A new study on how Rhoetosaurus walked

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A new study by researchers from the University of Queensland has determined that the sauropod dinosaur Rhoetosaurus walked with a high-heeled gait. They did this by creating physical and virtual replicas of the foot of the sauropod and ran them through a series of tests to figure out the bones' range of motion and how well the animal would have been able to support its weight. They determined that a gait with an elevated heel and toes on the ground was the best model, although the dinosaur likely had a large, fleshy heel to support itself in life in a similar manner to a modern elephant. They also observed several sauropod footprints, finding evidence that suggests that the track-makers possessed fleshy heel pads. The study suggests that, due to the position of Rhoetosaurus as a relatively early sauropod, the evolution of this fleshy heel pad may have helped lead to the massive increase in body size in its descendants. Here is a link to the paper describing this study.

Paper (abstract only): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmor.20989?fbclid=IwAR3qQXxIwfX8b5rLPa8R_vySEOl13hv19QAokp5AifwS3L0DyDPJnKGq_1c