Fossil Tour Guide Stumbles on a Rare Purple Dinosaur Footprint While Exploring an Island

Ancient footprints are always intriguing discoveries because of the resilience they show in existing for millenniums. Recently, a footprint from one of the most magnificent creatures to have lived on Earth was discovered in England, stated PEOPLE. A fossil tour guide discovered the footprint on the Isle of Wight, a British island.

Joe Thompson found the purple footprint while walking along the English island's Wessex Formation coast in February. After a closer look, experts claimed that the print belonged to a dinosaur that possibly inhabited the region several millenniums ago. The announcement of the finding was made by the fossil tour company Wight Coast Fossils with whom Thompson is working.

The company took to its social media handles to give the news. The caption read, "Our guide Joe was out in the footsteps of early Cretaceous giants this morning on the island’s Wessex Formation coast, encountering this huge purple ornithopod dinosaur track in the ancient floodplain clays." The organization also provided a photo of the print inviting many reactions.

The post further stated that the print was placed at a relatively high position on the Wessex Formation’s strata. It was possibly left behind by a large ornithopod moving across boggy floodplain soil. Analysis implies that the dinosaur responsible for the print was a large Iguanodon or a relative. Coincidentally 2025, the year these prints have been uncovered also marks the 200th anniversary of this creature's discovery.

Researchers were pleasantly taken aback by the discovery, and the reason behind the surprise was that the footprints were created on clay tracks. Such tracks, especially the one on the island's Wessex Formation coast are vulnerable to erosion. Somehow, these footprints survived everything that time brought with them and came to public view due to careful investigation by a fossil tour guide.

Thompson expressed that the footprint was 130 million years old, stated BBC. Three toes were visible in the print and measured around 1m (3ft) in length. He believes that the print came to the surface after storms removed the shingles of the beach. Thompson uncovered the print while looking for fossilized bones at the site. He called himself "lucky" for being able to spot the purple mark because there was a huge possibility it could have gotten washed away in a few months. He termed the discovery as the best footprint he has ever unearthed. "Anything that's that old and that exciting - it gives you such a rush, especially a huge, almost 1m-long footprint just lying on the beach," Thompson shared about the experience. "It just makes you think about everything that happened before humans even existed."

The guide advised individuals on the lookout for such prints or any other fossils to always photograph their finds after discovery. He claimed that such items are very vulnerable to environmental factors like rain, and hence can disappear anytime. "It's a shame they are not completely permanent - they do wash away after a period," he added. "In the mud, it will only be around for a few months at the most."