---
title: "Reading Dinosaur Trackways"
description: "Use dinosaur trackways (fossilised footprints) to make inferences about a dinosaur's size, speed, and behaviour — widely spaced prints suggest running, closely spaced suggest walking"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/reading-dinosaur-trackways-mt_Wpvuz3mvBq
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/reading-dinosaur-trackways-mt_Wpvuz3mvBq.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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# Reading Dinosaur Trackways

Use dinosaur trackways (fossilised footprints) to make inferences about a dinosaur's size, speed, and behaviour — widely spaced prints suggest running, closely spaced suggest walking

Subject: Science · Area: Dinosaurs & Paleontology · Ages 7 to 9
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/reading-dinosaur-trackways-mt_Wpvuz3mvBq

## Ready when they can

- Explain that larger footprints generally mean a larger dinosaur
- Compare spacing between prints to infer walking versus running
- Suggest what a set of parallel trackways might mean (e.g. dinosaurs travelling in a group)

## Lesson: Reading Dinosaur Trackways

A dinosaur trackway is a trail of footprints turned to stone. A dinosaur once walked through soft mud, and that mud hardened into rock over millions of years. Scientists read these prints like clues to learn about the dinosaur that made them.

The size of a footprint is one clue. A print as long as your hand might belong to a small dinosaur. A print as long as your whole body probably belongs to a giant one. Bigger footprint, bigger dinosaur.

*(drawing: When footprints sit close together, the dinosaur was walking. When they spread far apart, it was running.)*

**Example.** Mia found a trackway at the museum. The footprints were spread far apart, almost like giant hops. She guessed the dinosaur was moving fast, maybe chasing something or running away.

**Tip.** If you spot several trackways side by side, all heading the same direction, that could mean a group of dinosaurs travelled together, like a herd.

**Recap.** Footprint size hints at how big a dinosaur was, and the space between footprints hints at whether it walked or ran.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Types of Fossils](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/types-of-fossils-mt_1VSFoM44JU)

## Opens up

- [How Palaeontologists Work](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/how-palaeontologists-work-mt_JBWMqZVO7S)