Scientists in Bolivia have uncovered a record-breaking 18,000 dinosaur footprints and swim tracks, setting a new global benchmark for a single tracksite. The discovery was made at the Carreras Pampa site in Torotoro National Park, an area that was once an ancient coastline and travel corridor, per Live Science. "Everywhere you look on that rock layer at the site, there are dinosaur tracks," paleontologist Jeremy McLarty tells CNN. The 16,600 footprints are attributed to theropods—bipedal, three-toed dinosaurs that lived during the late Cretaceous period, around 101 million to 66 million years ago.
The Carreras Pampa tracksite covers more than 80,000 square feet and required extensive clearing of debris and sediment to reveal the full extent of the fossilized imprints. The footprints vary widely in size, with some measuring less than four inches—an uncommon find in the fossil record, possibly indicating juveniles—while the largest exceed 12 inches, according to a study published in PLOS One. Experts note the area could connect to a larger dinosaur highway across parts of Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru, per CNN. The site is considered unique not only for the sheer number of tracks but also for the diversity of locomotive behaviors it preserves, including walking, running, swimming, tail-dragging, and sharp turning.
As well as preserving the most dinosaur tracks anywhere, the site "also preserves the highest number of swim trackways in the world," says McLarty, a study co-author at Southwestern Adventist University, per Live Science. The 1,378 recorded swim tracks are characterized by straight or comma-shaped grooves, typically made by theropods scratching the sediment with their toes. Numerous bird tracks are also visible. Bolivia is already recognized as a hotspot for dinosaur tracks, with the previous record-holder also located in the country.
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