Backpackers who discovered some of the largest dinosaur prints in the world could have prepared for their trip by taking out
worldwide travel insurance.
Travellers in France stumbled across the sauropod prints, which date back more than 150 million years.
Made by long-necked herbivores, the footprints were discovered in the Jura plateau of eastern France.
Although they were found by the hikers in April, scientists have only just authenticated the prints.
The National Centre for Scientific Research said: "Further digs will be carried out in the coming years and they may reveal that the site at Plagne is one of the biggest of its kind in the world."
Paleontologist Jean-Michel Mazin told the Associated Press that the dinosaurs probably left their tracks in mud, which then dried in the sun and were set like plaster.
The sea slowly washed sediment onto the prints, protecting them from changes to the landscape.
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