Tyrannosaurus rex trackway discovery in North Dakota

Paleontologists have identified a sequence of Tyrannosaurus rex footprints in the Hell Creek Formation near Marmarth, North Dakota. The discovery, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, consists of four large, three-toed tracks—two left and two right—representing what researchers believe is the first documented continuous trackway from a fully grown adult. The sequence of consecutive footprints stretches approximately 23 feet (seven meters).

Analysis of the fossilized prints, aided by high-resolution 3D scanning, suggests the dinosaur had a hip height of approximately four meters. Each footprint measures nearly one meter in length, with widths between 60 and 80 centimeters. Based on the stride length, researchers estimated the predator was moving at a speed of roughly 1.5 meters per second, or between 5 and 7.2 kilometers per hour, which is comparable to a brisk human walking pace.

While skeletal remains provide data on anatomy, Tyler Lyson, a lead curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, noted that these footprints capture ‘a moment of behavior,’ offering rare insights into how the animal moved through its environment. The tracks, dating back approximately 66.5 million years, were preserved when sandy material filled depressions in soft ground, which was subsequently hardened by calcareous groundwater and later exposed by erosion.

The discovery was made by Kent Hups, a high school science teacher and volunteer with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, during a paleontology dig. The research team included scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Liverpool John Moores University. The team plans to transport three of the footprints to Denver for further study and preservation.