![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/cdn.sci.news\/images\/enlarge13\/image_14380e-Limping-Sauropod.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAerial view of the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite in Colorado, the United States. Image credit: USDA Forest Service.<\/p>\n
University of Queensland paleontologist Anthony Romilio and his colleagues analyzed more than 130 footprints along the 95.5-m track made 150 million years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was left in the Late Jurassic when long-necked dinosaurs such as Diplodocus and Camarasaurus roamed North America,\u201d Dr. Romilio said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trackway is unique because it is a complete loop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we may never know why this dinosaur curved back on itself, the trackway preserves an extremely rare chance to study how a giant sauropod handled a tight, looping turn before resuming its original direction of travel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scale of the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite required a new approach,\u201d said San Diego Natural History Museum paleontologist Paul Murphey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been challenging to document these footprints from the ground because of the size of the trackway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used drones to capture the entire trackway in high resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these images we generated a detailed 3D model, which could then be digitally analyzed in the lab at millimeter-scale accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The virtual model reconstructed the sauropod\u2019s movement along the full trackway.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was clear from the start that this animal began walking toward the northeast, completed a full loop, and then finished facing the same direction again,\u201d Dr. Romilio said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin that loop we found subtle, yet consistent, clues to its behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the clearest patterns was a variation in the width between left and right footprints, shifting from quite narrow to distinctly wide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis shift from narrow to wide step placement shows that footprint width can change naturally as a dinosaur moves, meaning short trackway segments with seemingly consistent widths may give a misleading picture of its usual walking style.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also detected a small but persistent difference in left and right step lengths, of about 10 cm (4 inches).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether that reflects a limp or simply a preference for one side is hard to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many long dinosaur trackways around the world where this method could be applied to extract behavioral information that was previously inaccessible.\u201d<\/p>\n