Overview
- Italian officials announced a near-vertical Alpine tracksite in Stelvio National Park with an estimated 20,000 Triassic-era footprints stretching roughly five kilometers near Bormio.
- Discovered in September by photographer Elio Della Ferrera, the Italian tracks include prints up to 40 centimeters wide with visible claws and are attributed mainly to prosauropods showing parallel walks and possible circular gatherings.
- Because the Italian site sits 2,400–2,800 meters above sea level and about 600 meters above the nearest road, researchers will study it using drones and remote sensing as local leaders note its proximity to 2026 Winter Olympics venues.
- A PLOS One study reports more than 16,600 theropod footprints at Carreras Pampa in Bolivia’s Torotoro National Park, establishing the largest known concentration of carnivorous dinosaur tracks.
- The Bolivian surface preserves 1,321 trackways and 1,378 swim traces across nine linked sectors, and track orientations indicate a repeatedly used lakeshore passageway with continued mapping and conservation under way.