Lerato Tsakatsi was nearly completing her studies at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) when she uncovered 14 dinosaur footprints at the NUL Campus as part of her research. She is not the first to note the presence of the dinosaur footprints in the area but she is probably the first to uncover and document so many! “My initial results point to footprints possibly belonging to Ornithopod and Sauropod dinosaurs.” She will soon leave for the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to study Palaeontology, which will further her interests. ____________________________Milco is the chainstore that will sell only Lesotho products. Join it here:https://www.facebook.com/847853251970285/posts/4624535400968699/If her findings are confirmed by further work, Lesotho might have as well been a home to some of the largest animals (likholumolumo) to have walked the face of this planet— Sauropods. In her report, Lerato strongly urges NUL authorities to preserve the footprints which she refers to as, “An Ignored Treasure on the Doorstep.”Listen to the story of Lerato Tsakatsi who was supervised by Mrs Nthabiseng Mokuena-Mokhali in this research journey. You see, some 200 million years ago, Lesotho was already a home to animals called Dinosaurs, some of which were truly big!What killed dinosaurs such that not a single one remains today is a matter of scientific debates. However, scientists point to an emerging evidence that a massive comet or asteroid might have hit the earth nearly 66 million years ago, killing many plant and animal species, including dinosaurs. Fortunately, abundance of dinosaur fossils and footprints keep reminding us the wonders of these creatures. So what’s the story of Dinosaur footprints at NUL? It appears NUL was once a home to one of the most hardworking researchers and writers of his time, professor David Ambrose. “Untiring” is the description we often get from those who knew a thing or two about him. As evidenced by his diverse writings, he was interested in, well, everything! “He documented the presence of at least two dinosaur footprints within the NUL Campus,” Lerato said. “The first footprint was discovered by an unidentified Argentinian in 1974 at NUL. The second footprint was uncovered by Claudia Marsicano and her team of scholars in 2007.”In her last year at NUL, an opportunity presented itself to her. Her would-become supervisor suggested that there might be more footprints at the campus than Ambrose documented. What if they were to find out? Her blood was already boiling with curiosity. She left the research project she had already started and picked this one.It was a fateful choice that will soon see her furthering her studies in Palaeontology in South Africa.After a research design, it was time start roaming the NUL campus like a dinosaur. Professor David Ambrose had already given an idea of where the first noted footprints might have been. However, she couldn’t locate anything there, so she dug further. After digging a lot of rubble closer to the proposed sporting site beside a track to the NUL farm, some interesting things began to appear. She uncovered 1 track of 10 footprints and 4 separate footprints, making a total of 14 footprints. When you walk on sand you leave a track of footprints. That is exactly what happened here. A single dinosaur was walking on sand, creating a single track which hardened over 200 million years! Her analyses revealed that of the 14 prints, only 1 could belong to the Sauropod class of dinosaurs. The rest of the 13, including those ten within a track, were linked to the Ornithopod class. “Due to poor instruments used, I will urge further studies to be done on these footprints to affirm the preliminary results already found,” she said. Now who are these guys whose footprints Lerato probably uncovered? Let’s start with Sauropods. It is a class of dinosaurs which were extremely large. For instance, one Sauropod known as Dreadnoughtus was found to have been 26 metres long and weighed about 65 tons (equal to nearly ten elephants)! You wouldn’t want to meet it in person—it was intimidating! Sauropods ate plants and walked on four legs. Ornithopods were a bit smaller and walked on two legs. These ones were not as big as Sauropods. In fact, some have been documented to range between 60–120 cm in length but they vary in size depending on the types within the class. So what does Lerato recommend?“I urge the university to consider erecting a building around the area to protect this amazing historical heritage,” she advised. “In fact the building can be turned into a museum, which will include other objects, that can attract tourism and students to the university.” She said some of the prints were already weathering away which complicated measurements. So her call is urgent!She also advises the University to engage experts with better equipment to follow up on her study. _______________________Milco is the chainstore that will sell only Lesotho products. Join it here:https://www.facebook.com/847853251970285/posts/4624535400968699/+2
1.4K1.4K67 Comments169 SharesLikeCommentShare
