A new study suggests that 167 million years ago, Tyrannosaurus rex ancestors and their plant-eating dinosaur prey gathered around a lagoon in what is now Scotland to drink water. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh identified over 130 footprints at the site on the Isle of Skye’s Trotternish Peninsula, which were previously mistaken for fish burrows.
The flat footprints are preserved in exquisite detail and date back to the Middle Jurassic period, a crucial time in dinosaur evolution. The area would have had a warm and humid subtropical climate during this era, with multiple lagoons on a river estuary.
Scientists estimate that sauropods, long-necked giants that fed from conifer trees, moved at speeds of around 2.5 kilometers per hour, while megalosaurs, carnivorous theropods, traveled faster at 8 kilometers per hour. The footprints suggest that both types of dinosaurs congregated at the lagoon, but do not demonstrate interaction between them.
Lead study author Tone Blakesley notes that this discovery provides valuable insights into dinosaur life during the Middle Jurassic period and adds to his ongoing research on other dinosaur track sites in Scotland and England.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/02/science/dinosaur-footprints-skye-scotland-scli-intl/index.html