An AI reveals which dinosaur left each footprint
DinoTracker compares fossil footprint outlines and gets it right like an expert.
A free artificial intelligence app compares any dinosaur footprint with nearly 2,000 tracks and suggests who might have left it.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the Helmholtz center in Berlin, including Gregor Hartmann and Steve Brusatte, presented DinoTracker in the journal PNAS. Unlike other methods, its neural network received no prior labels from experts, which reduces bias: it learned on its own from the outlines of 1,974 footprints, including those of modern birds.
The system identified the eight shape features that best distinguish footprints, such as toe spread, heel position and how weight is distributed. The researchers then compared the groups with identifications published by specialists and found 80 to 93% agreement.
The most striking finding: controversial bird-like tracks from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic cluster with those of birds, and some from the Middle Jurassic with those of ornithopods. That would support an earlier origin for these groups than the bone fossil record shows.
As Hartmann told ORF, the project was inspired by his son, a dinosaur fan since age three.
Key facts
- Database of 1,974 footprints.
- 80 to 93% agreement with experts.
- Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux; a phone version is in the works.
- The code is open source and on GitHub.
The authors propose adapting the method to other fossils and to biological shape problems.
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