Even large , predatory dinosaurs occasionally had to stop for a drunkenness . Footprintsfound on the Isle of Skye off the glide of Scotland intimate that both magnanimous predatory dinosaurs and their quarry drank together from the boundary of shallow fresh water lagoons 167 million years ago .

At the Kilmaluag Formation at Prince Charles ’s power point on Skye ’s Trotternish Peninsula , 131 dinosaur footprint have been found , making it one ofScotland’slargest and rarest land site like this . The footmark go steady back 167 million years to the Middle Jurassic . The Middle Jurassic fossil record is quite thin so racecourse like these can be a valuable resource for scientists to learn more about the behaviour of these ancient beasts .

The footprints include large , flat , rotary impressions that the team believe belong to the long - necked , herbivoroussauropods . The researchers also witness footprints that belong to tomegalosaurs , which are a uncommon find . Previously , the large , circular depressions were think to be fish remain burrow , which hint there may be other fish rest burrows that are similarly mistaken and are actually more dinosaur tracks .

By looking closer at the direction of thefootprintsand the gaits of these ancient giants , the squad believe that the dinosaurs would have congregate at the edge of the lagoons . Of the 131 cart track , 65 were classify as theropod , 58 as sauropods , and eight as unknown .

The squad took yard of pic with a drone to help understand more and build three-D poser of the footprints using a method call photogrammetry . This reveal fluctuation in the directions of the track , what the team call “ milling behavior ” , and suggests that the sauropod dinosaur and bird-footed dinosaur likely traveled along a shallow lagune border .

" The footmark at Prince Charles ’s peak provide a fascinating insight into the behaviours and environmental distribution of meat - eating theropods and works - eating , long - neck sauropod during an important time in their phylogeny . On Skye , these dinosaurs understandably preferred shallowly submerge lagoonal environment over subaerially uncover mudflats , " say Tone Blakesley , enquiry hint and Masters in Palaeontology and Geobiology graduate from the School of GeoSciences , University of Edinburgh , in astatement .

equate toother knowntrackways in Scotland , the Prince Charles ’s Point is a standout for having a greater number of theropod cart track compared to sauropod dinosaur , which may be linked to the freshwater nature of this website compared to the more brackish or saltwater environmental conditions at Rubha nam Bràithrean and Cairidh Ghlumaig . Theworld ’s longestcontinuousdinosaur trackway was discovered in Colorado in2024 .

In more late chronicle , the area was the concealment berth for Charles Edward Stuart , also know as Bonnie Prince Charlie , and Flora MacDonald in 1746 while being chased by British soldiers after the Battle of Culloden .

" Prince Charles ’s Point is a place where Scottish history and prehistory merge together . It ’s astounding to call up that when Bonnie Prince Charlie was draw for his life , he might have been sprint in the pace of dinosaur , " said Steve Brusatte , Personal Chair of Palaeontology and Evolution from the School of GeoSciences , University of Edinburgh .

The newspaper is published inPLOS One .