A dinosaur footprint in Scotland. Photo / Time video, Jon Hoad, University of Edinburgh
Dozens of rare footprints belonging to dinosaurs made some 170 million years ago have been discovered on Scotland's Isle of Skye, offering an important insight into the Middle Jurassic era, scientists say.
"The more we look on the Isle of Skye, the more dinosaur footprints we find," said Dr Steve
Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences.
"This new site records two different types of dinosaurs - long-necked cousins of Brontosaurus and sharp-toothed cousins of T. Rex - hanging around a shallow lagoon, back when Scotland was much warmer and dinosaurs were beginning their march to global dominance."
The find is globally important as it is rare evidence of the Middle Jurassic period, from which few fossil sites have been found around the world, the university said on its website.
The footprints were difficult to study owing to tidal conditions, the impact of weathering and changes to the landscape, it added.
