In 2004, the Australian government established Dinosaur Stampede National Monument in central Queensland. At this one place, preserved in the 95 million year old stone of the Lark Quarry, over 3,000 small dinosaur tracks are scattered across the rock surface. The tracks have traditionally been thought to be the only existing evidence of a dinosaur stampede. Australia’s ABC Television reconstructed the event like this:

But, paleontologists have found, there was no mixed herd, no marauding predator, no lake, and, in fact, no stampede. This exceptionally-rich, scientifically-important site has been drastically misinterpreted. If University of Queensland paleoichnologist Anthony Romilio and coauthors are correct, the park should be renamed something along the lines of “Swimming Dinosaur National Monument.”

Romilio and