AI DinoTracker App Identifies Dinosaurs From Ancient Footprints

Scientists launched DinoTracker, an AI app that identifies dinosaurs by analysing fossil footprints.
Researchers from University of Edinburgh and Helmholtz-Zentrum trained the system using 2,000 unlabelled footprint silhouettes.
The AI compares shapes using eight features, including toe spread and heel position.
It matches human expert classifications about 90% of the time.
The app lets users upload footprints and explore similar examples interactively.
The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, support earlier theories about birdlike dinosaur tracks.
However, researchers caution the prints likely came from birdlike meat-eating dinosaurs, not early birds.