X

Animal tracks found in the Grand Canyon are the oldest ever, paleontologists say

The 300-million-year-old footprints are "the earliest evidence of vertebrate animals walking in sand dunes."

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
Expertise News, mobile, broadband, 5G, home tech, streaming services, entertainment, AI, policy, business, politics Credentials
  • I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Corinne Reichert
Grand Canyon animal tracks fossil

The 313-million-year-old animal tracks are the oldest in existence.

PLoS ONE

Fossilized footprints discovered in Grand Canyon National Park were confirmed by paleontologists on Friday to be the oldest recorded tracks of their kind.

The tracks were first found inside a boulder by Norwegian geology professor Allan Krill and his students in 2016, but now researchers have found that they're the oldest in existence -- around 313 million years old, give or take half a million years. 

"These are by far the oldest vertebrate tracks in Grand Canyon, which is known for its abundant fossil tracks," said Stephen Rowland, a paleontologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "They are among the oldest tracks on Earth of shelled-egg-laying animals, such as reptiles.

They're also the earliest evidence of vertebrates walking on sand dunes.

The tracks show two animals walking in a "lateral sequence walk" -- meaning the two legs on each side move in succession, with the rear leg first and the front leg following (the same way cats and dogs walk).

"[The] tracks document the use of this gait very early in the history of vertebrate animals. We previously had no information about that," Rowland said.

The research was published in the PLoS ONE journal.

Fossil track walking gait

The tracks show two animals walking in a lateral-sequence walk along a sand dune.

PLoS ONE