RUI: Morphological and Systematic Analysis of Bipedal Dinosaur Footprints from Texas: Experimental and Field Studies

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Dinosaur trackways represent a unique and important resource for interpreting functional morphology and the evolution of behavior. Dr. James Farlow proposes a new experimental approach to interpreting dinosaur trackways. He proposes to videotape and analyze how flightless ratite birds leave their footprints in a variety of sedimentary substrata. Along with undergraduate research collaborators, the Principal Investigator will analyze the effects of substrate character and the age and anatomy of several bird species on the resulting tracks. Dinosaur trackways of Cretaceous age in Texas will then be studied, using the experimental findings to interpret the variability found among the fossil footprints. The proposed research has implications beyond the study of dinosaur trackways themselves. This innovative experimental approach will allow paleontologists to more accurately reconstruct the identities, abundances and age distributions of dinosaurs that shared an ancient habitat. The project will provide new insight into the biomechanics and gait of dinosaurs, and into their social structure and behavior as well. Dr. Farlow will be using the most current techniques for computer-aided shape analysis of the footprints, and his undergraduate students will gain important research experience under his supervision.