How dinosaurs sped over the land to Skye

Published on Saturday 12 July 2008 19:43

THE arid plains of Wyoming and the rugged, rain-soaked mountains of Skye are a world apart, but scientists now believe the two areas were once so close together they formed a giant playground for some of the biggest and most ferocious creatures the planet has ever seen.

Near-identical dinosaur footprints – 165 million years old – have been discovered in Skye's Trotternish peninsula and in the home of Buffalo Bill.

The similarity is so striking that paleontologists believe the dinosaurs roamed the same landscape, before the continents drifted apart and the Atlantic Ocean was formed.

Dinosaur expert Dr Neil Clark of Glasgow's Hunterian Museum believes the two areas have compelling prehistoric connections.

He said: "The dinosaur footprints in Red Gulch are very similar to those found near Staffin on Skye. They are both of exactly the same age. At the time they were made Skye was a lot closer to what is now North America and may have allowed a migration of dinosaurs between Skye and America."

During the Middle Jurassic era Scotland and North America are believed to have been part of the supercontinent Pangaea. During that time, the areas of land that eventually became Scotland and Wyoming were still 2,500 miles apart, but Clark notes that is less than the annual distance travelled by modern day caribou.

Dr Michael Brett-Surman, a dinosaur expert at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC, said the possibility of dinosaurs travelling between Skye and Wyoming could not be ruled out.

The academic, who has named four dinosaurs and has visited the site on Skye, said: "It is physically possible because at that time all the continents were connected as Pangaea. The prints on Skye and those in Wyoming are extremely similar. Both areas were in the same bio-geographic province."

The scientists involved in the research are now looking at twinning their respective areas. Brett-Surman said:

"It would be good to formalise the links. The Smithsonian is always willing to work with fellow institutions, especially the Hunterian in Glasgow."

Clark is also keen for the tie-up to go ahead. He said: "The Red Gulch footprints were only discovered in 1997 not long after the majority of dinosaur finds were discovered on Skye.

"One form this twinning exercise may have is an internet link up between schools on Skye and those near Red Gulch to discuss the effects that the discovery of dinosaurs has had on those communities."

Evidence of dinosaurs on Scottish soil was rare until 1982 when a single ornithopod footprint was discovered at Skye's Brothers Point.

Since then numerous dinosaur footprints and trackways have been found on the Trotternish peninsula.

The footprints found in both Skye and Wyoming are believed to have been created by theropods, tiny scavenging dinosaurs with curved, dagger-like teeth and claws for eating flesh.

The prints were produced by both adult and juvenile dinosaurs, demonstrating that the creatures lived in family groups and looked after their young. Theropods are similar to the vicious velociraptors, meaning 'speedy predator', which were shown in the film Jurassic Park.

An ecomuseum has been created at Staffin to allow visitors to search for fossils and view those which have already been found.

The success of dinosaur films like Jurassic Park has brought visitors flocking to Skye.

The Flodigarry Country House Hotel in Trotternish advertises itself as a base for fossil hunters. A spokesman for the hotel said:

"The idea of twinning the area with part of Wyoming can only be positive and would really help in getting more people to know about Trotternish."