Walking in the footsteps of the dinosaurs

The remains of a dinosaur, specifically a Plateosaurus named "Ticinosuchus ferox," have been discovered in the canton of Ticino. This animal, resembling a miniature T-Rex, measured a considerable 2.5 meters in length. It roamed the Swiss landscape 240 million years ago. While it closely resembled a dinosaur, it wasn't one; it was more closely related to a crocodile. Discovered in numerous specimens in Switzerland, the Plateosaurus is the most "Swiss" of dinosaurs. It is also the most Vaudois, as paleontologists unearthed a tooth belonging to one of these herbivores in the hills above Corbeyrier.

Avenues to explore

We now know that while the Jura region has yielded very few fossils, it is, on the other hand, very rich in dinosaur tracks (more than 4,000 tracks recorded so far). These remains take us back 150 million years, to a time when the present-day Jura Mountains had not yet formed.

Many sauropods, quadrupedal and herbivorous dinosaurs like Diplodocus, have left footprints on Swiss soil. These tracks indicate a foot diameter of 20 centimeters to 1 meter, suggesting dinosaurs measuring 3.5 to 20 meters in length, with shoulder heights of 1 to 4 meters and weights of up to 20 tons.

The Courtedoux trails

Découvert au début de 2002, lors de prospections sur le tracé de l’autoroute transjurassienne en Suisse, ce site comporte un grand nombre (plus de 500) de pistes de dinosaures très faciles à repérer sur le sol dallé assez plat. On ne connaît pour l’instant que trois sites de ce type dans le monde, un au Portugal, un aux États-Unis et celui-ci. Dans les autres sites connus, les dalles présentent toutes une inclinaison plus ou moins prononcée rendant l’étude difficile.