A 4-year-old girl walking with her dad on a beach in south Wales happened to spot a footprint from a dinosaur way older than she is.
“Daddy, look,” said Lily Wilder when she spotted the print etched into stone, recounted mom Sally Winkler, The Irish Times reported Saturday.
Scientists say the 220-million-year-old footprint found at the Bendricks Bay beach in Barry is one of the “best-preserved examples from anywhere in the United Kingdom.”
Richard Wilder took a photo of the print his daughter discovered earlier this month, initially thinking it was “too good to be true.” But experts confirmed it was the real thing.
It was since cut out of the stone and will be kept at the National Museum in Cardiff.
“We were thrilled to find out it really was a dinosaur footprint, and I am happy that it will be taken to the national museum where it can be enjoyed and studied for generations,” said Sally Winkler.
Scientists haven’t determined what kind of dino made the print, which measures 3.9 inches long. The creature was likely about 30 inches tall, slender, walked on two legs and ate small animals and insects, according to the museum.
“During the Covid pandemic [museum] scientists have been highlighting the importance of nature on people’s doorstep and this is a perfect example of this,” Paleontology Curator Cindy Howells of the National Museum said in a statement. She conceded, however, that not many are likely to find a dinosaur print.
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