There are about 20 three-toed tracks, belonging to a flesh eating dinosaur of the Theropod family.
The footprints are very well defined and are a lot larger than other prints found here or in Lesotho in the past. It is the first evidence that such a large theropod lived in this area. It is situated in silt stone along what must have been a slow moving river, about 20 minutes hike away from the Chalets on the side of the mountain and according to the paleontologists, these animals lived about 190 million years ago.
The footprints may be viewed by arrangement only by day visitors, who will pay a nominal fee to do the hike to see the prints.
An academic paper has been written by professor Emese Brodie But is very technical and difficult to read.
”Sedimentology and ichnology of the Mafube dinosaur track site (Lower Jurassic, eastern Free State, South Africa): a report on footprint preservation and palaeoenvironment”
The tracks are grouped, based on size, into two morphotypes that can be identified as Eubrontes-like and Grallator-like ichnogenera. The Mafube morphotypes are tentatively attributable to large and small tridactyl theropod trackmakers, possibly to Dracovenator and Coelophysis.
Recent Comments