Dinosaur fossil found 50 years ago finally extracted from base of cliff on Isle of Skye

A fossil that was first spotted more than 50 years ago has been extracted from the base of a cliff on the Isle of Skye and formally identified as a Jurassic dinosaur.

The fossil was discovered near Elgol in 1973 and is 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 in the south of the island to extract it from the rock.

Known as the Elgol dinosaur, the fossil is preserved in fragments, but experts have identified part of the spine, ribs and hipbones – 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 includes notable later dinosaurs such as Iguanodon, Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus. 

Elgol Dinosaur artist impression. Credit Maija Karala

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 eight years old.

‘This was a really challenging extraction, in fact we’d previously felt was too difficult to collect the fossil, but I thought it was really important to study it,’ Dr Panciroli said.

‘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.’

Hundreds of dinosaur tracks have also been discovered across Skye in recent years.

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.

‘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,’ Dr Stig Walsh from National Museums Scotland said.

‘We’re delighted to add it to the other amazing finds now in the National Collection.

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