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Inside Out joins quest to find first T.rex footprint
A Manchester dinosaur hunter has discovered what he hopes is the world's
first T.rex footprint.
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The metre-square print has been found in the arid badlands of North
America, and has been lying there for 67 million years.
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For
generations, finding a T.rex footprint has been seen by many as the Holy
Grail of palaeontology.
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The discovery by Dr Phil Manning, from the University of Manchester's School of Earth, Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, of
a possible footprint is the centre piece of a special half-hour
documentary for Inside Out on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One North West tonight (Wednesday 10 October, 7.30pm).
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Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the last dinosaurs to exist before the
entire species was wiped out in a mass extinction. It was a flesh
eating giant, standing 20 feet tall, 40 feet long and weighing in at
about seven tons.
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Only about 50 partial skeletons have been recovered
since fossil hunters started looking for what was one of the largest
carnivores to live on earth.
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All of the remains have been found in the Hell Creek area of America.
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Dr Manning, who has travelled the world in search of dinosaur remains,
has returned to a footprint he came across last year. Now he has been
able to make a detailed study of the print.
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"People have been trying to find T.rex tracks for a hundred years,"
said Dr Manning.
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"Unless you come across an animal dead in its tracks you can't say for
definite what left them.
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"However with information available about the
numbers of T.rex in the rocks of the Hell Creek formation it is the
closest we have got so far to discovering a tyrannosaur track.
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"And it
could only be made by one of the two species known from Hell Creek –
either the Nanotyrannus or its bigger relative Tyrannosaurus rex. The
size of the footprint at 76 cm in length suggests it more likely to be
the latter."
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Dr Manning's drawings and photos will now provide the basis for a
scientific paper which he is looking to publish shortly.
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Dr Manning
cannot say he has found a T.rex print until others have had their chance to
study his findings.
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But he adds: "There is no such thing as a truth in science, so for us
this is as close as we get to what I think is a fantastic find."
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Notes to Editors
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Please ensure that Inside Out is credited. Inside Out,
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One North West,
7.30pm, Wednesday 10 October 2007.
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Viewers outside the North West of England region can watch the programme on
digital satellite channel 975 or online at bbc.co.uk/insideout.
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A DVD of the programme, photographs and an interview opportunity are available for the media.
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³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Manchester Press Office
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