Drought uncovers 113 million-year-old dinosaur footprints | DW News

A drought in the US state of Texas has unveiled the path of an ancient dinosaur. Footprints from the Acrocanthosaurus, a dinosaur that lived 113 million years ago, were revealed in a dried riverbed last week. At that time, the region was located on the edge of a sea, meaning the dinosaur could have been going to wash its feet. Like the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Acrocanthosaurus was an apex predator, weighing approximately four metric tons. However, the Acrocanthosaurus lived in the early Cretaceous period, 50 million years before its famous relative. Video footage shows the huge footprints imprinted into the bottom of the Paluxy River with three toes splaying out from the heel. The toes have sharp claws on the ends, specialized for gaining running traction and pinning prey animals to the ground. Dinosaur footprints Dinosaur footprints have been recorded for over 100 years in the area where the footprints were found in Dinosaur Valley State Park. Now 480 km (300 miles) from the Gulf of Mexico, th