TORONTO -- A newfound dinosaur footprint was discovered by a four-year-old walking on the beach with her family in south Wales, U.K., which could help scientists establish more about how dinosaurs walked.
The footprint is thought to be preserved from 220 million years ago.
The girl, as Lily Wilder, found the footprint on a beach near the sea.
鈥淚t was Lily and Richard (her father) who discovered the footprint. Lily saw it as when they were walking along, and said 鈥楧addy look鈥�,鈥� Sally Wilder, Lily鈥檚 mother, told the museum.
鈥淲e were thrilled to find out it really was a dinosaur footprint and I am happy that it will be taken to the national museum where we can be enjoyed and studied for generations,鈥� she said.
The National Museum of Wales Paleontology curator Cindy Howells described the find 鈥渁s the best specimen ever found鈥� on that beach.
The footprint itself is known as a Grallator, a common type of small, three-toed footprint, but the exact dinosaur that made it is impossible to identify the museum said.
鈥淭he new footprint Is just over 10 cm long and is likely to have been made by a dinosaur that stood about 75 cm tall and 2.5 m long,鈥� the museum release states. 鈥淚t would have been a slender animal which walked on its two hind feet and actively hunted other small animals and insects.鈥�
The footprint was extracted and is being taken to the National Museum Cardiff to be studied.
