Dinosaur Bridge: New Footprints Found Between Brazil and Cameroon

Have you ever thought about what the world would have been like 120 million years ago? Imagine a time when South America and Africa were still joined, forming a single supercontinent called Gondwana. Now, thanks to an extraordinary discovery, we can step back in time and imagine these ancient giants leaving their footprints on a terrain that is now separated by thousands of kilometers of ocean.

A Dinosaur Bridge Between Two Continents

An international team of paleontologists, led by Louis L. Jacobs of Southern Methodist University in Texas, has discovered over 260 footprints of dinosaurs in Brazil and Cameroon. These footprints, dating back to about 120 million years ago, offer a fascinating window into a time when the two continents were still connected. But how can we imagine a link between South America and Africa, so distant today? The footprints found tell us a different story.

Dinosaurs in motion: who were the protagonists?

The footprints, similar in age, shape and geological context, were found on opposite banks of theAtlantic Oceanover 6,000 kilometers away. Most of these tracks belongs to theropod dinosaursthree-toed bipedal creatures, known to be agile and ferocious predators. But they were not alone: ​​other footprints seem belong to sauropodsthe giant four-legged herbivores with long necks and tails, and ornithischians, dinosaurs with skeletal structures similar to those of birds.

Imagine these dinosaurs, moving through the muddy terrain along ancient rivers and lakes, leaving behind tracks that they would be remained hidden until the days ours. It is as if they were crossing an invisible bridge between two worlds, a bridge that today we can only imagine.

The Gondwana Elbow: The Last Link Between Africa and South America

According to Jacobs, the last physical link between Africa and South America was located in northeastern Brazil, a region that fit perfectly with the coast of the Cameroon along the Gulf of Guinea. This “elbow” represented a tight and vital connection, a passage through which animals could move freely from one continent to another.

About 140 million years ago, however, this Africa began to to break. The separation between Africa and South America gave rise to the opening of splits in the Earth’s crust, known as riftwhich allowed magma to rise from the Earth’s mantle, creating a new crust oceanic and giving life to the South Atlantic Ocean. That passage between the continents, which once allowed dinosaurs to roam freely, became wider and wider, until it disappeared altogether.

Evidence of this ancient world is not only in dinosaur footprints, but also in sediments and fossil pollen found in the regions of Borborema in Brazil and in Koum basin in Cameroon. These remains give us a fuller picture of an era when the Earth was in constant flux, and remind us that the world as we know it today is only the last chapter of a much longer and more complex story.

A journey through time within everyone’s reach

This discovery is not just a scientific curiositybut an invitation to reflect on how everything we see today is the result of millenni of changes. The footprints dinosaurs tell us about a time when the continents were joined together, a time when our lands were traversed by imposing and majestic creatures.

And you, what do you think? Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to walk next to a dinosaur? The tracks of these ancient inhabitants of the Earth they remind us that the past is always with us, hidden beneath our feet, waiting to be discovered. Keep following us on iCrewPlay for more amazing stories from the world of science and exploration of the past.