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66 Dinosaur Footprints Discovered on Rock Gifted to an Australian High School Decades Ago

Biloela State High School unknowingly displayed one of Australia’s most significant fossil finds for years.
ByCaLea Johnson|
The ‘school fossil boulder’ originating from Dunn Creek Mining Area, Callide, Queensland.
The ‘school fossil boulder’ originating from Dunn Creek Mining Area, Callide, Queensland. | Dr. Anthony Romilio

Rare fossils have been known to turn up in surprising locations. In addition to the fossil bed recently unearthed from under San Pedro High School in California, another impressive fossil was recently identified at an Australian school—and it had been hiding in plain sight for almost 20 years. The findings were recently published in the journal Historical Biology.

According to Popular Science, the slab of ancient rock was donated to Biloela State High School in Queensland by a geologist who was working at a nearby coal mine. It ended up on display as a symbol of the area’s geology-focused history, and it remained there for about two decades. The school didn’t realize how special the rock was until it contacted professionals to take a closer look at the specimen in 2021. 

After careful examination, Anthony Romilio, a paleontologist from the University of Queensland’s Dinosaur Lab, and colleagues determined the rock was covered with 66 footprints from 47 individual dinosaurs. That makes it one of highest concentrations of dinosaur footprints per square meter found on a fossil in Australia, as per the University of Queensland’s news release. Dr. Romilio states the three-toed prints likely belonged to Anomoepus scambus, an ichnospecies from the Early Jurassic period (about 200 million years ago). Its tiny legs only ranged between 15 and 50 centimeters (about 5.9 and 19.7 inches) in length. Dinosaurs with similar feet were often herbivores with beaks. They also tend to have stout builds, small limbs, long legs, and small heads.  

Dr. Romolio had previously worked on Mount Morgan’s “Dino Cave,” another Australian site covered in prehistoric footprints. Based on the fossil evidence, he concluded that some Australian dinosaurs may have had a natural crouch while walking. His findings caught the eye of Biloela State High School, which then contacted him with the goal of learning more about its own fossil.

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