Valley of the Dinosaurs, Paraíba
| Valley of the Dinosaurs Area of Relevant Ecological Interest | |
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| Área de Relevante Interesse Ecológico Vale dos Dinossauros | |
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IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
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Models of dinosaurs in the park
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| Nearest city | Sousa, Paraíba |
| Coordinates | 6°43′56″S 38°15′43″W / 6.732336°S 38.261917°WCoordinates: 6°43′56″S 38°15′43″W / 6.732336°S 38.261917°W |
| Area | 145.79 hectares (360.3 acres) |
| Designation | Area of relevant ecological interest |
| Created | 18 December 1984 |
| Website | www |
The Valley of the Dinosaurs (Portuguese: Vale dos Dinossauros) is an area in the state of Paraíba, Brazil, that contains many fossilized dinosaur tracks. It contains the Valley of the Dinosaurs Area of Relevant Ecological Interest, a sustainable use area of relevant ecological interest. This in turn contains the smaller and fully protected Valley of the Dinosaurs Natural Monument. In 2015–16 there was concern that renovations to the tourist attraction, which had been delayed through lack of funding, might not be respecting the integrity of the site.
The Valley of the Dinosaurs is an area in the sedimentary basin of the Peixe River that holds over 50 types of ancient animal tracks, including those of stegosaurus, allosaurus and iguanodons. The valley covers an area of about 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi) that includes the city of Sousa, Paraíba, and ten other municipalities. It is in a Caatinga biome. Tracks have been found in about 30 locations in the valley, with fossilized footprints of over 80 species at about 20 different stratographic levels. Most of the tracks are of carnivorous dinosaurs.
The tracks the dinosaurs made in the damp earth beside ponds and rivers in rainy periods hardened over long periods of drought, gained new layers of sand and clay from floods, and fossilized. Footprints are as small as 5 centimetres (2.0 in), perhaps from dinosaurs the size of modern chickens, up to 40 centimetres (16 in) long, such as that of a four ton iguanodon. The most visited site is the island called the Passagem das Pedras (Crossing of Stones) in the bed of the Peixe River. This is about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the urban centre of Sousa.
The dinosaur tracks were discovered by a local farmer, Anísio Fausto Silva, in the late 19th century. At the start of the 20th century the engineer Luciano Jacques de Moraes began to study them scientifically. Although not a trained palaeontologist, Moraes gave detailed descriptions with drawings of the tracks for publication in the book Serras e Montanhas do Nordeste (1924).
The Área de Relevante Interesse Ecológico Vale dos Dinossauros was established on 18 December 1984 and is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). The protected area covers 145.79 hectares (360.3 acres). It is in the Sousa municipality of the state of Paraíba. The Valley of the Dinosaurs Natural Monument was created in 2002 by the municipality of Souza. This is a fully protected natural monument of about 40 hectares (99 acres).
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Wikipedia