Could the dinosaurs swim?

Oddly enough, yes, all dinosaurs could swim! Of course they had no grace or lightness, but their large bodies did not prevent them from taking a good dip in the water.

This statement is made by the paleontology curator of the Northern Arizona Museum, Dave Gillette.

If you get confused, just think of animals like horses and elephants: they are not dolphins, but they know how to swim across a river.

But why did the dinosaurs need to swim? According to Dave, they went into the water after food, to cool off, to cross and even to hide from predators. That is, something quite normal for animals, right?

Like all reptiles, they needed agility to breathe regularly as they moved. Although most dinosaurs spend most of their day on dry land, some, such as Spinosaurus and Barionix, had a strong affinity for water with a crocodile-like anatomy.

In 2007, paleontologists at the University of Nantes in France found animal markings on what was once the Cameros Basin lake in Spain. Two years earlier, researchers at the University of Colorado discovered dinosaur footprints in what was once sea - they were left there at least 165 million years ago by ostrich-sized dinosaurs.

The markings showed the evolution of the animals that walked on their hind legs: first they were complete footprints, then half-footprints, until reaching claw tracks.