Newly discovered footprints have revealed that ancient lagoons in Scotland were once a stomping ground for giant Jurassic dinosaurs. Some 131 footprints were found on the Isle of Skye, in the rippled sands of an ancient subtropical lagoon dating back around 167 million years.

The prints range from 25 to 60cm and include both three-toed tracks left by carnivorous theropods that walked on two feet, and rounder “tyre-size” tracks from long-necked sauropods that walked on four feet. After comparing the prints with previous fossil finds, researcher said the most likely dinosaurs identified were large theropods similar to Megalosaurus and early-branching members of the neosauropod group similar to Cetiosaurus.

Some of the footprints continued for over 12 metres, making them among the longest known examples from the Isle of Skye.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh said: “The footprints at Prince Charles's Point provide fascinating insight into the behaviours and environmental distributions of meat-eating theropods and plant-eating, long-necked sauropods during an important time in their evolution. 

“On Skye, these dinosaurs clearly preferred shallowly submerged lagoonal environments over subaerially exposed mudflats.

“Intriguingly, the site also has some historical significance, as a place on Skye where Bonnie Prince Charlie landed and hid during his flight across Scotland following the Battle of Culloden.”

The Isle of Skye holds more than 10% of the word’s Middle Jurassic dinosaur species, making it an important paleontological location.

One of the first major finds there was the 1982 discovery of a 49cm-long footprint in the rock at Rubha nam Brathairean (Brothers Point), near Ellishadder.

It was found to be the print of a Tridactyl, a three-toed carnivorous theropod believed to be 168 million years old.

Skye has also revealed valuable fossil evidence of mammals, marine life, lizards and amphibians. The latest findings were published in the jorunal PLOS One.