Hundreds of Dinosaur Footprints Found in a Scottish Lagoon

Hundreds of footprints left by primitive sauropods 170 million years ago were spotted by researchers from Edinburgh University. The site was found near the Isle of Skye, along the nation’s shore, with data indicating the footprints were left in the Middle Jurassic period, when the area was a sandy, saltwater lagoon. The Skye dinosaurs likely grew to at least 49 feet in length and weighed more than 10 tons – though they haven’t found any bones that would have come from the dinosaurs because they most likely washed out to sea or were taken away by predators.

Dr Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the team which made the discovery, told The Independent that he and a colleague had found the fossilised footprints nearly by chance as they were packing up after a day of fieldwork in April.

They were heading back to their vehicle when they caught sight of an exposed platform of rock covered in big impressions, a bit like potholes. “We can tell that they were making these footprints while they were walking underwater – probably shallow water”, Brusatte said. “I’m certain Skye will keep yielding great sites and specimens for years to come”, said Dr Tom Challands of the School of GeoSciences, in a statement. The prints make up the largest dinosaur site in Scotland and the first known sauropod trackway in the country. Because animals and natural elements can move bones and teeth, but not track marks, the new find offers unwavering evidence that sauropods once lived in ancient Scotland, they said. “The light was going down, the tide was coming in”.

According to data gained from these tracks and similar ones found in other parts of the world, scientists can now conclude that sauropods spent much of their time in shallow water and coastal areas.

“The reason why the site is so important is that these footprints were made in a lagoon. So we’re really just scratching the surface”, Brusatte said. Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas, Dinosaur State Park in CT, and many other locations around the world have a variety of dinosaur tracks that are well preserved and ready for a visit. This, Brusatte says, “is one of the most poorly understood time intervals in dinosaur evolution”. They stress that more work will be needed to be sure of the identities of the dinosaurs that made them, but they most resemble those in the Breviparopus and Parabrontopodus groups.

Nessie might be a mythical creature, though Scotland was once home to huge dinosaurs that waded in shoal waters.