Analysing trackway-based speed calculations to infer dinosaur locomotive capabilities and behaviours

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dinosaur trackway studies provide valuable insights into extinct animals’ locomotor behaviour. Despite limitations arising from the inability to directly observe these trackmakers, speed and gait estimation formulae have become standard tools in the field of dinosaur ichnology. Stride length has traditionally been used to estimate dinosaur average speed and intra-trackway speed variations, but its unilateral focus can overlook some nuances within trackways. Alternatively, the contralateral measure pace length may not always align with the direction of travel. Analysing data from the Mancheon-ri tracksite and others, our results show that step length aligns advantageously along the trackway axis and captures nuanced speed variations. Incorporating additional parameters such as cadence and step duration enriches our understanding of the trackmaker’s movements. Cadence summarises the overall rhythm of movement across trackways, and step duration reveals temporal variations between individual steps, offering potential for 3D animated reconstructions of dinosaur behaviour. Despite these methodologies’ inherent limitations and assumptions, they provided a more refined understanding of dinosaur locomotion and behavioural patterns. Acknowledging the limitations of studying unobservable trackmakers, our estimations – based on established formulas for hip height and speed – are both rooted in accepted methodologies and remain informative, enhancing our understanding of dinosaur trackmaker behaviours.