Scientists discover dinosaur footprints showing how the Earth looked 120 million years ago

A set of matching dinosaur footprints have been found on opposite sides of the world and can offer new insight into life on Earth around 120 million years ago.

Over 260 "almost identical" footprints were found in Brazil and Cameroon, two countries which are 3,700 miles apart from one another.

The dinosaurs that are thought to have left the prints are three-toed theropod dinosaurs most likely made by sauropods or ornithischians, said Diana P. Vineyard, a research associate at SMU and co-author of the study.

While nowadays the Atlantic Ocean separates both places, this wasn't always the case since approximately 120 million years Brazil and Cameroon were connected as part of the ancient supercontinent called Gondwana, which had broken off from the larger landmass of Pangea.

The continents which made up Gondwana included South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica where dinosaurs could roam around on the vast land.

Therefore, this latest discovery of matching footprints affirms the belief that these countries were previously attached before Africa and South America began to split around 140 million years ago due to the movement of tectonic plates.

Consequently, magma rose to create a new oceanic crust and throughout millions of years, Africa and South America drifted apart which then led to the South Atlantic Ocean separating the two.

"We determined that in terms of age, these footprints were similar," said Louis L. Jacobs, a paleontologist from Southern Methodist University (SMU) on the similarities of the findings.

"In their geological and plate tectonic contexts, they were also similar. In terms of their shapes, they are almost identical."

The footprints were found impressed into mud and silt along ancient rivers and lakes.

"One of the youngest and narrowest geological connections between Africa and South America was the elbow of northeastern Brazil nestled against what is now the coast of Cameroon along the Gulf of Guinea," Jacobs explained.

"The two continents were continuous along that narrow stretch, so that animals on either side of that connection could potentially move across it."

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