AI Tool Helps Identify Dinosaur Footprints

Innovative AI Approach to Fossil Footprints

An international team of scientists from the Helmholtz‑Zentrum research center in Berlin and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland has developed a new artificial‑intelligence application designed to identify dinosaur footprints. The system, built without using any pre‑assigned labels such as “bird” or “theropod,” learns from a massive dataset that includes thousands of authentic fossil tracks and millions of simulated examples that mimic natural distortions like compression and shifting edges.

The algorithm concentrates on eight major characteristics of a footprint, including toe width, heel position, contact surface area, and weight distribution. By comparing these traits to its training data, the AI can propose which dinosaur species most likely created a newly discovered track.

Performance and Validation

When benchmarked against classifications made by human experts, the AI matched the experts’ conclusions roughly ninety percent of the time. This high level of agreement suggests that the tool can serve as a neutral, mathematical complement to human interpretation, reducing subjectivity that sometimes influences traditional identification methods.

Potential Impact on Paleontology

The creators envision the tool being adopted by paleontologists worldwide. As more researchers use the system, its data pool will grow, potentially improving accuracy and expanding its applicability. The open‑source nature of the project—available for free on GitHub—means that scientists with the appropriate technical expertise can install and run the software, although it is not packaged as a simple download‑and‑use application.

Insights into Dinosaur‑Bird Evolution

Using the AI, the team has already explored intriguing questions about the evolution of birds. Analysis of footprints older than two hundred million years revealed strong similarities between the foot structures of those ancient tracks and both extinct and modern birds. While this raises the possibility that birds may have originated earlier than previously thought, the researchers caution that skeletal evidence remains the definitive proof of such evolutionary links.

Overall, the AI system offers a promising new avenue for studying ancient trace fossils, providing a consistent, data‑driven method that could enhance our understanding of dinosaur locomotion and evolutionary history.