Footprints of giant dinosaurs of the Iguanodon species, dating back more than 100 million years, have been found on a beach in the UK, news agency SWNS reported.
Paleontologist Joe Thompson, a fossil guide to the Wight Coast fossils that he unearthed the prints, told Fox News Digital that he discovered it on the Isle of Wight as he set out for the beach with the intention of finding some fossils.
“The geology fits that perfectly,” he said in an interview on camera. (See the video at the top of this article.)
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Thompson had been walking for an hour or two when he came across a large purple object of clay.
“It turned out to be absolutely the footprint of a giant Iguanodon,” he said.
According to Thompson, fossils of iguanodon are very common all over the world. The specimens have also been found in several US states, including Utah and Colorado.
According to Thompson, a stunning aspect of the discovery lies in the size of the dinosaur footprints. (SWNS)
The Isle of Wight and the whole of Britain are very rich areas for fossil hunting, Thompson said.
Some of the most famous Cretaceous dinosaurs include three horned triceratops and the giant Pataggotitanium, which he noted is not found on the Isle of Wight.
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Instead, people are likely to find the remains of animals like Iguanodon, leaving a huge footprint that Thompson discovered last week.
“They are just amazing beasts,” he said of the dinosaurs. “They roamed around in a huge group eating vegetation. They were herbivores.”
Iguanodon skeletons are on display at the Natural History Museum in London. The footprint Thompson found came from this species, he said. (Mike Kemp/In Getty Images)
According to Thompson, the most spectacular aspect of the discovery lies in its size.
“This footprint was absolutely huge – it’s less than three feet long, so it’s a very huge Iguanodon, much larger than almost every other Iguanodon footprint found on that section of the coast,” he said.
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“It could be an Iguanodon species that you don’t know about yet, as it is much larger than the other footprints found on slightly older rocks on the Isle of Wight.”
“We really don’t know until we find fossils from the same layer (of rocks).”
Coastal layers are constantly eroding into the ocean, causing fossils to appear and the island becomes a popular tourist attraction.
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The Wight Coast fossils, the company that Thompson tours, guide the group along the coast and find a piece of history.
“It could be an iguanodon species that you don’t know about yet.”
Thompson recently launched his own company, the South Coast fossil. This gives people the opportunity to search for things like shark teeth and fossil shells.
Although they are not permitted to dig into the cliffs, if anyone on tour sees fossils washed down on the beach, they are welcome to take them home, he said.
“It’s always good to report to the museum if there’s something important,” Thompson added.
Joe Thompson, depicted here, also discovered the fossilized jawbone of what could become a new species of Wright Island. (SWNS)
If the discovery is recognized as a new kind of iguanodon, this would not be the first species Thompson discovered along the island.
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“I actually found a mammal’s jaw on the north coast of the Isle of Wight,” he said, talking about the 30 million-year-old bone.
“No one really knows what it came from, but it’s probably from a small carnivorous mammal. So, something to eat little rodents and stuff like that. It’s really exciting.”
(Paleontologist Joe Thompson explains how he excavated the footprints of 100 million dinosaurs on a British beach. The “huge” print is from the Iguanodon species.)
Thompson’s Iguanodon is impressive, but likely disappeared due to the soft clay he found it.
“The soft nature of the rock it is preserved means that it probably won’t last that long,” he said. “So it’s probably not visible or you can’t access it anymore, which is a shame.”
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He said, “It’s such a special thing, and it’s just a glimpse that unravels this incredible footprint that will probably never be seen again. So I found it in time.
