SWAU Faculty Contributes to Dinosaur Study

KEENE, TEX. – Jeremy McLarty, associate professor of biology and director of the Dinosaur Science Museum and Research Center at Southwestern Adventist University, co-authored new paleontological research published in PLOS ONE as part of an international study. The research examines dinosaur footprints, tail traces and swim tracks in Torotoro National Park. 

The study describes an exceptionally rich fossil record, with thousands of preserved tracks and trackways, along with bird prints and tail traces. Together, these impressions give researchers a rare glimpse into dinosaur activity in an ancient landscape.

This study offered McLarty the chance to explore dinosaurs through a revealing type of evidence, since tracks “can tell us things about dinosaurs that we can’t learn from their bones alone.”

McLarty emphasized that the site’s importance lies not simply in its size, but in the breadth of what it preserves, including evidence of varied dinosaur behavior such as swimming, changing direction and dragging toes and tails.

McLarty noted that many people today are drawn to the idea that “there are still new things to find and understand,” and that the world continues to hold “fascinating mysteries waiting to be uncovered.”

 As a faculty member, researcher and museum director, McLarty models how scientific inquiry and teaching can work together, linking classroom learning with real-world discovery and international collaboration.

One joy of research, he explained, is becoming “the first person to know a particular piece of information” then sharing it with others. He hopes that spirit of discovery will help to inspire and shape students.

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