The Isle of Wight is one of the greatest places to find fossils of all kinds, with several new species being discovered in recent years.
Islander Julia Ross made her own great find over the weekend. Whilst walking on Brook Beach at very low tide she came across what looks like a baby dinosaur’s footprint (20cm long and 10cm high).
Julia tweeted News OnTheWight to see whether what she’d found could be a relation to any of the adult dinosaur footprints a bit further along the coast.
Do dinosaur experts out there have any ideas?
Vickers: It could be a juvenile or even an adult of a smaller species
Theo Vickers from Wight Coast Fossils, who offer fossil hunting tours, told News OnTheWight,
“The object in the top left image [of the tweet] does look like a small ornithopod footcast that has been battered about over the years.
“Ornithopod footcasts are the most common we find on the Island, particularly at the famous locality at Brook and generally means they were made by species such as Iguanodon, Mantellisaurus and the new Brighstoneus.
“Whether it’s a baby is tricky to say as there could potentially be several species of large ornithopod of varying sizes preserved at Brook, based on the footcasts that can be seen.
“There are some very small ornithopod tracks associated with larger tracks which we think are plausibly mothers and young calves. But where this is an isolated footcast it could be a juvenile or even an adult of a smaller species.”
Simon Clabby from DinoWight, told News OnTheWight,
“It does look well weathered, so there is a possibility it’s a smaller iguanodontid footprint.”
Click on images to see larger versions
Dinosaur Isle
Over 15 species of dinosaur have been discovered on the Isle of Wight, including more recently Brighstoneus simmondsi, Ceratosuchops inferodios and Riparovenator milnerae, as well as Vectaerovenator inopinatus.
Find out more
Palaeontologist, Simon Clabby, has produced the informative DinoWight, which holds lots of great facts and tips about fossil finding on the Isle of Wight.
You can also take a look at the Dinosaur Isle Website – although it is undergoing a refurb at the moment.
Article edit
8.50am 15th Feb 2022 – Comments from TV and SB added
Image: © Julia Mary Ross
