The first-known Jurassic Period track of an armored dinosaur known as an ankylosaur has been found by a Manual High School science teacher.
The well-preserved track, discovered by Kent Hups in Cactus Park near Grand Junction, is at least 30 million years older than footprints left behind by other armored dinosaurs.
Ankylosaurs, relatives of Colorado’s state fossil — the stegosaur — were armored beasts known as “the dreadnoughts of the dinosaurian world.”
“This is not just any ‘old’ footprint,” said Martin Lockley, an internationally known dinosaur track expert at the University of Colorado at Denver. “This is the first and only ankylosaur footprint ever found in the Jurassic anywhere in the world. A lot of us are excited.”
Previously, ankylosaur tracks had been found in rocks from the Cretaceous Period and have been dated to 100 to 120 million years old.
Hups’ track was uncovered in the Morrison Formation and is considered to be about 150 million years old.
Hups is a former student at CU-Denver and Metropolitan State College and is well-known for his paleontological finds in western Colorado and for organizing “digs” with schoolchildren and university students.
“It has always been my primary goal to involve students in hands-on science,” Hups said. “Our students helped clean the specimen and make replicas.”
The front footprint track, which measures 9 inches long and 12 inches wide, will go to the Bureau of Land Management repository in Cañon City, with replicas made for Manual High School, CU-Denver and the Museum of Western Colorado.
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
