A man spreading bright pink goo on top of a rock
The slab was donated to an Australian high school by a geologist who discovered it at a nearby coal mine.
For two decades, students walked past an unassuming beige rock on their way to and from class—and occasionally stuck wads of used chewing gum on it.
Now, paleontologists have discovered the slab is covered in 200-million-year-old dinosaur tracks, according to a new paper published this week in the journal Historical Biology. In total, they found 66 footprints made by 47 individual dinosaurs on the rock, which has been on display at an Australian high school for the last 20 years.
“It’s a huge number of dinosaurs, and it’s the highest number found in a single slab in Australia,” says study lead author Anthony Romilio, a paleontologist at the University of Queensland, to NBC News’ Mithil Aggarwal.
Students, teachers and administrators at Biloela State High School in Biloela, Queensland, Australia, knew the slab contained a few dinosaur footprints. But they had no idea just how many, until now.
“To find out the significance … it was a bit shocking, a bit surprising and a bit exciting,” says David Hall, deputy principal of the school, to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Jasmine Hines.
Rock covered in small three-toed footprints
The rock contains 66 footprints made by 47 individual dinosaurs. University of Queensland
How did such an important rock end up at a high school in the first place? Decades ago, the head of the school’s science department was married to a geologist who worked at the nearby Callide coal mine. The geologist found the slab in 2002, realized it was covered in dinosaur tracks and saved it from being blasted. Then, he donated it to the school.
For years, the rock sat in the school’s student foyer. A few years ago, members of the Biloela community heard about Romilio’s work on dinosaur footprints discovered in the nearby town of Mount Morgan. They contacted him and asked him to come check out the slab.
His first impression? “I could see there were a lot of dinosaur footprints,” Romilio tells New Scientist’s James Woodford. “I knew it was a highly significant discovery.”
But even Romilio didn’t realize just how significant the slab would turn out to be. After removing the chewing gum that had been stuck on over the years, Romilio took photos and cast a silicon model of the rock. He also used advanced 3D imaging and light filters to tease out some of the hidden details. Once he looked at all the data, he realized the school had been housing something truly special all those years.
YouTube Logo
Paleontologists aren’t sure which species of dinosaur made the tracks. But they suspect it was Anomoepus scambus, a small, two-legged, plant-eating creature with three toes on each foot. Based on the size and spacing of the tracks, scientists suspect the dinosaurs were walking at speeds between about one and four miles per hour.
They made the tracks during the Early Jurassic while walking on moist, silty clay that was covered by a thin layer of water.
“It would be a river-type system that is depositing sediment,” Romilio tells the Guardian’s Donna Lu.
For now, the slab remains at the high school. But administrators are looking into ways to display it more publicly in the community. If the slab does end up somewhere else, the school hopes to make a cast replica of the fossils to keep in the foyer.
Large boulder with a footprint on it and cars behind it
Romilio found two more footprints on a boulder in the parking lot of the coal mine. University of Queensland
After visiting the school, Romilio decided to stick around and see if he could find any other fossils in the area. He drove over to the coal mine where the slab had originated, and as he pulled into the parking area, his “jaw dropped,” he tells NBC News. He spotted a massive boulder with two footprints made by a slightly bigger dinosaur that also walked on two legs.
“Significant fossils like this can sit unnoticed for years, even in plain sight,” Romilio says in a statement.
Paleontologists have not discovered any Anomoepus scambus bones in Australia. But they hope the story of the slab hiding in plain sight at a local high school will encourage members of the public to keep an eye out for anything unusual or interesting.
“Most [fossils in Australia] are not found by paleontologists—it’s other people raising their hand and asking: Is this significant or not?” Romilio tells the Guardian. “Maybe this will be another start to another adventure.”
Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.
Email Powered by Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Privacy Notice / Terms & Conditions)
Sarah Kuta | READ MORE
Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.
Filed Under: Australia, Cool Finds, Dinosaurs, Discoveries, Fossils, History, New Research, Paleontologists, Paleontology