Otozoum



Otozoum ("giant animal") tracks are Triassic-era, fossilized footprints and other markings in sandstones. They were made by heavy, bipedal animals (probably dinosaurs) with a short stride that walked on four toes directed forward.

Otozoum tracks were discovered by American paleontologist Edward Hitchcock, who described Otozoum as the "most extraordinary track yet brought to light in this valley [the Connecticut River] representing a bipedal animal... distinguished from all others... in the sandstone of New England".

In 1953, Yale University paleontologist Richard Swann Lull revised Hitchcock's work, suggesting that the track maker might have been a prosauropod. More recently other sources have been proposed, including a crocodile-like animal (e.g. the phytosaur Rutidon), or an ornithopod dinosaur.

Hitchcock noted the excellent preservation of some tracks, preserving details of the skin, pads, and even impressions of Triassic raindrops. Excellent Otozoum specimens from the Portland Quarry may be seen in the Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.