Dinosaurs on a Wall: Thousands of Footprints Found in Italian Alps

In a stunning high-altitude discovery, Italian paleontologists have uncovered thousands of dinosaur footprints fossilized on a near-vertical rock face over 2,000 meters above sea level in the Stelvio National Park.

The tracks, some measuring 40 centimeters wide with visible claw marks, span approximately five kilometers across the glacial Valle di Fraele near Bormio—a future 2026 Winter Olympics venue.

Scientists believe the prints were made by herds of long-necked herbivores, likely plateosaurs, over 200 million years ago when the region was a warm lagoon.

The incredible vertical positioning is the result of tectonic shifts, where the slow northward movement of the African plate closed the ancient Tethys Ocean and dramatically folded the sedimentary seabed, uplifting these prehistoric traces into the Alps where they were recently spotted by a wildlife photographer.