Archaeologist Mary Woods discovers giant dinosaur footprint off coast of England. According to Smithsonian magazine, she did it by accident while walking in search of shells..

The track is 91 centimeters long and is the largest ever found in Yorkshire, a county in the north of England.. According to scientists, it belonged to a giant predatory dinosaur that walked along the coast 166 million years ago..

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Woods discovered the trail back in April 2021, she said she was " The scientist walked along the shore of Burniston Bay, which is located a few kilometers north of the city of Scarborough.. The area is part of the so-called "

According to her, she had seen smaller footprints of dinosaurs before, but such a giant was discovered for the first time.. She told University of Massachusetts paleontologist Dean Lomax about the find, who at first thought she was joking.. But when I realized that Woods was serious, I began to think about what to do next.. Lomax is one of the authors of the new study.

Scientists feared that the tide could wash away the trail or that it would be destroyed by a landslide.. Therefore, they asked local fossil collectors to help extract the rock fragment..

https://t. co/HcZx6AsmzJ Both dino-finders are seen here, Marie @MarieEWoods and Rob Taylor, co-authors of our new study. It will go on display @ScarbsMuseums, hopefully later this year. pic. twitter. com/RWZFumZfie.

— Dr Dean Lomax (@Dean_R_Lomax) February 16, 2023.

After examining the footprint, including its shape, claw marks, number of toes, and prints left by the dinosaur's skin, the researchers determined that it likely belonged to a large, carnivorous megalosaurus-like creature, standing between 2.4 and 2.9 meters tall.. The researchers also noted that the print was left by the dinosaur's metapodia, or the back of its foot..

Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to be named in the 1820s, according to the Oxford Museum of Natural History..

It was given after the discovery of the first fossils, in translation it means "

People have been finding footprints along the Dinosaur Coast in Yorkshire since at least 1907.. According to the statement, both amateur and professional fossil hunters have unearthed roughly 25 different types of dinosaur footprints, with thousands of such finds in total..

Previously, scientists managed to find the remains of a hybrid of a bird and a dinosaur. The ancient creature had an archaic, dinosaur-like head combined with a more modern avian body..