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CRETACIC PARKFORGET TOURISTS; IT WAS DINOSAURS WHO ONCE RULED

THE BEACHES OF THE WESTERN ALGARVE

CRETACIC PARKFORGET TOURISTS; IT WAS DINOSAURS WHO ONCE RULED

THE BEACHES OF THE WESTERN ALGARVE

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NATURAL HISTORY

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As we get to Salema beach and start walkingtowards the cliffs, Luis Azevedo Rodriguespoints to the numerous seagull prints inthe sand: “Here they are! These are di-

nosaur footprints.” Had I not remembered that birdsare direct descendants of dinosaurs, I would’ve beenfooled by the palaeontologist’s quirky sense of hu-mour. A resident in Lagos and a Biology and Geologyteacher at Gil Eanes School, Luis is a renowned doctorof Palaeontology who has worked for the PortugueseNatural History Museum, gone on excavation expe-ditions in the Argentinian Patagonia and studied several dinosaur collections in natural history muse-ums across the world, including England, the US andChina. In his native Portugal, Luis is undoubtedly thego-to expert for those who want to learn more aboutthe dinosaur footprints in the council of Vila do Bispo,and he organises guided tours for up to 15 people thatprovide information on this amazing and practicallyunknown heritage.Located on the western side of Salema beach, on aplain-looking rock that seems more suited to be usedas a beach 'pillow', lies an eight-footprint track madeby ornithopods, a group of bipedal herbivorous di-nosaurs. Due to the lack of signage and the fact thatthe footprints are not well defined, Luis explains thatpeople often ask why scientists are convinced that

those marks were really made by dinosaurs: “This rockmay have suffered changes due to erosion, but theodds of such a pattern [similar to dinosaur footprints]being formed are small. If we add to that the fact thatwe actually have a trail of prints and not an isolatedmark, we see that the possibility of erosion causing theprints is very slim,” he says. At 120 million years old,the cliffs’ age also acts as proof of the prints’ authen-ticity, placing them in the Lower Cretaceous period. With Luis’s help, it becomes easy to identify the ani-mal’s heel and its three fingers. “It’s most likely thatthis was a lagoon area with muddy soil and under theinfluence of the sea,” he says, adding that tempera-tures at the time were much higher, such as in a sub-tropical or even tropical climate.According to the palaeontologist, footprints have a fewadvantages when compared to fossil findings – al-though they don’t enable scientists to specify thespecies of the animal, only its group, they provide in-formation about the dinosaur’s size, weight and speed.“We have basic formulas that allow us to calculate thisdata and we provide them to children during the tour,making maths more appealing to them.” Based on thesize of the footprints, Luis explains that the ornithopodsthat once inhabited Salema measured 1.6 metres at thehip, weighed around three to four tons and moved ata speed of four to five kilometres an hour.

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Does this mean dinosaurs were slow? “Not exactly,”he replies. “They were moving on muddy soil, whichis very good for preserving prints, but not for movingquickly.”But ornithopods weren’t the only dinosaurs to enjoySalema during the Cretaceous. On the eastern side ofthe same beach, in an area only accessible during lowtide, we find a tilted rock with clearer yet finer prints:they belong to therapods, a group of bipedal carnivo-rous dinosaurs. “These footprints were made by muchsmaller animals and they point in different directions.However, it doesn’t mean there was a group of ani-mals; it could have been one dinosaur moving inseveral directions,” notes Luis.Discovered in the mid-'90s, these prints are part of a‘geological package’ that also comprises a number offootprints found at Praia Santa beach (around 500 me-tres west from Salema) and Fóia do Carro beach.Whilst the latter are not accessible by foot and arethought to be the oldest footprints found in the Algarve to date – Luis says they are still being studied-, the prints at Praia Santa beach indicate the presence

of much larger herbivorous ornithopods, with a hipheight of up to 2.5 metres. The clearest, largest andbest-preserved prints, these are also more difficult toreach. It takes a long walk down a beautiful valley,with a few loose rocks under our feet to get there, butthe journey is definitely worth it. Luis believes that these footprints, especially the mostaccessible ones in Salema, are extremely important fortourism and educational purposes. Not only do theyallow palaeontologists to track the different kinds ofdinosaurs that lived in Portugal, but they also enablepeople to see this wonderful natural heritage in its biological context. “When people are educated, theypreserve their heritage and there is no doubt that thefascination surrounding dinosaurs is huge. To feel thatdinosaurs lived here millions of years ago is amazing.”

To book a guided tour (in English, Portuguese or Spanish)with Luis Azevedo Rodrigues, please email:visit.dinos@gmail.com or cienciaaonatural@gmail.comThe Lagos Centre for Living Science also organises tours for schools (upon request).

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