Researchers suggest the dinosaur, which was pulled from a rock on the Isle of Skye, may have belonged to an ornithopod – a group of plant-eating dinosaurs. (Photo: Maja Karala)
A fossil first discovered more than 50 years ago has finally been identified as the remains of a pony-sized dinosaur that lived about 166 million years ago.
The fossil was discovered at the foot of a cliff on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 1973, but paleontologists were unable to extract it for 45 years due to difficult conditions.
A paper published March 6 in the Royal Society of Edinburgh journal Earth and Environmental Science Transactions says the fossil, which includes fragments of a spine, ribs and femurs, may be the remains of a dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic period (201.3 to 145.0 million years ago).
Nicknamed the 'Elgol dinosaur' after the village near which it was discovered, the fossil is now considered to be the most complete dinosaur fossil ever found in Scotland, as well as the earliest ever discovered there.
The Isle of Skye, off the northwest coast of Scotland, is home to several dinosaur fossils and footprints dating back to the Middle Jurassic period, which is poorly represented in the world's paleontological history.
“This is a wonderful addition to the growing number of Jurassic finds from Skye that help us better understand the rich ecosystem of the time,” said study co-author Stig Walsha, senior curator of vertebrate palaeobiology at the National Museums of Scotland.
The newly identified dinosaur was likely the size of a pony and was at least eight years old when it died, scientists say.
The fossil was first recorded by paleontologists during field expeditions between 1971 and 1982, with a 1973 entry describing a “dinosaur bone” in a rock with a small image. Its discoverers did not realise its significance, and its awkward location made it extremely difficult to remove from the ground.
Elsa Panciroli with the fossil of the Elgol dinosaur. This dinosaur is believed to have lived about 166 million years ago.
In 2015, scientists rediscovered the fragmented fossil, and in 2018 it was excavated and transported from the cliff.
“It was a really difficult extraction, in fact, we previously thought that we would collect about
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