GLASGOW, Scotland, June 9 (UPI) -- A Scottish scientist has discovered the world's smallest dinosaur footprint, the Mirror reported Wednesday.
About the size of a small coin, it was found on the Isle of Skye off Scotland, said Dr. Neil Clark, a paleontologist at the Hunterian Museum, which is displaying it.
"It was probably only (8 inches) in size, which is about the same as a sparrow," he said. "It would have looked very much like a dinosaur called Coelophysis. A similar animal is now known to have existed in Scotland 170 million years ago."
Clark found the mother's print fossilized in sandstone and was measuring it when he noticed the smaller print next to it. The dinosaur would have just hatched and been learning to hunt with its mother, about 165 million years ago.
"It had always been assumed dinosaurs of this type remained within, or near to, their nests until they were larger," Clark.
