Scientists have discovered close to 50 footprints on the Isle of Skye left behind by the world's largest dinosaurs.
The sharp-clawed, three-toed prints of meat-eating theropods and tracks of the 15 metres long sauropods were made in a muddy lagoon 170 million years ago but have only recently been spotted in the shale rocks of Skye.
The prints are thought to be the oldest dinosaur fossils ever found in Scotland.
They come from a time called the Middle Jurassic, about which very little is known.
But the prints suggest dinosaurs, which first appeared 230 million years ago, appear to have been rather civilised and lived peacefully together.
It is the second discovery of dinosaur footprints on Skye, which are difficult to study because of weathering and tidal conditions.
Dr. Steve Brusatte, of Edinburgh University, led the field team. He said of the rare Middle Jurassic find: “The sauropods were more than 49ft long and weighed more than ten tons.
"It appears as if these tracks were made in shallow water - so the dinosaurs look like they were probably wading.
"The water may have been quite shallow - maybe only a few feet deep or even less.
"It's hard to say exactly why these dinosaurs were in the lagoon - but we seem to be finding more and more footprints of lagoon-dwelling dinosaurs these days.”
The dinosaurs lived on a larger island containing Skye when the super-continents were starting to break apart, the Atlantic was a narrow stretch of water and Britain was closer to the equator, with a climate more like Florida.
At that time birds were taking to the skies for the first time, the T. rex had first appeared and dinosaurs were beginning to become colossal in size.
Most of the prints on Skye were made by the 'older cousins' of Tyrannosaurus rex, called theropods, which walked on two legs and stood more than 6.5 feet (2m) tall.
But the largest of the tracks are almost 28 inches (70cm) across and were left by a sauropod.
Music: "Unwritten Return" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: The Sun, Border Counties Advertizer, Daily Mail, Paleontology World
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
The sharp-clawed, three-toed prints of meat-eating theropods and tracks of the 15 metres long sauropods were made in a muddy lagoon 170 million years ago but have only recently been spotted in the shale rocks of Skye.
The prints are thought to be the oldest dinosaur fossils ever found in Scotland.
They come from a time called the Middle Jurassic, about which very little is known.
But the prints suggest dinosaurs, which first appeared 230 million years ago, appear to have been rather civilised and lived peacefully together.
It is the second discovery of dinosaur footprints on Skye, which are difficult to study because of weathering and tidal conditions.
Dr. Steve Brusatte, of Edinburgh University, led the field team. He said of the rare Middle Jurassic find: “The sauropods were more than 49ft long and weighed more than ten tons.
"It appears as if these tracks were made in shallow water - so the dinosaurs look like they were probably wading.
"The water may have been quite shallow - maybe only a few feet deep or even less.
"It's hard to say exactly why these dinosaurs were in the lagoon - but we seem to be finding more and more footprints of lagoon-dwelling dinosaurs these days.”
The dinosaurs lived on a larger island containing Skye when the super-continents were starting to break apart, the Atlantic was a narrow stretch of water and Britain was closer to the equator, with a climate more like Florida.
At that time birds were taking to the skies for the first time, the T. rex had first appeared and dinosaurs were beginning to become colossal in size.
Most of the prints on Skye were made by the 'older cousins' of Tyrannosaurus rex, called theropods, which walked on two legs and stood more than 6.5 feet (2m) tall.
But the largest of the tracks are almost 28 inches (70cm) across and were left by a sauropod.
Music: "Unwritten Return" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: The Sun, Border Counties Advertizer, Daily Mail, Paleontology World
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
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