Footsteps from 170million years ago ‘show Isle of Skye had its own dinosaur disco’
TODAY it is a tranquil holiday spot, popular with city- dwellers keen to get away from it all.
But 170million years ago, the Isle of Skye was a ‘dinosaur disco’.
edinburgh University scientists have discovered hundreds of beautifully-preserved footprints on one of the Scottish island’s shores.
examination showed they are not natural depressions in the lime and sandstone, but the legacy of giant plant-eating dinosaurs. The prints are believed to have been left behind by members of the sauropod family – the biggest beasts to ever live on land.
The ‘remarkable’ tracks are the first
‘There were lots frolicking around’
to be found in Scotland and date back to the mid-Jurassic period, a time from which fossils are woefully rare.
At more than 2ft across, some of the hind prints are as big as dustbin lids with impressions of four toes, including one equipped with a long claw.
In some areas many different tracks criss-cross, giving the impression of a ‘dinosaur disco’ where they would socialise, the experts said.
It is thought the beasts would have been at least 50ft long, weighed more than 10 tonnes – and enjoyed a paddle.
The rocks date back to a time in which Scotland was much warmer and covered by shallow bodies of water. These stones would have been at the bottom of a saltwater lagoon when they were trodden on by the sauropods.
early ancestors of the brontosaurus and diplodocus, the beasts would have had long necks and tails and relatively small skulls and brains. It is hoped their footprints on Skye – along with similar tracks in england, Morocco, Portugal and the USA – could help plug a gap in dinosaur knowledge.
Writing in the Scottish Journal of Geology, the experts said the watery environment may have provided a greater variety of plants to feast on. Wallowing in lagoons may also have helped cool the dinosaurs’ bodies, which generated a lot of heat due to their high metabolism.
Lead researcher Dr Steve Brusatte said: ‘The new track site from Skye is one of the most remarkable dinosaur discoveries ever made in Scotland.
‘There are so many tracks crossing each other that it looks like a dinosaur disco preserved in stone. There were a lot of dinosaurs frolicking around.’