First dinosaurs in Britain lived on tropical islands

THE first British dinosaurs lived on a series of tropical islands in what is now Bristol 200 million years ago, scientists have said.

Britain’s landscape at the end of the Triassic period resembled Caribbean islands as the sea level was much higher.

Small dinosaurs, lizard-like animals and some of the first mammals enjoyed a warm Mediterranean climate during this period, as the country was closer to the equator.

Rising sea levels gave birth to an archipelago of 20 to 30 islands, which were regularly flooded by what was then the Rhaetian Ocean.

The UK’S ancient habitat has remained a mystery, with many scientists thinking it was more desert-like.

Researchers at the University of Bristol have now pulled together

200 years worth of geological data and produced a 3D map showing the evolution of a Caribbean-style environment.

Undergraduate student Jack Lovegrove, the report’s lead author, said: “No-one has ever gathered all this data before.

“It was often thought these small dinosaurs and lizard-like animals lived in a desert landscape, but this provides the first standardised evidence supporting the theory that they lived alongside each other on flooded tropical islands.

“The landscape of limestone islands was like the Florida Everglades, swept by storms powerful enough to scatter pebbles and break bones and teeth.”