Latest news with #MiddleJurassicPeriod

Footprints show carnivorous dinosaurs shared watering hole with prey

Boston Globe

03-04-2025

Science
Boston Globe

Footprints show carnivorous dinosaurs shared watering hole with prey

'It was kind of the service station for the Middle Jurassic,' said Blakesley. 'The dinosaurs would have come down from the surrounding land masses, drop down for a drink, move on. This was very much a transient spot.' Advertisement The footprints at Prince Charles's Point, on the island's northern peninsula, were first discovered in 2019 by a local couple who had observed some odd impressions while kayaking along the shoreline. Blakesley, who had just finished his freshman year at the time, inspected the area at the couple's behest and found a three-toed dinosaur footprint in the sandstone. 'It was slightly raised and looked weathered, but it was really crisp and sharp,' Blakesley said. 'You could see the toes, the claw marks.' In the years that followed, Blakesley and researchers with the University of Edinburgh uncovered dozens more footprints in the area -- he estimated between 150 and 200 -- and analyzed 131 for their study. They determined that some of the prints, such as the first three-toed one that Blakesley uncovered, were made by carnivore theropods, likely Megalosauruses, an ancestor of the formidable Tyrannosaurus rex. Other rounded prints were likely made by herbivore sauropods such as the Cetiosaurus, the precursor to the brontosaurus. Advertisement From the footprints, which ranged 9.8 to 23.6 inches in length, the researchers were able to estimate the dinosaurs' hip height and length of strides. The three-toed theropods were likely about the size of a jeep, Blakesley said, and moved at what humans would consider a jog, about 5 miles per hour. The large sauropods were likely the height of two to three elephants and moved at half the walking speed of a human, about 1.5 miles an hour. Both types of dinosaurs would have had to have enough weight to leave behind such footprints, sinking through the sand to the hardened mud below, and that could last until this day. Blakesley likened the analysis of the footprints to reading a page in a book. 'It tells us a great deal about the dinosaurs that live along the prehistoric lagoonal shoreline,' he said. It also requires a bit of imagination, he said. During the Middle Jurassic Period, the area would have had a warm, humid tropical climate, rather than the chilled wind and rain that define Scottish weather today. The picturesque, mountainous landscape of Skye would have been flatter and dotted with similar freshwater lagoons. The tracks found at Skye never head southeast, raising questions of what was there while the dinosaurs were alive. 'Every time I go down to these footprints, I like to put my hand in the sole of these footprints,' Blakesley said. 'You close your eyes and just feel the tide going out and the mountains rising and falling, the cacophony of a million birdsongs gone by and you're back in this wild, exotic time, surrounded by these beasts.' Advertisement Mike Benton, a professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol, said in an email that these footprints provide important insight into life during the Middle Jurassic Period, 'a time when we don't know much about dinosaurs and other land animals anywhere in the world.' 'They are really important because they represent fossilized behavior,' said Benton, who was not involved in the study. 'In other words, each example shows us exactly what a dinosaur was doing so many million years ago.' Last summer, scientists unearthed some 200 dinosaur footprints in southern England that researchers dubbed the 'dinosaur highway.' The footprints were believed to have been left behind by at least five dinosaurs, four Cetiosauruses and one Megalasaurus also from the Middle Jurassic Period, and showed some of them moving north. The footprints discovered on Skye are in the coastal area made famous by Bonnie Prince Charlie, the grandson of King James VII of Scotland who led a failed rising against the British throne. Prince Charles's Point was where he hid in 1746 while on the run from British troops following his side's defeat at the Battle of Culloden. 'It's a very surreal story and to think that Bonnie Prince Charlie may have seen these footprints, he may have run across them and wondered what they were,' Blakesley said. 'The footprints and the Bonnie Prince Charlie story, together they enrich Skye's local heritage.'

Mammoth graveyard artefacts on display for first time

Yahoo

15-02-2025

Science
Yahoo

Mammoth graveyard artefacts on display for first time

The remains of a mammoth and other artefacts which inspired a David Attenborough documentary are on display at a Gloucestershire museum. Mammoth teeth, a marine crocodile skull and a tooth from a straight-tusked elephant are among can be viewed at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester. The items were dug up from a site in Cerney Wick known as "mammoth graveyard", where multiple remains of steppe mammoths were found in 2019. New fossils from a dig completed in the summer of 2024, which have never been displayed before, are on display at the museum from 15 February until 15 March. "It's been an amazing achievement," said Sally Hollingworth, who led the project with her husband Dr Neil Hollingworth. Mrs Hollingworth explained how the dig began in 2017 when she found spotted a Neanderthal hand axe. "That's what led to the Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard documentary," she said. The site is believed to date back to 220,000 years ago. "The finds that were from the site were truly unique," said Dr Hollingworth. "It's an internationally important location, because there's very few locations around where you'll find Neanderthal stone tools mixed up with mammoth bones and ice age animals." Mrs Hollingworth explained the site also has fossils and ammonites from the Middle Jurassic Period, dating back 167 million years. The dig involved experts, volunteers and students from 20 universities from across the country, with most of them camping at the site. "We managed to get material from the quarry floor to museum display within six months - that's pretty unique in the palaeontology world," said Mrs Hollingworth. Dr Hollingworth described the dig as a "brilliant piece of co-operative work" and said it often takes years for finds like these to go on display. Following the exhibition, the Hollingworths plan for the fossils to tour around other museums in the south west. The longer-term plan is to build a new biodiversity centre in the Cotswolds Lake area, keeping the fossils local to the area. Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Mammoth graveyard yields more fossil wonders 'Major dig' to start at mammoth graveyard in 2024 Roman remains uncovered at former department store Corinium Museum

Mammoth artefacts from David Attenborough documentary on display

BBC News

15-02-2025

Science
BBC News

Mammoth artefacts from David Attenborough documentary on display

The remains of a mammoth and other artefacts which inspired a David Attenborough documentary are on display at a Gloucestershire teeth, a marine crocodile skull and a tooth from a straight-tusked elephant are among can be viewed at the Corinium Museum in items were dug up from a site in Cerney Wick known as "mammoth graveyard", where multiple remains of steppe mammoths were found in fossils from a dig completed in the summer of 2024, which have never been displayed before, are on display at the museum from 15 February until 15 March. "It's been an amazing achievement," said Sally Hollingworth, who led the project with her husband Dr Neil Hollingworth explained how the dig began in 2017 when she found spotted a Neanderthal hand axe."That's what led to the Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard documentary," she site is believed to date back to 220,000 years ago."The finds that were from the site were truly unique," said Dr Hollingworth."It's an internationally important location, because there's very few locations around where you'll find Neanderthal stone tools mixed up with mammoth bones and ice age animals."Mrs Hollingworth explained the site also has fossils and ammonites from the Middle Jurassic Period, dating back 167 million years. The dig involved experts, volunteers and students from 20 universities from across the country, with most of them camping at the site."We managed to get material from the quarry floor to museum display within six months - that's pretty unique in the palaeontology world," said Mrs Hollingworth described the dig as a "brilliant piece of co-operative work" and said it often takes years for finds like these to go on the exhibition, the Hollingworths plan for the fossils to tour around other museums in the south longer-term plan is to build a new biodiversity centre in the Cotswolds Lake area, keeping the fossils local to the area.