A new set of prehistoric animal footprints, thought to be 225 million years old, have been discovered at the Tat Yai waterfalls, between the border of Phetchabun's Nam Nao district and Khon Kaen's Phu Pha Man district.
The Department of Mineral Resources says a team from Mineral Resources Office Region 2 (Khon Kaen) led by Tida Liard, a palaeontologist, conducted an initial survey of the site last Wednesday after it received a report of animal footprints in Phu Pha Man National Park last year.
Ms Tida said the team found the five footprint tracks on mudstone on the lower part of the Huai Hin Lad rock formation.
The first two sets of tracks belonged to a sauropod, a group of long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs dating back to the late Triassic period, or between 225 to 220 million years ago. The footprints are the oldest animal footprints to be found in Thailand, she said.
Another two of the tracks were assumed to be the footprints of small creatures and the last set belonged to an archosaur reptile.
Ms Tida said the footprints of the archosaur are the most interesting because the details of the animal's paws appear on the stone, including the claws of both the front and back paws.
These footprints are different from those of an archosaur found around Ban Na Pho Song nearby as the newly discovered sets have unique characteristics that have not been seen anywhere else in Thailand, the palaeontologist said. The team believes these are the footprints of an ancient animal as yet recorded in Thailand.
The team used a plastic sheet to collect the markings and more studies at the site are needed before the next rainy season, when the area floods.
That could wash evidence away, Ms Tida said.
Footprints believed to belong to a newly discovered archosaur species. They were found by a team of the Department of Mineral Resources on Jan 10 at the Tat Yai waterfalls, between the border of Phetchabun and Khon Kaen provinces. Department of Mineral Resources