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Severe Drought in Texas Exposes 113-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tracks
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
A long trail of dinosaur tracks recently appeared in a state park near Dallas, Texas, following a drought. The tracks, which are 113-million years old, were discovered at the appropriately named Dinosaur Valley State Park, according to the Smithsonian.
Dino DiscoveryThe area where these tracks were found is typically covered in mud, silt, and water, but low water levels over the summer revealed their location. The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that Somervell County, where the park is located, has been under an “extreme drought.”
Acrocanthosaurus
Park superintendent Jeff Davis told the Dallas Morning News that researchers took advantage of the hot, dry year. Experts believe the footprints belong to two different types of dinosaurs—Acrocanthosaurus and Sauroposeidon proteles—which lived during the Cretaceous Period. The former was a meat-eating dinosaur with three-toed feet that walked on two legs. It was approximately 15-feet tall and weighed 14,000 pounds. One set of overlapping Acrocanthosaurus tracks was jokingly referred to as a “huge 6 toed clawed prehistoric monster track” by the Facebook group Dinosaur Valley State Park – Friends.
In contrast, the Sauroposeidon proteles tracks are bulbous-shaped like an elephant. This type of dinosaur could grow as long as 100 feet and weigh as much as 88,000 pounds!
Sauroposeidon proteles
The dinosaurs left their prints in mushy mud submerged in shallow water. The sediment of these tracks turned into limestone, preserving them. While the Paluxy River is currently protecting the tracks, erosion will run its course and they will disappear someday.
Follow the FootprintsVolunteers and researchers have uncovered 75 prehistoric footprints in the area and are currently analyzing them—albeit not in the most comfortable conditions. Texas has been experiencing temperatures as high as 125-degrees Fahrenheit. Last year, other dinosaur tracks revealed themselves in the park—also the result of drought conditions.
Theropod tracks as well as the first distinct sauropod tracks ever found have been uncovered at this Texas park. Sauropods include dinosaurs such as the Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus), Diplodocus, and Brachiosaurus. In 1937, a man named R.T. Bird discovered multiple tracks at the park consisting of footprints from both sauropods and theropods. He visited the park with the intention of collecting fossils for the American Museum of Natural History, and his discovery revealed that sauropods walked on four legs and did not depend on the water to support their weight.
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Over the years, dinosaur tracks have helped scientists learn about dinosaur habits and activities. Davis told the Dallas Morning News in 2022 that researchers are still learning about dinosaurs through the tracks that they left behind.
Wait… There’s MoreWant to know more about dinosaur footprints? Check out our episode of Up Close & Peculiar, which covers mysterious tracks that resemble prehistoric chicken feet. The episode also centers on the hadrosaurid, a duck-billed, 20-foot-tall dinosaur. This reptile has mummified skin and tendons as well as bite marks/scars that reveal a little bit about how it used its tail for defensive purposes.
If you are interested in learning more about dinosaurs, visit one of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums for some cool dino-related exhibits.
By Noelle Talmon, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Severe Drought in Texas Exposes 113-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tracks
September 7, 2023
3 Reasons Why Octopuses Keep Surprising Scientists
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Deep below the surface, the ocean is brimming with plants and animals yet to be discovered. Remarkably, the species we have already found are full of secrets and continue to surprise us.
Take, for instance, octopuses. These eight-limbed, soft-bodied cephalopods are incredibly smart, are surprisingly similar to humans, and have existed for over 500 million years! Here are three astonishing facts about octopuses that may make you think twice about eating them ever again.
1. Octopuses Have Multiple BrainsOctopuses have uncanny intelligence. They can make tools, solve mazes, and climb out of containers. But did you know that each arm has its own “brain?”
About two-thirds of an octopus’s 500 million neurons are in its arms. This enables each arm to operate independently and to touch and taste. A 2011 experiment proved this theory.
Researchers designed a maze that forced the animal’s arms to leave the water so it could not use its chemical sensors to find food. However, transparent walls allowed the octopus to see the food. Most of the octopuses used in the experiment successfully guided their arms to find the hidden food. This proved that their central brain — which processes visual information — operated the arms.
2. Octopuses Are Sneaky PrankstersOctopuses are also impressively clever. A New Zealand octopus called Inky escaped from its aquarium down a drainage tube that led to the ocean. Another octopus at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium took apart the plumbing in its tank, significantly damaging the aquarium’s ecologically sensitive floor!
But octopuses aren’t just known for their great escapes. They also can recognize individuals outside of their species. Otto, an octopus in Germany, seemed to intentionally prank aquarium employees. After learning that squirting water at an overhead spotlight turned it off, Otto started turning out the lights and leaving staff in the dark for what appeared to be his own amusement.
Another octopus at the University of Otago in New Zealand took an apparent dislike to a staff member and would squirt her whenever she passed its tank.
In the wild, octopuses use their cleverness to catch prey. An octopus will sneak up on shrimp, tap them with one arm, and then grab the startled crustacean with another. More recently, the clever cephalopods have been found using underwater hot tubs to make their eggs hatch faster!
3. Octopuses Have Complicated Social LivesOctopuses were once thought to be solitary creatures. However, “Octopolis,” the first known octopus city, was discovered in 2009 and has since redefined the way scientists think about the social behaviors of octopuses. That’s not all, in 2017 another octopus city was found!
The 2017 discovery of another octopus city — dubbed “Octlantis” — further solidified the complex social behaviors of the cephalopods. Around 15 octopuses occupied the city, and scientists witnessed complex behaviors amongst the animals, including evicting one another from dens.
Come Sea These Clever CrittersOctopuses are seriously intelligent, clever, and even social animals. The more we study them, the more surprising secrets octopuses continue to reveal.
Want to learn more? Swim over to one of our three amazing Ripley’s Aquarium locations to get up close and personal with these incredible creatures of the deep!
By Steph Weaver, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!
September 6, 2023
September 5, 2023
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