Wildlife photographer Elio Della Ferrera was photographing deer and vultures in September when he noticed unusual markings on a steep rock wall nearly 2,000 feet above the nearest road in the Fraele Valley. What he discovered would become one of the most significant paleontological finds in recent history.
Italian officials announced Tuesday that the discovery spans roughly three miles of rock and represents the largest dinosaur track site in the Alps and one of the richest in the world, according to Milan’s Natural History Museum.
Cristiano Dal Sasso, a paleontologist at Milan’s Natural History Museum who received the first call from Della Ferrera, said the location at 7,900 to 9,200 feet above sea level on a mostly shaded north-facing wall made the footprints particularly hard to spot without a powerful camera lens.
“The huge surprise was not so much in discovering the footprints, but in discovering such a huge quantity,” Della Ferrera said in a statement. “There are really tens of thousands of prints up there, more or less well-preserved.”
The dinosaur prints are believed to have been made by long-necked bipedal herbivores similar to Plateosaurus that were up to 33 feet long and weighed up to four tons, Dal Sasso said. Some of the tracks measured 40 centimeters wide with visible claws.
The footprints indicate that the dinosaurs traveled in packs and sometimes stopped in circular formations, possibly as a protective measure. Dal Sasso told reporters that the tracks show individuals walking at a slow, calm, rhythmic pace without running.
The area was once a prehistoric coastal environment with soft tidal flats that turned to rock over time as the mountain range was created. This marks the first dinosaur tracks ever found in the Lombardy region and the only ones discovered north of the Insubric Line, a key tectonic boundary forming the southern edge of the Alps.
The entrance to the park where the prints were discovered is located just two kilometers from the mountain town of Bormio, which will host men’s alpine skiing during the Feb. 6-22 Winter Olympics.
Because the area is not accessible by trails, researchers will rely on drones and remote sensing technologies to study the tracks. No plans for eventual public access have been announced.
“The studies that will continue following the discovery of these footprints will allow us to better understand the history of our planet and the land we inhabit,” said Giuseppe Sala, Milan’s mayor.
