A casual summer beach walk turned into a prehistoric adventure for a 10-year-old girl in the UK when she stumbled upon enormous footprints. While strolling along the shore with her mother in Penarth, Tegan stumbled upon five massive footprints, which dinosaur experts believe belong to a Camelot that roamed the area over 200 million years ago, BBC reported.
The enormous prints, spaced up to 75cm apart, are thought to have been made by a large herbivore from the late Triassic period. Palaeontologists are now working to verify the discovery, with the National Museum Wales' palaeontology curator expressing confidence that the prints are genuine, leaving Tegan and her mother thrilled to have walked in the footsteps of dinosaurs.
"We've got five footprints and we're talking about half-to-three-quarters of a metre between each one. These footprints are so big, it would have to be a type of dinosaur called a sauropodomorpha,'' Cindy Howells told the BBC's The Dinohunters programme.
The incredible discovery was made on the South Wales coast, where the girl's mother Claire used to live.
"It was so cool and exciting. We were just out looking to see what we could find, we didn't think we'd find anything. We found these were big holes that looked like dinosaur footprints, so mum took some pictures, emailed the museum and it was from a long-necked dinosaur,'' said Tegan.
Following the remarkable discovery, Claire reached out to Cindy via email just a few days later. The dinosaur footprints had been found embedded in red siltstone at Lavernock Point, a location situated between Cardiff and Barry along the Glamorgan Heritage Coast.
Cindy, a seasoned dinosaur expert with 40 years of experience in the region, was convinced of the authenticity of the footprints due to the consistent stride pattern. "What's telling is the alternating left and right feet, with a consistent distance between them. If they were just random holes, we'd be sceptical, but this pattern suggests a deliberate gait. It's a significant discovery, and the excitement is palpable when someone contacts us with a confirmed dinosaur find - it's truly thrilling'', she explained.
"It's hard to comprehend you're walking on the same beach that hundreds of millions of years ago some massive prehistoric animal was here. You can spend a lifetime looking for dinosaur treasures so for it to happen for Tegan at this age is great,'' she added.
