An Unprecedented Footprint Left By A Huge Creature Was Found On The “Dinosaur Coast”
A giant carnivorous dinosaur may have rested or roosted in Yorkshire 166 million years ago, pressing its feet deeply into the ground. This massive creature left behind a record-breaking footprint that was recently discovered along the UK's 'Jurassic Coast'.
At nearly one meter long, the Jurassic footprint is the largest of its kind in Yorkshire.
Thousands of dinosaur footprints and many more fossils have been found over the years along the Yorkshire coast.
But local archaeologist Mary Woods made the discovery in April 2021 while walking along the coast.
"I couldn't believe what I was looking at and had to take a second look," Woods said in a statement.
Woods is the co-author of a study published Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society describing the discovery.
Woods contacted paleontologist Dr Dean Lomax, an honorary visiting scientist at the University of Manchester, to get his opinion on what she found in Berniston Bay.
In an email, Lomax explained, "At first, to be completely honest, I thought it was a joke," and then added, "The fact that Mary went out and saw that on the beach seemed impossible."
Rare evidence regarding dinosaurs from the Jurassic period
The three-toed print is just one of six footprints found in the area, with the first being found in 1934.
"This important discovery adds further evidence that giant carnivores roamed this area during the Jurassic period," said the study's lead author and local geologist John Hudson.
The type and age of the footprint indicate that it belonged to a ferocious dinosaur similar to the "Megalosaurus", and it is likely that its hip height reached 2.5 meters to 3 meters.
And "Megalosaurus" is the first official dinosaur in the world, according to Lomax, and this creature was named in 1824 thanks to bones discovered in the county of Oxfordshire, England.
The meat-eating dinosaur, which was considered one of the largest predators of its time, had a large skull armed with sharp and serrated teeth, and its body length ranged from 8 to 9 meters.
The team arranged the process of transferring the fingerprint safely, fearing that it would erode if left on the coast.
Fossil collectors Mark, Aaron and Shay Smith donated the print to the Scarborough Museum and Galleries.
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