Track mystery 10

Answer: These tracks are called Chelichnus. They are thought to have been made by an early synapsid. Synapsids are a group of animals that includes modern mammals and their extinct relatives. The animal that made these tracks was likely a non-mammalian synapsid, but was closely related to mammals. Many early synapsids did not look very much like mammals at all!

Gorgonops
Artist's reconstruction of Gorgonops whaitsi, a non-mammalian synapsid from the Permian Period. The maker of the track Chelichnus may have been a similar type of animal. Image by Dmitri Bogdanov (CC BY 3.0).

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