The first dinosaur footprints to be found on the Scottish mainland have been discovered by a leading palaeontologist.

Dinosaur tracks that are 170 million years old have previously been found on the Isle of Skye, but this is the first evidence of them venturing to the mainland.

Dr Neil Clark, curator of palaeontology at Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum, announced he recently discovered footprints in a new locality, near Inverness.

The prints are believed to be from dinosaurs in the Middle Jurassic period, from between 163 million to 174 million years ago.

The location of the prints has not been made available to the public to allow for further research at the site.

Dr Clark, a member of the Geological Society of Glasgow, said: "I have been working on the dinosaurs from Scotland on the Isle of Skye for the last 28 years and have frequently bemoaned the fact that dinosaurs have not been found elsewhere in Scotland.

"I now have discovered some new dinosaur footprints in a completely different location."

He added: "They are from a completely new part of Scotland for dinosaurs and will add significantly to our understanding of dinosaurs of that age in Britain.

"Middle Jurassic Scottish dinosaurs are a globally significant contribution to our understanding of dinosaur evolution as sites of this age worldwide are so rare."

He has now launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the £5000 needed to conduct a modern mapping and analytical project on the footprints.

The funding will be used to buy a drone to help with the project and photographically record the footprints, and the study will be carried out with researchers from Edinburgh University.