Camera helps track dinosaur movements

SALT LAKE CITY, July 28 (UPI) -- Modern technology from above was used to map tracks made by dinosaurs millions of years ago in Utah, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says.

A helicopter outfitted with high-tech cameras flitted across the Moccasin Mountain Track Site, snapping images of fossilized footprints left by at least six species of dinosaurs that roamed the red sandstone more than 180 million years ago, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Monday.

"This is the first time a helicopter has ever been used to capture detailed images of a track site," said Bureau of Land Management paleontologist Alan Titus.

The project will create 3-D images of the tracks that may help scientists understand better dinosaur behavior and provide information for interpretive displays planned for the 3-acre site in southern Utah.

"We will be able to make a precise map of the location of the tracks, their spatial patterns and possibly determine what the (dinosaurs) were doing," Neffra Matthews, the BLM geographer who conducted the imaging work, told the Tribune.

Tracks have been traced to three-toed species similar to the horned Dilophosaurus and five-toed creatures that are relatives to crocodiles, officials said.