French palaeontologist Jean Re Loeuff, who led a team of two Thai geologists, said he could not identify the reptile exactly, but thought the prints were from a predator that roamed the Earth more than 100 million years ago.

Each of the 20 footprints had three claws and measured around 30cm wide and 40cm long. Each print was 3-4 cm deep and found on a rock surface in what was once a muddy plain and is now a creek bed.

The prints were 1.5 metres apart from one another in a creek near Man Daeng Waterfall inside the national park.

A group of villagers had discovered the prints and notified a forest ranger unit.

Phisit Yuangdejkla and Thida Saenyamool, both senior geologists with the Department of Mineral Resources, said the prints were very similar to those found recently in Phoo Luang wildlife reserve in Loei in the Northeast, around 500 kilometres away.

A thorough exploration of the site in Phoo Hin Rong Kla National Park will be conducted in February to positively identify the species of dinosaur that left the prints.