Hornillos site

Logroño
Hornillos de Cameros

Located in the village of Hornillos de Cameros, the site contains some 70 tracks, with 20 of them forming pairs of fossil tracks. There are 55 imprints made by theropods, nine by ornithopods, and six are unidentified. The site is on a hillside close to the village and easy to access via the road leading to the village. 

The theropods were a group of predatory dinosaurs.  They had two long, strong back legs that enabled them to run at high speed.  The front legs were short and boasted very sharp claws. The head featured very strong jaws with sharp teeth. When this group of dinosaurs first appeared its members were short and light. Over time they gained in strength, weight and power, albeit losing some speed, which enabled them to hunt large prey.  Their fossil tracks are normally tridactyl, although they can give the impression of the fourth toe. Even though the fossil tracks can be confused with  ornithopods, their width is frequently smaller in relation to the length.

The ornithopods were more social dinosaurs (they moved around in packs), had very specialized teeth for grinding vegetation, and a powerful tail used for defensive purposes. One curious feature of these animals is that they walked on two legs when they were young, but on four as full adults. Their tracks were tridactyl, similar to those of the theropods (when the fourth toe did not make an impression), but were wider in relation to their length, since they had paws instead of claws.

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