"The Moment a Carnivorous Dinosaur Attacked a Herbivorous Dinosaur" Fossil Trace Discovered

Professor Baek Inseong's Research Team at Pukyong National University Announces Study Results on Dinosaur Footprints in Ulsan Yugok-dong

A research illustration depicting a carnivorous dinosaur attacking a herbivorous dinosaur based on the analysis of a dinosaur footprint trackway.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] #(Imagination). My name is ‘Brachio’. I am a herbivorous dinosaur who loves grass. The place where I live is the Korean Peninsula. The era is the Cretaceous period. This place will become Ulsan, Republic of Korea after 100 million years. I am still young, so my steps are slow. When I follow my mother and the herd, I am always left behind. While staying with my family by the lakeside, I set out following the herd, but the ‘Tyranno’ who always targeted us attacked me, the one who was left behind the most. So only the last ‘footprint’ remains after it left.

Research revealing traces of a fierce battle between carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs, where a carnivorous dinosaur attacks a herbivorous dinosaur, has been discovered domestically, attracting attention.

It is said that traces capturing a tense situation where a herbivorous dinosaur lagging behind the herd by the lakeside during the dinosaur era on the Korean Peninsula was attacked by a carnivorous dinosaur have been found.

Professor Baek In-seong (Department of Earth Environmental Sciences) and his research team at Pukyong National University announced on the 29th that they discovered new evidence of herd behavior of herbivorous dinosaurs and solitary hunting habits of carnivorous dinosaurs at the Ulsan City Cultural Heritage Site No. 12, the dinosaur footprint fossil site in Yugok-dong, Jung-gu, Ulsan.

Professor Baek’s team analyzed about 50 dinosaur footprint fossils forming six trackways imprinted at the Yugok-dong fossil site from the late Cretaceous period, 100 million years ago. They confirmed that the footprints preserved skin impressions of the soles, supporting the fact that these trackways were made almost simultaneously.

Cases where most of the dinosaur footprints forming trackways within a fossil site preserve skin impressions like this are unique in Korea and are known to be rare worldwide.

Based on the preservation state of these trackways, Professor Baek’s team analyzed the behavioral characteristics of the dinosaurs and revealed that a herbivorous dinosaur (ornithopod) lagging behind the herd was hunted by a carnivorous dinosaur (theropod).

The research team explained that the fossil footprints provide new evidence supporting that Cretaceous carnivorous dinosaurs had solitary hunting habits, similar to tigers or leopards.

Dinosaur Footprint Site in Yugok-dong, Nam-gu, Ulsan.

It is evidence that three different types of herbivorous dinosaurs moved together in herds by the lakeside.

The research team argued that this fossil record shows that the dinosaur footprint fossil site in Yugok-dong, Nam-gu, Ulsan during the dinosaur era on the Korean Peninsula was a lakeside developed on a plain, and that this place was used as an important ecological space for dinosaurs during drought periods, similar to today’s African savanna region.

This research paper, conducted as an individual basic research project in science and engineering funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea, was published in the 4th issue (December) of 2020 of the international academic journal 「Episodes」 published by the International Union of Geological Sciences.

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