A Nevada geology professor says he recently identified fossilized tracks from a reptile along a popular trail in Grand Canyon National Park.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professor Steve Rowland says the tracks belong to a primitive reptile the size of a baby alligator and date back about 315 million years.
The 28 footprints run diagonally across a boulder on the edge of the Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Trail.
Rowland shared his findings at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's annual meeting last month in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He hopes to submit a scientific paper in January.
Rowland first saw the prints last year during a family vacation to the park after hearing about them from another geologist.
