it was beautiful like a bird foot.

The three-toed tracks possibly belong to a carnivorous type of theropod called Megalosauropus Broomensis. The said species is found only in this part of Australia, according to paleontologist Dr. Steven Salisbury, a senior lecturer from University of Queensland.

Theropods are still smaller than Tyrannosaurus Rex while bigger than velicoraptors. When the footprints were measured, Dr.Salisbury said that theropod stands as high as the hip between 1.5 to 1.8 meters.

"They are unique to the Dampier Peninsula," he said."That sort of track only occurs here."

Rocks in Dampier Peninsula have a lot of footprints of cretaceous-era dinosaurs such as sauropods, theropods, stegosaurus and others. It is the only place in Australia where dinosaurs are recorded. It is not unusual to see a lot of preserved large footprints.

Porthe was ecstatic about the discovery. "(I'm) amazed. To be connected to something from so many millions and millions of years ago is fantastic, we're pretty happy. The kids didn't believe me at first, but I was right," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as reported by CNN.

Porth also admitted that this is her first time to encounter dinosaurs footprints while. She has always been in the beach so many times already. Meanwhile, for Dr. Salisbury, this recent discovery is interesting.

He told Mashable, "This is a very exciting development; having someone beach-combing to come along tracks like this, this is what makes the Broome area and the dinosaur coast so special."