Scientists from Edinburgh University in Scotland have discovered hundreds of ancient footprints that originate from a sauropod that made its way through a lagoon midway through the Jurassic period, according to The Guardian. The finding was made in the Isle of Skye and marks the largest dinosaur site in all of Scotland.
"It's a cool thing for Scotland to have such a big dinosaur site, and it's important globally, because these are from a time in the middle of the Jurassic where there are hardly any fossils anywhere else," said Steve Brusatte, the palaeontologist who led the expedition.
The prints are believed to be 170 million years old and are located in multiple layers of rock that were found at the bottom of the lagoon where they formed as sediments. Scientists were able to determine that they originated from sauropods due to the high level of detail preserved in them.
"We can start to think about what these dinosaurs were like as living animals, and it's a weird thing, maybe, to think of them wading around in a lagoon," said Brusatte. "These dinosaurs would have been walking in some water, not really deep water, but maybe knee-deep or a little less."
The findings are important because they originate from the middle of the Jurassic period, which "is one of the most poorly understood time intervals in dinosaur evolution," according to Brusatte. The tracks could offer glimpses into the mysterious time period and give scientists insight into how dinosaurs behaved, according to National Geographic.
Prior to the discovery, only a small amount of evidence pointed to the existence of sauropods in Scotland, according to the Telegraph.
"This find clearly establishes the Isle of Skye as an area of major importance for research into the Mid-Jurassic period," said Tom Challands, who took part in the research. "It is exhilarating to make such a discovery and being able to study it in detail, but the best thing is this is only the tip of the iceberg. I'm certain Skye will keep yielding great sites and specimens for years to come."
