A woman collecting shellfish was amazed to discover the largest dinosaur footprint ever found on the Yorkshire coast – probably belonging to a “Jurassic giant” megalosaur.
Marie Woods, 29, was eating dinner on Saturday when she came across a huge footprint that is believed to be about 165 million years old.
Experts have now documented the discovery and say it is the most significant discovery in the area since 2006.
Marie, who is an archaeologist, said: “All I wanted to do was have some shellfish for dinner and I ended up stumbling over it. I showed paleontologist friends what I had found, and none of them had seen it. It’s really exciting. ”
MORE: 4-year-old girl finds dinosaur footprint on a beach 215 million years ago
Dr Dean Lomax, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester, believes the footprint was probably left by a “megalosaur”. Such an animal would have had hips over two meters high and a body length of up to nine meters. “In short,” he said, “this is the largest theropod footprint ever found in Yorkshire by a large, meat-eating dinosaur.”
“We know this because the shape and the three-fingered footprints, along with the impression of the claws, are absolutely in place because they were made by a large theropod … a true Jurassic giant.”
After Marie contacted local experts, it was found that the fossil had been photographed by local Rob Taylor last year. The image had even been posted on Facebook. However, its significance has not been recognized so far.
Both Marie and Rob have the rights of the seekers on the fingerprint and it is hoped that it will now be on public display at the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough.
RELATED: Class II wins a $ 30,000 scholarship for her Dinosaur Doodle, inspired by Dreams of Paleontology
Undoubtedly, it will make a wonderful study and will be an amazing sight for the public to enjoy.
ROAR The exciting find everyone hears – share this story with your friends …