The Khodjapil Dinosaur Plateau is rightfully considered the highlight of the Koytendag Reserve. A lot of footprints of giants frozen in stone, who lived 150 million years ago and were heading somewhere with the whole flock for some kind of “dinosaur” business, attracts a huge number of tourists both from the regions of the country and those who came from abroad.
During ancient earthquakes, catastrophic landslides of many kilometers of limestone layers occurred here. The rains washed away the clay layers, and the shore of the ancient sea with many traces of dinosaurs appeared to the eye. A small section of the plateau is literally “trampled” by chains of huge three-toed footprints ranging in size from 20 to 70 cm. Many of them are perfectly printed and stand out well against the gray limestone background.
Scientists believe that the footprints were left by three types of dinosaurs – megalosaurs, iguanodons and tyrannosaurus more than 140-145 million years ago at the end of the Jurassic period. At that time, there were shallow lagoons with rich vegetation that attracted dinosaurs.
The Khodjapil plateau is currently in the protection zone of the Koytendag nature reserve. It is noteworthy that the places that were millions of years ago the seashore, along which giant pangolins walked, are now located at an altitude of more than 2000 meters above sea level.
