The town of Glen Rose is located in north central Texas in the United States. It is located near the Paluxy River and site to some on the most clearly defined as well as largest collection of Dinosaur footprints in the world. The tracks contain both meat eater and plant eaters and are believed to have been formed over 110 million years ago when the region was a tidal plain on the edge of an inland sea.
The dinosaur tracks are not only important because of their size and clarity, as well as vast numbers, but also because when they were discovered in the 1930, they were the first of their kind. Until that time, dinosaur bones and even fossilized eggs had been discovered, but no positive tracks! This helped the paleontologists to learn much more about these ancient creatures.
What can you learn from tracks? You can learn how the animals walked and possibly ran. Did they drag there tails? You can also learn about musculature and shape, were the feet webbed or not. if you can estimate soil conditions at the time of formation, you can even learn the approximate weight of the creature that made them! You will also get family information, are there tracks from the young alongside the adults? All this is information that scientists could get glimpses of in other ways, but never know for sure!
Then there is the other education opportunity that these tracks provide, the chance for children and common people to learn and discover the world of dinosaurs. Glen Rose has created a Dinosaur Park and it conserves the area while allowing visitors to see and touch the ancient tracks! It is as important that children learn about the world around them as it is for scientists!
Of course, any scientific discovery comes with conflicts and problems and the dinosaur tracks at Glen Rose, Texas is no exception. When people saw the dinosaur tracks, they then looked for others and thought there were footprints around as well! This caused a great deal of controversy as it would mean a radical rethinking of time lines and biology. This was researched by Glen J. Kuban and he has included a paper on the topic The Paluxy Dinosaur/ “Man Tracks” Controversy with photographs, and his email to contact him for questions!
If you want to see fossilized dinosaur tracks in the field, Glen Rose, Texas is where you need to go!
