How did dinosaurs leave tracks?

<p><em>But Why</em> has answers to your dinosaur questions! When did the dinosaurs live? How many species of dinosaurs were alive in the Cretaceous period? How do dinosaurs get their names (and why are they hard to say)? Why are dinosaurs extinct? We visit <a href="https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/dinosaur-valley" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dinosaur Valley State Park</a> in Texas to see some actual dinosaur evidence: tracks left by two types of dinosaur 113 million years ago.</p> <p>Download our learning guides: <a href="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/4d/56/6c1a1e9d4083bec8719b6136146d/how-did-dinosaurs-leave-tracks.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PDF</a> | <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_jv73MKm4-f72aopdJwqErE8hPAryEIrX-uPgb7TfDo/copy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Slide</a> | <a href="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/e7/0d/85afc68945e49d8183323be81b58/but-why-193-dinosaurtracks-transcript.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Transcript</a></p> <ul> <li><p>Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas has several sites where dinosaur footprints have been well-preserved. Though some of the tracks were actually chiseled out and sold before the park got state recognition and protection.</p></li> <li><p>In the summer of 2022, drought in this part of Texas caused riverbeds to dry out, revealing new tracks that hadn’t been seen before. These discoveries made news around the world!</p></li> <li><p>The rock in the area is limestone. And the tracks are largely in what are now riverbeds. But In the time of the dinosaurs, 113 million years ago, the landscape looked very different. The sea covered much of the land, and the spots where the tracks are were the seashore, full of sticky wet mud. The dinosaurs walked through the mud and left footprints, which were then covered over by silt and other sediment. As the mud got compressed and eventually turned into limestone, the tracks were preserved.</p></li> <li><p>The landscape changed over the millennia. As the sea receded and rivers curved thr