North Dakota discovery reveals first continuous adult T. rex footprints

Paleontologists have documented the first continuous sequence of footprints left by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex. The discovery was made in the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota, where four massive, three-toed prints were found stretching approximately 7 meters.

The tracks were initially spotted by Kent Hups, a high school science teacher and amateur fossil hunter, while walking through a ravine. A research team from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Liverpool John Moores University confirmed the find through 3D scanning and analysis.

Each footprint measures about 1 meter in length. Based on the stride length of approximately 4 meters, researchers calculated that the dinosaur was walking at a speed of roughly 5.6 to 7.2 kilometers per hour, comparable to a brisk human walk. The tracks date back approximately 66.5 million years, shortly before the mass extinction event caused by a meteor impact.