Special Features - Slideshow

Representing Fossil Footprints

"Ichnographs of the Connecticut River Sandstone", plate 31, page 143. Image courtesy of Historic Deerfield Library, Deerfield, Massachusetts.

About this Image

Plate 31 from Deane's "Ichnographs" is again a photograph. This track is different from any of the others, and Deane found it perplexing. Note the toes at upper right, with the long metatarsal behind it and another similar metatarsal shape on the left. From other similar fossils, Deane thought it possible that the trackmaker moved by leaping. At the bottom, near the center, is an upside-down, slightly heart-shaped little dot. It is the imprint of the os coccygis, and is evidence that this animal sat down. Deane thought it conclusive proof that the animal leapt. Hitchcock called these tracks Anomoepus major.