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Science 3: Dinosaur Footprints 66 Views


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Description:

When you time travel, pass out, and wake up in a cave, you might wonder why there's only one set of three-toed footprints leading in. But don't worry, it's just because a therapod carried you there. Actually, wait...you should probably start running.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

[Dino and Coop singing]

00:13

Footprints can be pretty useful.

00:15

They can be just the clue a detective needs to solve the case... [Magnifying glass showing tracks in sand]

00:19

A great way for animal trackers to find and photograph an elusive and exotic creature…

00:23

Or all the proof some people need that Bigfoot definitely exists. [Dog going through a bin]

00:28

Footprints also tell us a lot about the dinosaurs that once roamed the Earth. [Big dinosaur footprint]

00:32

For instance, footprint fossils can teach us about how dinosaurs moved around. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

00:36

We like to think it was the flamenco, but maybe it was a stately waltz…

00:40

They also can tell us whether a dinosaur moved around on two legs, like a T-Rex, four legs,

00:44

like a Brontosaurus, or three legs, like a Brontosaurus with a broken leg… [Brontosaurus with a cast on its leg]

00:48

And when scientists discover groups of footprints all heading in the same direction, well, that

00:53

tells us that some massive, many-footed creature trundled along that path. [Dinosaur with lots of legs]

00:57

We bet buying shoes was a nightmare.

00:59

….Heh. We're kidding.

01:00

What those prints actually tell us is that animals likely traveled in herds together!

01:04

Of course, the size and shape of a footprint says a lot as well -

01:07

For instance, this footprint belongs to a group of dinosaurs called Therapods, which

01:11

means 3-toed.

01:13

Makes sense, right?

01:14

If a footprint is tiny, well, it's safe to assume the animal that left the footprint

01:18

was pretty tiny, too. [The picture is zoomed in to show the tiny footprints]

01:19

Unless they're some weird tip-toey ballerinasaurus. [Dinosaur wearing a ballerina costume]

01:21

And if the footprint is gigantic, well, either we're talking about a pretty big dinosaur,

01:26

or a medium-sized dinosaur that wore shoes that were way too big. [Dinosaur with huge shoes on]

01:29

And prints don't have to refer specifically to footprints!

01:32

Scientists can learn from other imprints, too.

01:35

For example, some dinosaurs laid their eggs in nests on the ground, and the fossils left

01:39

behind allow us to see how many eggs there were, as well as their size. [The eggs are measured]

01:42

And no, they're not called "eggprints," but we think that's a kind of cute name, so we'll [Stop sign appears over 'eggprints']

01:46

call them that anyway!

01:47

So whether it's from feet, nests, or eggs, prints on the ground have taught us a whole

01:52

lot about the dinosaurs that came before us. [All the weird dinosaurs walking around]

01:54

Which makes us wonder…if there's some new species ruling the earth in a few million

01:58

years, what will they think of our old footprints? [Aliens looking at a human footprint]

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