Fossil hunters find a new dinosaur track site on South Africa’s coast – the youngest so far

Dinosaur tracks from the Cretaceous period have been found in South Africa for only the second time.

By: Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University and Willo Stear, Nelson Mandela University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: February 2, 2026

Words: 1,195

Last Updated: 1 month, 2 weeks ago

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By Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University and Willo Stear, Nelson Mandela University

Southern Africa is world renowned for its fossil record of creatures that lived in the very distant past, including dinosaurs. But, about 182 million years ago, a huge eruption of lava covered much of the landscape (the inland Karoo Basin) where most of the dinosaurs roamed. After that, the dinosaur fossil record in the region goes abruptly quiet for the Jurassic Period (which lasted …

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