Scientist Paige dePolo at Brothers’ Point credit Shasta Marrero. The study, carried out by the University of Edinburgh, Staffin Museum and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was led by Paige dePolo, who conducted the research while an inaugural student in the University of Edinburgh’s Research Master’s degree programme in palaeontology and geobiology. The shape and orientation of the prints’ toes, the presence of claws and the overall shape of the track outline have allowed scientists to ascribe them to sauropods and theropods. There are only a few locations in the world where Middle Jurassic sediments are well exposed – one of which is the Great Estuarine Group along the stunning coast of the Trotternish peninsula. Palaeontologists believe the epoch may have seen the first birds take to the skies, and the earliest tyrannosaurs and stegosaurs diversifying as long-necked sauropods began growing to colossal sizes. Side-angle image of sauropod footprint credit Jon Hoad.Ī study published today in the Scottish Journal of Geology announces the discovery of a tracksite from Rubha nam Brathairean (Brother’s Point) on the Isle of Skye, dominated by sauropod footprints.Īn important time period in dinosaur evolution, dinosaur fossils from the Middle Jurassic are nonetheless frustratingly rare.

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