The Otjihaenamparero dinosaur tracks are a set of different fossil tracks located at the Otjihaenamparero farmstead, east of the small town of Kalkfeld in the

Otjozondjupa Region Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters. Ge ...

in central

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The tracks were first reported as dinosaur imprints in 1925 and the site has in 1951 been declared a national monument. Dinosaurstracks Otjihaenamaparero Namibia

Dinosaurstracks Otjihaenamaparero Namibia

Dinosaur tracks

The tracks occur in

Etjo Sandstone The Etjo Sandstone is an Early Jurassic geologic Formation (geology), formation in northern Namibia. The formation overlies the Omingonde Formation in the Waterberg Basin and the Doros Formation, Doros and Gai-As Formations in the Huab Basin and h ...

and were first reported as dinosaur footprints by Friedrich von Huene in 1925. The tracks are believed to be from animals that moved near waterholes in an increasingly arid ecosystem. Over time, the tracks were covered with sand that then solidified into rock. All imprints appear to stem from a three-toed and clawed foot, likely from the hind feet of

bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' ...

dinosaurs.There are two crossing tracks, counting more than 30 individual imprints of 12-15 cm in length and 80 cm apart. An additional track consists of several imprints of 7 cm length that are 28-33 cm apart. The longest traces in the

are about in length. They belong to at least two different species of the

ichnogenus An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxa'' comes from the Greek ίχνος, ''ichnos'' meaning ''track'' and ταξις, ''taxis'' meaning ...

Saurichnium ''Saurichnium'' is an ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint. Traces of different species of this genus have been found at Otjihaenamparero in central Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its ...

'', '' Saurichnium damarense'' and '' Saurichnium tetractis''.

Preservation

The site was designated a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

in 1951.

References

Protected areas of Namibia Otjozondjupa Region Fossil trackways National Monuments of Namibia Paleontology in Namibia {{Namibia-geo-stub

Dinosaur tracks

Preservation

See also

References