In the formation of Jinju in South Korea found fossilized footprints that have the scientific community to a standstill. They date from the period 110 to 120 million years ago, have a length of 18-24 cm and all the signs belong to the ancient species of crocodiles. However, scientists have found only traces of the rear support legs, what did the surprising conclusion that these creatures walked on two legs.
The team led by Kyung soo Kim have carefully checked finder and have found a lot of similarities with signs of crocodiles. The same hollows and mounds, the same effect of flat feet, the identical number of toes. Installed age appearance of crocodiles is about 80 million years ago this creature may well be their distant ancestor. But where the second pair of legs?
There is a theory that the ancient crocodile just stepped in the tracks, but then those would be restoranima, but not all. The next argument – the crocodiles have a long stride, feet when walking bent, and the tail sweeping the earth. But found the prints all the way, they are too close to each other, plus no sign of a tail or other limb, you can rely on.
It turns out that likely left traces of the animal was bipedal. Legs had the size of a human, the ancient crocodile had reached 3-4 m in length. Being called Batrachopus grandis.
Source — University of Queensland