Insights leads tour of borderland dinosaur fossils

Dozens of families and children turned up for Insight’s First Sunday Dino Tracks Tour where guides showed them what life was like in the borderland 66 million years ago, taking a hike through the Mt. Cristo Rey foothills where dinosaur footprints are fossilized.

“Whenever you teach children they love to be hands-on, they love understand and seeing, and partaking in what they’re learning in,” said Nerisa Kamalielu, a mother taking her five homeschooled children to learn more about rocks and dinosaurs.

“This was a beach environment. So just as we love going to the beach and walking the dinosaurs were doing the same going along their migration paths,” explained Victor Garcia, a UTEP geology PhD student leading the group.

The dinosaur tracks showed a few of the local species that walked through like a T-rex-like theropod with three toes.

“So the track is here, you can see the three toes, and the third one comes up and wraps around here,” Garcia said as he pointed out the footprint outline to the tour group.

The children were fascinated by the fossilized footprints. The stone showing the underside, the compressed soil these dinosaurs stepped on, now turned to rock for everyone to observe and enjoy.

“This is a part of history they’re experiencing as everyday life, and we can come out there now and enjoy it whenever we want,” Kamalielu said.

Insights is planning to have their next tour on February 4.