Scientists have uncovered more than two dozen dinosaur tracks dating back 132 million years in a small rock outcrop near Knysna, South Africa. These footprints, the youngest known in southern Africa, indicate dinosaurs persisted in the region into the early Cretaceous Period. The discovery challenges previous gaps in the local fossil record following ancient lava flows.
Researchers from the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University found the tracks in the Brenton Formation along the Western Cape coast. During a visit in early 2025, Linda Helm spotted the footprints in a site just 40 meters long and five meters wide, often submerged at high tide. The team, including Charles W. Helm, Willo M. Stear, Mark G. Dixon, and Fred van Berkel, documented over two dozen impressions, some on flat surfaces and others in cliff cross-sections, as detailed in the South African Journal of Science in 2026 (122: 1/2).