导读:大峡谷处发现距今3.1亿年的类蜥蜴生物脚印，这可能是迄今为止发现的最古老的爬行动物脚印。

Footprints of a “lizard like-creature” 310 million years old have been unearthed in the Grand Canyon, making them potentially the oldest reptile footprints ever found.

大峡谷出土了距今3.1亿年的 “类蜥蜴生物”脚印化石，可能是迄今为止发现的最古老的爬行动物脚印。

It’s unclear what creature left the set of 28 footprints behind, but it has been described as “a reptile-like creature.” They were found by UNLV geology professor Stephen Rowland.

目前尚不清楚什么是生物留下了这28个脚印,但它被描述为“一种爬行动物。”它们是被拉斯维加斯大学地质学教授斯蒂芬.罗兰发现的。

“It’s the oldest trackway ever discovered in the Grand Canyon in an interval of rocks that nobody thought would have trackways in it and they’re among the earliest reptile tracks on Earth,” Rowland said in a statement.

罗兰在一份声明中说：“这是迄今为止在大峡谷岩石缝里发现的最古老的脚印，没人会想到那里会有脚印，他们是地球上最古老的爬行动物脚印。”

Rowland added that the tracks were created as the supercontinent Pangaea was beginning to form, noting that “in terms of reptile tracks, this is really old.”

罗兰补充说,这些脚印存在于超盘古大陆形成初期，并指出“就爬行动物脚印而言, 这些脚印真的很古老了。”

The geologist, who was first alerted of the tracks by a colleague in 2016, initially believed they were from “two animals walking side-by-side” because of the sideways motion, but that did not make any sense. So he went home, researched and made drawings of his finding of the “peculiar, line-dancing gait” left behind by the animal.

这位地质学家在2016年第一次被一位同事提醒注意到了这些脚印，由于是横向运动，最初认为他们是“两只动物并排行走”产生的脚印,没有任何意义。于是他回到家,研究并画出了这只动物留下的 “奇特,成行跳舞般的脚印”。

“One reason I’ve proposed is that the animal was walking in a very strong wind and the wind was blowing it sideways,” Rowland said in the statement.

罗兰在声明中说：“我提出的一个推论是,这只动物当时在强风中行走，风从侧面吹向它。”

It’s also possible that the slope was too steep and the animal sidestepped. Other theories that have been thrown out are a fight with another animal or a mating ritual.

也有可能是坡太陡,这只动物横着走。其他被否决的理论：它和其他动物打斗或者这是一种交配仪式。

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to rigorously choose between those possibilities,” he said.

他说：“我不知道我们能否从这些可能性中找到正确答案。”

Rowland and San Diego State University geologist Mario Caputo will publish the findings in January.

罗兰和圣地亚哥州立大学地质学家马里奥.卡普托将在1月份公布调查结果。

“It absolutely could be that whoever was the trackmaker, his or her bones have never been recorded,” Rowland said.

罗兰说：“这绝对可以是任何生物的脚印，还没找到他或她的骨头。

（来源：爱语吧）