Sloth tracks in the Carson prison

Abstract

In much the same manner that a print of man's hand or foot leads to individual identification, so fossil footprints reveal the kinds of creatures who unwittingly have left their mark on the sands of time. Some four-footed animals, whose tracks have been uncovered in ancient rock formations, furnish for posterity only this evidence of a former existence. On the other hand, tracks like those of a dinosaur convey something more tangible. Scientific fact and popular fancy have done much these days to make the layman dinosaur-conscious. But realization that particular tracks were left by reptiles now long extinct comes largely from demonstration that the skeletal parts and bodily form of these animals correspond exactly to those surmised from the imprints.