Walk with dinosaurs at museum exhibition

DINOSAUR remains including fossilised poo will be unveiled in a new exhibition at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.

The specially-tailored display of Scottish and other British dinosaurs comes on the heels of a globally-important discovery of dinosaur footprints near the city – the first time they have been discovered on the Scottish mainland.

An invitation has now been issued to follow the footprints through the museum and meet the monsters who called the area home 150 million years ago.

Visitors will get the chance to see and touch real fossils, find out what dinosaurs ate and why they died out, stand beside giant dinosaur skeletons and touch bones.

It will feature 20 species of dinosaur and other prehistoric inhabitants from harmless herbivores to terrifying tyrannosaurs.

Exhibitions officer Cathy Shankland said it will also highlight finds from our own backyard and the crucial role they played in the discovery of dinosaurs – and consider whether a prehistoric creature is still alive in Loch Ness.

"Over a hundred species of dinosaur are found in the UK and some very important finds continue to be discovered in the Highlands - right on our doorstep," she said.

The exhibition, which runs until February 2, includes objects on loan from Staffin Dinosaur Museum in Skye, Perth Museum and Art Gallery and Bespoke Scientific and is supported by the Inverness Common Good Fund.

Throughout its duration, other activities will be organised including a Dino Detectives Challenge and a talk by Dr Neil Clark, curator of palaeontology at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, who made the exciting discovery of preserved dinosaur footprints while walking along the shoreline near Inverness.