At https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/12/largest-dinosaur-tracksite-ghost-tracks-found-in-bolivia/ … Bolivia already has the Cal Orcko, a dinosaur track covered limestone slab that possesses thousands of footprints. Now it has the Carreras Pampa find, even more remarkable – within some 7400 square metres nearly 18,000 footprints have been unearthed. Made in soft mud and sediment in what is claimed to have been the edge of a watery lake environment. A flow of water, perhaps. We are told that although soft mud can preserve footprints it is not the medium to preserve bone – in spite of the fact that bones are often unearthed in geology that was once mud or clay. In fact, in any sediment, from sand to gravels and numerous clays. All have a connection with a watery environment – even marine sludge. The term is used in this instance to explain away the lack of bones anywhere close to the footprints. Were these animals really foraging or preying on other animals? Might this be an idea fundamental to uniformitarianism.
A nimble bit of footwork by the researchers, it would seem, appearing to provide an explanation to keep the peer reviewers happy. We are told it was a lakeside location – rather than an environment close to a body of water. Was the body of water moving and if so were the dinosaurs intent on avoiding it. Were many of them eventually swept up in a wall of water and their bones deposited much further away? Much like the North American mid continent seaway – which has a direct path back to Chicxulub, where at least one part of an asteroid struck Earth. Even more strangely, the researchers tell us the tracks are useful as they provide them with info on dinosaur behaviour. When looking for food. The footprints seem to counter that as they belong to adults and juveniles, and all sizes in between. A herd of them was on the move – all at once. The general direction was NE to SW. Intriguingly, we are told the site contains swim prints as well as footprints. So, some of the animals were being overwhelmed by the water as they ran. The interpretation favoured by the team is that some of them were paddling in the water. There are swim trackways – claw marks and footprints of animals desperately trying to find solid ground. They were trying to stop the water propelling them out of control.
Later, we are told that even though footprints and swimprints were preserved in soft mud and sediment the conditions were not suitable to preserve dinosaur carcasses. They would have been eaten by scavengers – but what about their bones? Some of the tracks curve away, appear to pause or change direction. Did they look behind them? This is described as complex behaviour – rather than a complex explanation.
At https://phys.org/news/2025-12-thousands-dinosaur-footprints-italian-winter.html … another discovery of thousands of dinosaur footprints. This time in the Italian Alps. They were laid down before the Alps were elevated to their current status. It was photographed in a position fairly close to the site of the upcoming 2026 winter olympics. The location is now 2800m above sea level and has yet to be analysed in detail. These tracks were made by big lumbering dinosaurs with long necks. No sign of them actually running – but how does a big lump like that move when disaster is impending? The footprints have provisionally been dated to the Triassic – or the event that separates the Triassic from the Jurassic. More information will be forthcoming.