Millions of years ago, Earth was home to a supercontinent called Gondwana, which included present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica. Around 140 million years ago, tectonic plate movements caused South America and Africa to begin drifting apart. As magma from Earth’s mantle rose, it formed a new oceanic crust, gradually creating the Atlantic Ocean that now separates the two continents.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Kellie Churchman
In a new study, paleontologists discovered 260 near-identical dinosaur footprints in Brazil and Cameroon, suggesting that what is now a 6,000-mile stretch of ocean was once a connected landmass, likely a walkway for dinosaurs, reports The Sun. The full study was published in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.
Representative Image Source: Footprints of a long-neck dinosaur (Diplodocus), found in a quarry in Germany. (Photo by Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)
The research was conducted by a team led by Southern Methodist University (SMU) paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs. “We determined that in terms of age, these footprints were similar,” Jacobs said in a SMU press release. “In their geological and plate tectonic contexts, they were also similar. In terms of their shapes, they are almost identical.”
Representative Image Source: Painting from a series by Ernest Untermann in the museum at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah.
The dinosaur footprints they found were pressed into mud and silt, along the trails of ancient rivers and lakes. The footprints were more than 3,700 miles, or 6,000 kilometers, away from each other, said Jacobs. Dinosaurs stamped these footprints on the ground nearly 120 million years ago while they were roaming the grounds of Gondwana, even before it broke off from the larger supercontinent Pangea.
“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.
A co-author of the study, Diana P. Vineyard, revealed that most of the dinosaur fossils were created by “three-toed theropod dinosaurs,” and a few were also likely made by sauropods or ornithischians. These footprints, according to the press release, were discovered in the Borborema region in the northeast part of Brazil and the Koum Basin in northern Cameroon. In addition to dinosaur tracks, the team also came across fossil pollen smudged in chalky sediment, that was aged to around 120 million years ago.
Representative Image Source: VARIOUS DINOSAURS IN GOBI DESERT. (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)
Commenting on this, Jacobs said, “Muddy sediments left by the rivers and lakes contain dinosaur footprints, including those of meat-eaters, documenting that these river valleys could provide specific avenues for life to travel across the continents 120 million years ago.”
Jacobs first discovered the dinosaur tracks in Cameroon in the 1980s, and he presented them at the First International Symposium on Dinosaur Tracks and Traces, convened by paleontologist Martin Lockley, in 1986, per CNN. “One beauty of this Earth is that any of us can see that Africa and South America used to fit together like puzzle pieces,” he said, “It is easy to conceive that in a connected world, animals, including dinosaurs, could and would be likely to move from place to place.”
This article originally appeared 2 months ago.
Rice grain and white rice.Image via 
Person eats rice.Image via 
Washing and rinsing rice. 
Mother and daughter eating rice meal.Image via 
Bees feeding on food source.Image via 
In the depths...Pexels | francesco ungaro
Hope the lights stay on. Pexels | parfait fongang
"That was beyond crazy..." YouTube | 
"This is the stuff of my nightmares..."YouTube | 
"Totally blown away..." YouTube | 
Great white shark pokes its head above water.Image pulled from YouTube video - Photo taken by Geraldine Fernandez
Great white shark swims in the ocean.Image via Canva - Photo by lindsay_imagery
Representative Image Source: Unsplash | NASA
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Earano
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Mauro Ignacio Torres
President Donald J. Trump and photo of a forest.
Public united and adamantly opposes Trump’s plan to roll back the Roadless Rule
There doesn't seem to be much agreement happening in the U.S. right now. Differing moral belief systems, economic disparity, and political divide have made a country with so many positives sometimes feel a little lost. Everyone desperately seeks a niche, a connection, or a strong sense of community to which they can feel a "part of," rather than just "apart."
But there seems to be one thing that the country strongly unites over, and that's the "Roadless Rule." With the Trump Administration attempting to roll back conservation policies that protect U.S. National Forests, Americans are saying in harmony an emphatic "No." A nonpartisan conservation and advocacy organization, the Center for Western Priorities, reviewed a comment analysis on the subject. After receiving 223,862 submissions, a staggering 99 percent are opposed to the president's plan of repeal.
What is the 'Roadless Rule' policy implemented in 2001?
The Roadless Rule has a direct impact on nearly 60 million acres of national forests and grasslands. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests. Enacted in 2001, it is a conservation rule that protects some of the least developed portions of our forests. It's considered to be one of the most important conservation wins in U.S. history.
America's national forests and grasslands are diverse ecosystems, timeless landscapes, and living treasures. They sustain the country with clean water and the wood products necessary to build our communities. The National Parks protected under their umbrella offer incredible recreational retreats and outdoor adventure.
Why does the administration want to roll it back?
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins told the Department of Agriculture in a 2025 press release, “We are one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands. Today marks a critical step forward in President Trump’s commitment to restoring local decision-making to federal land managers to empower them to do what’s necessary to protect America’s forests and communities from devastating destruction from fires." Rollins continued, “This administration is dedicated to removing burdensome, outdated, one-size-fits-all regulations that not only put people and livelihoods at risk but also stifle economic growth in rural America. It is vital that we properly manage our federal lands to create healthy, resilient, and productive forests for generations to come. We look forward to hearing directly from the people and communities we serve as we work together to implement productive and commonsense policy for forest land management.”
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz explained the Roadless Rule frustrated land management and acts as a challenging barrier to action. It prohibits road construction needed to navigate wildfire suppression and properly maintain the forest. Schultz said, “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities."
Why are people adamantly opposed to the proposed rollback?
A 2025 article in Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, expressed its concern over the protection of national forests covering 36 states and Puerto Rico. A rescinded rule allows increased logging, extractive development, and oil and gas drilling in previously undisturbed backcountry. Here is what some community leaders had to say about it:
President Gloria Burns, Ketchikan Indian Community, said, "You cannot separate us from the land. We depend on Congress to update the outdated and predatory, antiquated laws that allow other countries and outside sources to extract our resource wealth. This is an attack on Tribes and our people who depend on the land to eat. The federal government must act and provide us the safeguards we need or leave our home roadless. We are not willing to risk the destruction of our homelands when no effort has been made to ensure our future is the one our ancestors envisioned for us. Without our lungs (the Tongass) we cannot breathe life into our future generations.”
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, stated, "Roadbuilding damaged salmon streams in the past — with 240 miles of salmon habitat still blocked by failed road culverts. The Roadless Rule protects our fishing economy and more than 10,000 jobs provided by commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska.”
The Sierra Club's Forest Campaign Manager Alex Craven seemed quite upset, saying, "The Forest Service followed sound science, economic common sense, and overwhelming public support when they adopted such an important and visionary policy more than 20 years ago. Donald Trump is making it crystal clear he is willing to pollute our clean air and drinking water, destroy prized habitat for species, and even increase the risk of devastating wildfires, if it means padding the bottom lines of timber and mining companies.”
The 2025 recession proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the national forests. With so many people writing in opposition to the consensus, the public has determined they don't want it to happen.
Tongass National Forest is at the center of the Trump administration's intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule. You can watch an Alaska Nature Documentary about the wild salmon of Tongass National Forrest here:
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The simple truth is we elect our public officials to make decisions. The hope is they do this for all of our well-being, although often it seems they do not. Even though we don't have much power to control what government officials do, voicing our opinions strongly enough often forces them to alter their present course of action. With a unanimous public voice saying, "No!" maybe this time they will course correct as the public wishes.