Hiker discovers first trace of entire prehistoric ecosystem in Italian Alps
A hiker in the northern Italian Alps has stumbled across the first trace of what scientists believe to be an entire prehistoric ecosystem, including the well-preserved footprints of reptiles and amphibians, brought to light by the melting of snow and ice induced by the climate crisis.
The discovery in the Valtellina Orobie mountain range in Lombardy dates back 280 million years to the Permian period, the age immediately prior to dinosaurs, scientists say.
Claudia Steffensen, from Lovero, a village in Sondrio province, and her husband were navigating their way along a rocky trail in the Ambria valley, close to the Swiss border, when she stepped on a light grey rock covered in “strange designs”.
“It was a very hot day last summer and we wanted to escape the heat, so we went to the mountains,” Steffensen told the Guardian. “On our way back down, we had to walk very carefully along the path. My husband was in front of me, looking straight ahead, while I was looking towards my feet. I put my foot on a rock, which struck me as odd as it seemed more like a slab of cement. I then noticed these strange circular designs with wavy lines. I took a closer look and realised they were footprints.”
Steffensen took a photo and sent it to her friend Elio Della Ferrera, a photographer who specialises in the natural world. Della Ferrera then sent the photo to Cristiano Dal Sasso, a paleontologist at the museum of natural history in Milan, who in turn consulted other experts.
The footprints, found 1,700 metres above sea level, turned out to belong to a prehistoric reptile.
The experts mapped out an area of the Valtellina Orobie nature park, including at altitudes of almost 3,000 metres, and visits to the site since summer 2023 have revealed hundreds of other fossilised footprints of reptiles, amphibians and insects, which they said were often still aligned to form “tracks”. The traces are believed to have come from at least five different species of animal.
In a statement Dal Sasso said: “Dinosaurs did not yet exist, but the authors of the largest footprints must still have been of a considerable size – up to 2-3 metres long.” [Continue reading…]