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Dinosaur Footprints on the Otjihaenamaparero Farm

Tracks of ceratosaurus and Coelophysis rhodesiensis tracks can be found fossilized in the sandstone near Mt. Etjo.

Namibia

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kwinb
Coelophysis rhodesiensis relative size.  
Coelophysis rhodesiensis tracks.  
Centosaurus tracks  
Ceratosaurus Relative size  
Ceratosaurus tracks  
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Near the center of Namibia, in the Kalkveld region, midway between the B1 and the C33 highways is the farm Otjihaenamaparero.

There exposed in the Etjo sandstone are 200-million-year-old dinosaur footprints that you can walk alongside. These types of fossils, such as footprints, burrows, and feeding marks are also known as "trace fossils" or "ichnofossils." There are two sets of tracks, and the first set that you come upon are the smaller coelophysis rhodesiensis (formerly called syntarsus) tracks ( a 10-foot-long pack hunter) that run for about 12 meters. The second set, a short distance away, are of ceratosaurus (a 20-foot-long hunter with a large nose-horn on its skull). There are two tracks that cross each other, one which runs about 30 meters and the other about 40 meters.

Nearby on the farm, visitors can camp, shower, enjoy braai (Namibian barbecue), or stay in the farm's guest house.

Related Tags

Dinosaurs Geological Oddities Animals Geology

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Added By

kwinb

Edited By

aribrown, ndperels, Ursula

Published

March 6, 2010

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