Dinosaur tracks found on Skye reveal ancient secrets
On the Scottish island of Skye, a team of researchers discovered 131 dinosaur tracks from the Jurassic period, providing new insights into their behavior and living environment.
The research, published on April 2 in the scientific journal "PLOS ONE" by researcher Tone Blakesley from the University of Edinburgh and his colleagues, shows that these perfectly preserved tracks are located in the island's folded rock formations.
Mysteries hidden in dinosaur tracks
The discovered tracks, measuring from 10 to 24 inches in length, belong to two types: three-toed tracks left by bipedal, carnivorous theropods and round, tire-like tracks created by quadrupedal, long-necked sauropods. Based on comparisons with previous findings, scientists speculate that these tracks may have been left by large theropods similar to Megalosaurus and early branches of the neosauropod group, resembling cetiosaurs.
Neosauropods were large herbivorous reptiles that lived in the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. They were characterized by long necks and tails, and their massive bodies were adapted to walking on four legs. Species such as cetiosaurs had relatively short heads compared to the rest of the body, and their spines were more flexible than those of earlier sauropods. Neosauropods could reach enormous sizes and dominate plant ecosystems, moving in search of food.
The uniqueness of the discovered tracks
Many of these tracks occur in sequential steps, and the longest of them are over 39 feet long, making them some of the longest known examples from the island of Skye. The spacing and orientation of these tracks suggest slow walking without a fixed direction, indicating that the dinosaurs moved freely at various times.
Tone Blakesley from the University of Edinburgh, along with the team, emphasizes that the footprints at Prince Charles’s Point provide a fascinating insight into the behaviors and environmental distribution of carnivorous theropods and herbivorous, long-necked sauropods during an important period of their evolution. On the island of Skye, these dinosaurs clearly preferred shallow lagoon environments over exposed muddy surfaces.
This site confirms earlier evidence that Jurassic sauropods frequently visited Scottish lagoons, which are bodies of water on coastlines. However, this site has a higher proportion of theropod tracks than similar locations, which may indicate environmental differences between these ancient lagoons. The absence of tracks from other dinosaurs, such as stegosaurs or ornithopods, remains a mystery.
This discovery is part of a larger research project conducted by the PalAlba team, supported by the National Geographic Society and the Philip Leverhulme Prize awarded to Stephen L. Brusatte.
