Middle Jurassic theropod and sauropod trackways from Isle of Skye, Scotland (free pdf)

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

A  new paper:

Free pdf:     

               
Tone Blakesley, Paige E. dePolo, Thomas J. Wade, Dugald A. Ross & Stephen L. Brusatte (2025)
A new Middle Jurassic lagoon margin assemblage of theropod and sauropod dinosaur trackways from the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
PLoS ONE 20(4): e0319862
doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319862
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0319862


Although globally scarce, Middle Jurassic dinosaur tracks are known from the Isle of Skye, Scotland, and help indicate the palaeoenvironmental preferences and behaviour of major dinosaur clades. Here, we report an extensive new tracksite from Skye: 131 in-situ dinosaur tracks at Prince Charles’s Point on the Trotternish Peninsula. The tracks occur in multiple horizons of rippled sandstones of the Late Bathonian aged Kilmaluag Formation, part of the Great Estuarine Group, which formed in a locally, shallowly submerged lagoon margin. We assign these tracks to two morphotypes, further divided into four morphotype subgroups, most likely representing large megalosaurid theropods, and sauropods that are either non-neosauropods or basal neosauropods. The trackways, although relatively short, evidence time-averaged milling behaviour, as observed at other tracksites in the Great Estuarine Group. The presence of sequential manus and pes sauropod tracks amends their previous identification by geologists as fish resting burrows, raising the potential that other such structures locally and globally may in fact be dinosaur tracks, and emphasises the predominant occurrence of sauropods in lagoonal palaeoenvironments in the Great Estuarine Group. At Prince Charles’s Point, however, unlike previously described lagoonal assemblages, large theropod trackmakers are more abundant than sauropods.

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[Gregory Paul]

Starting in the early 70s word was getting out that this Robert Baker (how it was assumed it was pronounced) guy out of Yale and Harvard was arguing that dinosaurs were not reptilian in biology but more like birds and mammals. But it was a book here and a few technical papers there and a brief note in the then new Smithsonian magazine. No prime time dinosaur documentaries (there were a couple off hours programs that I missed). There being no internet/web information data flow was slow. 

In April or just before 1975 I was at Northern Virginia Community College Annandale Campus library when as I approached the magazine stacks libraries used to have, on display was the new issue of Scientific American with a dramtic painting of the then newly found Longisquama (by late great Richard Ellis) on the cover!!!! Like wow way cool. I immediately knew it had something to do with the new dinosaurology and sure enough the cover promo said Dinosaur Renaissance and it was Baker's first big popular article on the subject, and I guess his last. 

Cannot over emphasize how thrilling it was to grab the issue ($1.25 then fpr ~150 p, $11 now for ~80) off the stand and sit down and look at the light stipple drawings by the house illustrator Sarah Landry including a running Archaeopteryx using its wing feathers to ensnare a moth (Ostrom's idea), snarling furry therapsids in the snow (snow back in those ancient times?) and best of all a feathery Syntarsus chasing a gliding lizard down a dune slope (first such, although I believe a French paleontologist did a crude drawing of a hand feathered dinosaur leaving trackway impressions with them the prior year). Lots of charts and plots. 

Each SA has a page with items from past issues of 50, 100 and now 150 years -- back then the 50 was 1925 which was ancient times. This issue has the 1975 cover which cued me in on the anniv. Seems like yesterday and half a century ago, by copies of the April 75 issue are yellowed and fragile. 

This April 2025 issue has a nice article on dinosaur armor by Habib, probably coincidently. Not quite the same though. 

It was 1976 I learned it's pronounced Bakker from Nick Hotton at the Smithsonian. 

GSPaul 

[Thomas Richard Holtz]

I remember having my mom buy me that issue (I was 9 at the time), and seeing for the first time the idea of testing hypotheses using data in science (rather than just the results.) 

(An aside: one of the other articles in the issue involved cancer studies in rodents, which was the first time I saw what cancer looked like.)

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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tho...@umd.edu         Phone: 301-405-4084
Principal Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology

Office: CHEM 1225B, 8051 Regents Dr., College Park MD 20742

Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/

Phone: 301-405-6965
Fax: 301-314-9661              

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars

Office: Centreville 1216, 4243 Valley Dr., College Park MD 20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address: 

                        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117

                        8000 Regents Drive
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742-4211 USA

[Richard W. Travsky]

In a similar vein I still have my 1977 “The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs” Adrian Desmond…

 

From: 'Gregory Paul' via Dinosaur Mailing Group <DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 6, 2025 6:35 AM
To: dinosaurma...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [DMG] 50 years ago....

 

Starting in the early 70s word was getting out that this Robert Baker (how it was assumed it was pronounced) guy out of Yale and Harvard was arguing that dinosaurs were not reptilian in biology but more like birds and mammals. But it was a book here and a few technical papers there and a brief note in the then new Smithsonian magazine. No prime time dinosaur documentaries (there were a couple off hours programs that I missed). There being no internet/web information data flow was slow. 

 

In April or just before 1975 I was at Northern Virginia Community College Annandale Campus library when as I approached the magazine

…

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[Ethan Schoales]

Too bad I wasn’t alive then…

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[DrgnmstrZ111]

Ha, me neither. But I have been fascinated by dinosaurs most my life. I actually cherish my copy of Thomas Holtz Jr.’s book “Dinosaur.”

Thanks!

On Apr 7, 2025, at 1:26 AM, Ethan Schoales <ethan.s...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Ronald ORENSTEIN]

I am aging myself, but I believe (as I am not home to check) that I still have my well-thumbed copy of The Dinosaur Book by Edwin Colbert (1951). 

Ronald Orenstein 1825 Shady Creek Court Mississauga, ON L5L 3W2 Canada ronorenstein.blogspot.com

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[Thomas Yazbek]

Anybody else seen the documentary associated with the book? It should be out there on Youtube. 

T. Yazbeck

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[Gregory Paul]

I believe the below is referring to the BBC "The Hotblooded Dinosaurs" that was broadcast on the then still newish PBS NOVA early in 1977 -- https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8mdayp. It was not associated with the book. It was the first prime time dinodoc, and would not be replicated until the late 80s when I think it was ABC did the program hosted by Christopher Reeves. After JP dinodocs became a dime a dozen on Discovery, NatGeo, Smithosnian etc., now they are sort of rare again. 

When watching the NOVA broadcast was SHOCKED to see what Bakker looked like. He was out of Yale and Harvard, expected a hair trimmed guy in suit and tie. Met him at Smithsonian in that May. Also first time saw Dale R and Ostrom who did look like distinguished paleontologists. Think only dinopaleo I had met at the time was good old Jack (Sauropod) McIntosh when he visited the Smithsonian first day I went there. 

GSPaul

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[Thomas Yazbek]

I didn't realize it was not associated with Desmond's book. Still, covers the same ground and a great time capsule. I remember the program hosted by Reeves, it must have re-aired in the 90s when I saw it.

TY

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[Gregory Paul]

It was 1985, on CBS -- https://www.google.com/search?q=christopher+reeves+dinosaur+documentary&client=safari&sca_esv=4f7b8728d565568a&channel=mac_bm&sxsrf=AHTn8zo5u7ISVR3gnP_0gFQCRd0cF71t7A%3A1744038411802&source=hp&ei=C-rzZ67KKdal5NoPu5DayQs&iflsig=ACkRmUkAAAAAZ_P4G9ByTCCXWlzgFFvd4scJSkC3CUev&ved=0ahUKEwju-4KwmcaMAxXWElkFHTuINrkQ4dUDCBs&uact=5&oq=christopher+reeves+dinosaur+documentary&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IidjaHJpc3RvcGhlciByZWV2ZXMgZGlub3NhdXIgZG9jdW1lbnRhcnkyBhAAGBYYHjIFEAAY7wVI-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_6MDsgcHMjkuMTAuMbgHmB4&sclient=gws-wiz#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:796c18c7,vid:Kr_335rqvZ0,st:0

Venerable Walter Cronkite hosted an A&E mini-series on dinos in 1991 -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2307239/

GSPaul

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[Gregory Paul]

I probably heard word about the book at the Smithsonian from Nick Hotton, although maybe at NOVA college. I was all a flutter. Hit the Waldens Books (teeney compared to B&N) at the giant Tysons Corners mall and there it was! I had an evening NOVA class at a nearby high school so parked in the lot to start reading before sunset. 

My copy says was first published in merry England in 75, came out here in 76 -- what does the below copy say? Why were the Brits ahead of the Yanks in so many ways then? Dr Bob missed his opportunity to get the first book out on the dinorevolution by a decade, by which time his star was starting to fade some as Jack Horner became the best known dinodude. 

GSPaul

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[Gregory Paul]

It was a very different ambience then. On one hand paleonews came in relatively slowly and in limited amounts -- took years to realize how to pronounce Bakker's name and know what he looked like. Getting access to papers was a mixed bag before I started hanging out at the Smithsonian in 76. Many local college libraries carried a good number of science journals. But to find some paleojournals I had to drive to particular locations. To get the Journal of Paleontology I needed to hit a library in some college in NW Wash DC. To get Paleontographica so I could do a high fidelity skeletal of my fav dinosaur Brachiosaurs brancai, the US Geology Survey library in Reston VA. Earlier I had been thrilled to find at the main Arlington County library a Colbert book that included the Janensch schematic skeletal of B. brancai, it being the first I had seen. JVP did not exist. 

In 1976 Fossils Magazine came out. Very lavish production with an embossed cover featuring a trilobite. And an article illustrated by some Mark Hallett dude. After delays the first issue arrived. Then the 2nd was delayed, and delayed, and then a card saying sorry it was not financially working out and we would get refunds that we never did. Mike has not made the same production expense mistake with PreHistTimes. At SVP meeting a dozen talks and posters on dinosaurs and pterosaurs was a big deal then. 

At the same time there was tremendous excitement in the air what with all the new radical ideas about dinosaur biology and birds being dinosaurs and the Poles digging up stuff in Mongolia and reports of an ultra pterosaur out of TX and Jensen digging up super sauropods in CO. That will never come back, matters are somewhat more mundane these days. But the rate at which new taxa some wild and wonderful are coming out of the ground is far higher. Although the new regime is likely to slow that down a good deal by gutting NSF funding for deep time science. 

GSPaul

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[Richard W. Travsky]

Mine is a paperback copy, sez “Warner Books Edition”, copyright 1975 and 1977.

 

https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1350877877i/1565912._UY300_SS300_.jpg

 

Bought for the grand total of $2.50. Which might have seemed like a lot back then, don’t recall at all.

[mkir...@gmail.com]

I have the 1976 second American printing (hardcover, with dust jacket) of "The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs."  The color cover illustration for that is by David Holtzman.  The Blond & Briggs publication of 1975 has a different illustration, in black and white, by Jessica Gwynne. https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Hot--Blooded-Dinosaurs-Revolution-Palaeontology-ADRIAN/5207626795/bd  

The paperback publication has yet another illustration, this time by Gene Light.

[Gregory Paul]

That's a pretty bad cover. The 1976 version I got is at least more colorful -- https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Blooded-Dinosaurs-revolution-palaeontology/dp/0803737556

GSPaul

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[Gregory Paul]

Twice the cost of an issue of Scientific American at the time. 

GSPaul

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[mkir...@gmail.com]

The artist (Jessica Gwynne) was able to avoid the question of what color the dinosaurs were.   I misspelled the artist's name for the 1976 edition, which should be "David Holzman."

[Thomas Richard Holtz]

That's the cover of the edition I have.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tho...@umd.edu         Phone: 301-405-4084
Principal Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology

Office: CHEM 1225B, 8051 Regents Dr., College Park MD 20742

Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/

Phone: 301-405-6965
Fax: 301-314-9661              

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars

Office: Centreville 1216, 4243 Valley Dr., College Park MD 20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address: 

                        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117

                        8000 Regents Drive
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742-4211 USA

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/755540201.1875112.1744156182769%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Richard W. Travsky]

 

Still on my shelf, “The Dinosaur Dictionary” by Donald Glut.

 

https://www.bookhousestlouis.com/assets/images/product/231128-MB54_1.jpg

 

paperback 1972  Citadel Press

 

 

Paid seven big ones for it at the time. Great book. Flipped through it a lot.

 

one I wished I’d kept

 

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518BWdZ+ybL._SL500_.jpg

 

Prehistoric Animals: Dinosaurs and Other Reptiles and Mammals

(the Golden Library of Knowledge)

 

1958 and with Zallinger cover!

[Gregory Paul]

Don just helped me get high quality pics of the skull of T. regina Thomas at the LA County Museum. Which will be in my upcoming paper on tyrannos taxa from the TT-zone. It's even more complicated than people think! 

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