with this same research team back in 2015. and you can see the toes. fossilised depressions left by giant sauropods, the biggest animals ever to have walked the earth. and this fossil, the researchers say, is the largest pterosaur from that same period. you can see with this model, this is the average size of a jurassic pterosaur skull, and this is dearc, the newly discovered fossil from the isle of skye. so this was a big flying reptile. the team s now sending it on anotherjourney, this time just down the road to the national museum of scotland, where it will eventually be put on display. but thejurassic limestone slab weighs almost 200 kilos. my word! it s a humble last trip on a pallet for a creature that s been buried since the age of the dinosaurs. victoria gill, bbc news, in edinburgh. let s speak to the palaeontologist
thought. so why is that significant? we used to think that pterosaur is were pretty small for the first several tens of millions of years of the revolution, that they never really got bigger than about four or five metre wingspan is, give or take and later in the cretaceous period, the end of the age of the dinosaurs, the end of the age of the dinosaurs, the time of the t rex, you got dinosaurs that were as big as fighterjets. now we have this jurassic age fossil and we are seeing a big pterosaur at about 170 million years ago, as big as the biggest flying birds today so pterosaur is had evolved that size and when this animal was soaring over the heads of dinosaurs in the lagoons of the ancient isle of skye during thejurassic period, it was the biggest thing that we know of that had ever flown in the entire history of the world. and this is just a superlative scottish fossil, nothing like this has been found
a fossil unearthed on the isle of skye is the largest pterosaur ever discovered from thejurassic period. the ancient flying reptile had a wing span of 2.5 metres or eight feet and would have flown over the heads of dinosaurs 170 million years ago. here is our science correspondent victoria gill. these look a little bit like there might be teeth. and it s pretty symmetrical. hidden in the rock for 170 million years, the teeth and bones of a jurassic reptile. after racing the tide to cut out the limestone that entombed their discovery, the team had a rockyjourney to bring it back to their lab. but here they ve revealed the secrets of this isle of skye pterosaur that they ve named dearc sgiathanach, gaelic for winged reptile. i think it s a lot clearer if we put the head back on, so we remove the head to cat scan it, but we can put it right back there, doing it up with the neck and you can see
professor steve brusatte from the university of edinburgh. great to have you with us today and i know you have officially unveiled the pterosaur at the national museum of scotland where it will be in the permanent collection. iloathed of scotland where it will be in the permanent collection. permanent collection. what an excitin i permanent collection. what an exciting moment! permanent collection. what an exciting moment! thank - permanent collection. what an exciting moment! thank you, i permanent collection. what an i exciting moment! thank you, and permanent collection. what an - exciting moment! thank you, and we saw in that piece, this is a big animal, we were struggling with that slab! and that is the real significance, we have a jurassic age to pterosaur or pterodactyl and this was as big as the biggest flying birds today, with a wingspan of over eight feet. and nobody had ever found anything like this in scotland before, orfrom anywhere found anything like this in scotland
before, gorgeously preserved and we are so pleased to have such a nice fossil like this here in scotland! absolutely, and when it was alive and flying over the isle of skye 170 billion years ago tell us about what this pterosaur looked like beyond the sheer scale of it. this this pterosaur looked like beyond the sheer scale of it. the sheer scale of it. this was a bii the sheer scale of it. this was a big animal- the sheer scale of it. this was a big animal. imagine the sheer scale of it. this was a big animal. imagine you re - the sheer scale of it. this was a big animal. imagine you re in i big animal. imagine you re in ancient scotland, it is much warmer than today. subtropical climate, kind of like the canary islands, the mediterranean, you are in an ancient logo. in the distance you see these giant longnecked dinosaurs wading through the water and overhead, the sun goes into shadow because you have this enormous creature with wings more than eight feet wide sailing and soarin