“Scotland’s first dinosaur” confirmed by scientists
A fossil first spotted in Skye over 50 years ago has finally been extracted and, following analysis, formally identified as a Jurassic dinosaur
The fossil was first discovered in 1973, making it Scotland’s earliest recorded dinosaur find. It was not fully identified at the time and remained uncollected until a team led by Dr Elsa Panciroli returned in 2018 to the location near Elgol, in the south of the island, to undertake its extremely challenging extraction from the rock.
While the Elgol dinosaur is preserved only in fragments compared to some specimens found elsewhere, researchers have identified part of the spine, ribs and a hip bone, making it the most complete dinosaur skeleton found to date in Scotland.
Close study of these bones has led researchers to believe that it is an ornithopod dinosaur, a group of which the most famous species is Iguanodon. The Elgol dinosaur dates to around 166 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic, making it one of the earliest known ornithipod body fossils, as that group of dinosaurs became far more prominent in the later Cretaceous period. Analysis of the bone structure indicates that the animal, which would have been roughly the size of a pony, was at least 8 years old.
The new description of the Elgol dinosaur is published in the Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Recent research on the fossils of Elgol has revealed a diverse ecosystem of extraordinarily preserved Middle Jurassic animals, and I’m sure there are more exciting discoveries to come.
Lead author, Dr Elsa Panciroli, NERC Independent Research Fellow at National Museums Scotland said:
“This was a really challenging extraction, in fact we’d previously felt was too difficult to perform, but I thought it was really important to collect and study it. I was able to persuade the team to give it a try. It took a lot of hard work from a lot of people, but we did it: finally we can confirm and publish Scotland’s first recorded and most complete dinosaur, and that makes it all worthwhile.”
The difficult excavation was made possible with the support of a specialist team from Research Casting International, based in Canada. A local crew from Elgol’s Bella Jane Boat Trips piloted the rigid inflatable boat and dingy to the shore at the foot of the cliff, where the specimen was loaded and taken back to port.
Dr Stig Walsh from National Museums Scotland said:
“This is a wonderful addition to the rapidly growing set of Jurassic finds from the Isle of Skye which are enabling us to learn more and more about the rich ecosystem of the time. We’ve known there were dinosaurs there for a while, most obviously from the famous footprints at An Corran, Brother’s Point and Duntulm and from individual bones, but it’s exciting to see a more complete, if still partial, skeleton. We’re delighted to add it to the other amazing finds now in the National Collection”.
Other recent Jurassic discoveries from Skye include the description of adult and juvenile mammals of the same species, Krusatodon, which revealed that these mammals grew more slowly than mammals today, and the world’s largest Jurassic pterosaur fossil, dearc sgiathanach.
Professor Susie Maidment of the Natural History Museum and the University of Birmingham, said:
“The Elgol dinosaur was a challenge to collect, and has proven perhaps an even bigger challenge to identify. Some aspects of the bones indicate that the specimen may be an ornithopod, a group of plant-eating dinosaurs that are best known from the Cretaceous.
"This specimen, however, would already have been a fossil by the time that the better-known ornithopods like Iguanodon and Hypsilophodon were walking the Earth. Recent research on the fossils of Elgol has revealed a diverse ecosystem of extraordinarily preserved Middle Jurassic animals, and I’m sure there are more exciting discoveries to come.”
The other authors on the paper were Professor Roger Benson (American Museum of Natural History),
Professor Richard Butler (University of Birmingham), Brett Crawford (Research Casting International - RCI), Matt Fear (RCI), Dr Nick Fraser (National Museums Scotland) and Gregory Funston (Royal Ontario Museum).
Professor Richard Butler, Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Birmingham, said:
“Recovering the Elgol dinosaur was one of the most physically demanding excavations that I’ve been involved in, due to the challenging conditions in the field as well as the size and scale of the fossil itself.
"Given that there are so few dinosaur fossils known from Scotland, my colleagues and I knew that when we rediscovered the fossil in 2015 that it would be a significant find and are delighted to be able to uncover more crucial information about the Middle Jurassic era.”
Notes for editors
Notes for editors
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