Ababuj dinosaur footprints site

The Santa Ana site, also known as Ababuj 3, is a paleontological locality in the Comarca Comunidad de Teruel, in Aragon, Spain, where more than 250 dinosaur footprints have been documented in rock layers dating to the Upper Jurassic, roughly 150–145 million years ago. The site sits near the village of Ababuj and forms part of a network of dinosaur track sites studied and opened to the public by the Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis.

What can you see at Ababuj?

The scientific highlight of the site is its collection of sauropod tracks — footprints left by large, four-legged herbivorous dinosaurs that could reach up to 20 meters in length. Individual foot and hand impressions measure around 80 centimeters, and in several tracks even the imprints of toes and claws have survived, a level of detail rarely preserved in the fossil record because such fine features usually erode during fossilization. This exceptional preservation makes the Ababuj tracks stand out among sauropod trackways known elsewhere on the Iberian Peninsula.

Why is this site significant?

The province of Teruel is one of Spain's most important regions for Jurassic and Cretaceous dinosaur trackways. Alongside Ababuj 3, the team from Fundación Dinópolis manages and studies three other sites open to visitors: Aguilar 1 and Aguilar 3 in the nearby village of Aguilar del Alfambra, and El Cantalar in Galve. All four sites have been set up as open-air museums, forming a small paleontological tourism circuit across the comarca.

How can you visit the site?

An easy walking trail leads to the Santa Ana tracksite; trails to the region's footprint sites typically range from 1 to 3.4 kilometers and are rated as low difficulty, making them accessible to families and visitors without hiking experience. Information panels at the site explain how the tracks formed and place them in the geological context of the region.

Frequently asked questions

How many dinosaur footprints have been found at Ababuj? More than 250 footprints have been documented at the Santa Ana (Ababuj 3) site, most of them attributed to sauropod dinosaurs.

How big were the dinosaurs that left these tracks? Based on footprint length, which reaches about 80 centimeters, researchers estimate the animals could have measured up to 20 meters long.

What makes this site exceptional? The unusually detailed preservation, including imprints of toes and claws, which rarely survive in trackways of this age.

Is the site accessible to visitors? Yes, an easy, signposted walking trail leads to it, and the area has been developed as part of the paleontological tourism offer of the Comarca Comunidad de Teruel.

Where exactly is Ababuj located? Ababuj is a village in the province of Teruel, in Aragon, northeastern Spain, in a region well known for its numerous dinosaur trackway sites.