Overview
- Researchers describe the Fraele Valley exposure as the largest tracksite in the Alps and among the richest worldwide.
- Initial analyses attribute the footprints to prosauropods, early long-necked herbivores that lived about 210 million years ago.
- Tracks span several kilometres across at least seven ridgelines in Stelvio National Park between Livigno and Bormio, including walls inaccessible by trails.
- Preserved details such as toe and claw marks and parallel trackways indicate herd movement and possible circle formations.
- Nature photographer Elio Della Ferrera spotted prints up to 40 centimetres on September 14, prompting a Milan briefing where plans for drone and remote-sensing documentation were outlined.