As the old saying goes, whoever seeks will find. What children find exciting about it: looking for – anything. Pippi Longstocking cultivated this as a game of finding things. After all, you can always find something. A nugget of gold, a wooden leg, or a rusty tin can to store cookies in. Adult seekers usually have higher expectations: they hope for that one big, important find. One that provides science with an important piece of the puzzle. At least.
Ou Hongtau has now made such a find. The amateur paleontologist actually just wanted to eat something. In the courtyard of a restaurant in Leshan in the province of Sichuan in southwest China, he then discovered large depressions in the stones – and his investigative instinct was immediately awakened. Rightly so, as scientists from the Chinese University of Geosciences confirmed a few days later: These are the footprints of two sauropods, as reported by the state news agency Xinhua. These are the dinosaurs with the long, narrow necks and long tails that went extinct about 66 million years ago.
Until a year ago, the footprints were still covered by layers of dirt and sand from a chicken farm. Now the restaurant owner has fenced off the dinosaur footprints so no one will follow in their big footsteps. At most, chickens should be allowed to do that again. After all, they are descendants of dinosaurs.
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