Have you heard of lumposaurs?
Lumposaur footprints are any dinosaur footprints that are so worn that they are hard to identify. Being a paleontologist can mean looking at a lot of lumpy rocks!
Lisa traces around a crescent-shaped lump protruding from a rock.
Richard: There, looks like there’s a handprint right over there. And it’s facing the other way. So the this footprint—can you point in the direction that footprint was going?
Another bump on the same rock is more distinctly foot-shaped.
Lisa: That way.
Lisa points away from the camera.
Richard: In the handprint here is going…
Lisa: That way.
Lisa points towards the camera.
Richard: That way. And, again, can you outline that one? Great. So there are the toes, and there’s a big crescentic back margin.
Lisa traces around the crescent lump again.
Lisa: This lump might be the footprint that goes with it, but hard to say.
Lisa points at an even less distinct bump behind the crescent-shaped lump.
Richard: You’re kind of lucky to… Usually, it always seems that if you have a good handprint, you have a pretty bad footprint or good footprint, you have a pretty bad handprint. So again, there’s another slab next to it that has some very worn footprints.
Another rock has a much smoother texture with several footprints that are more worn from erosion.
Lisa: Might be a couple of toes there
Richard: And over there, another slab with some prints, lumposaurs, not very good morphology.
The prints on this rock have no visible toes. They are just bumps.