Paleontologists Advise Restaurant Managers to Preserve the Area
3D laser scanning services continue to prove their relevance in the modern-day world as the technology was recently used to verify dinosaur footprints seen at Sichuan.
Paleontologists confirmed that the marks seen at one restaurant in the Chinese province of Sichuan are actual dinosaur footprints.
Based on the 3D laser scanning services reports that were generated, the treads are from the early Cretaceous period. They belong to two dinosaurs from the brontosaurus family. It’s a line of gigantic quadrupedal herbivorous groups of dinosaurs.
Reports indicate that the identified footprints are the first to be seen in a restaurant.
Ou Hontao was dining at one of the local restaurants, “Yanyi Senlin,” on July 10, when he stumbled on the footprints. The restaurant is in Leshan city, which is known for its Leshan Giant Buddha, the biggest stone Buddha statue worldwide.
The diner has a special interest in paleontology since his job is directly related to stone materials; he noted that he accidentally noticed some dents on the ground, which he thought resembled dinosaur footprints.
The same evening, Ou reached out to Xing Lida, a mid-level professor at the China University of Geosciences, about his discovery. Xing visited the restaurant with his fellow paleontologists to study the stone marks. They used 3D scanning services, drone photographing, and other measuring tools to come to their conclusion.
What the 3D Laser Scanning Services Uncovered
The 3D laser scanning services and other measurements showed that about a dozen footprints were found. The footprints belonged to the brontosaurus family.
According to the researchers, the 3D laser scans showed that the prints were from two dinosaurs of the brontosaurus family. They claimed that the dinosaurs might have been walking along a river in Leshan about one hundred million years ago.
While 3D scanning services are used in other fossil records, this is the first time that such 3D technology has been used to discover the presence of dinosaur footprints in the urban settlements of Leshan city. This points to the fact that there is the possibility of finding other prints in the region, said Xing.
The strangeness of the occurrence prompted the paleontologists to advise the restaurant managers to preserve the area.