Scientists made an interesting discovery at one of the world's largest diamond mines. It wasn't massive diamonds, if that's what you're thinking.

The Catoca mine located in Angola isn't only a treasure trove for precious stones but is also home to Cretaceous animal tracks from 118 million years ago. These tracks belong to dinosaurs and ancient crocodiles that once walked through these mines.

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These tracks were first found in 2010 by mining geologist Vladimir Pervov. He contacted paleontologist Octávio Mateus who later went to the Angolan mine in July 2011 to collect these track marks.

In an effort to preserve these ancient tracks, the Catoca Diamond Mine stopped mining activity for eight months so paleontologists could dig without any disruption. If the fourth largest diamond mine in Africa didn't cease operations, these dinosaur tracks would have been wiped out from history. 

These are the first fossils of mammalian origin ever found in inland Angola. All other mammalian tracks discovered in Angola are located near the coastline. These are also the first dinosaur tracks ever found in the country.

This can be described as an uncanny discovery because mammalian tracks from that ancient era are really small and not larger than rat tracks. The newly discovered tracks are rather large, about the size of a raccoon's.

This is the first evidence of small mammals during the early Cretaceous period. The footprints measured about 1 inch by 3.7 inches.

This discovery is part of the PaleoAngola Project that aims to further study Angola's paleontology. These tracks tell paleontologists dinosaurs likely originated from Angola during the Cretaceous period.

In total, researchers found 70 unique tracks inside the diamond mine that's located in a small sedimentary basin. Eighteen of the tracks measuring about 20 inches belonged to sauropods, which are the first dinosaurs found in Angola. Paleontologists also found tracks of a crocodylomorph, which is an ancient ancestor of modern day crocodiles.

TagsRemarkable Dinosaur Tracks Found in African Diamond Mine, Angola, catoca diamond mine, Africa, dinousar track marks footprints diamond mine africa angola, mammals from cretaceous period, PaleoAngola Project