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First Confirmed Walking Trackway of Adult T. Rex Discovered
Kent Hups was helping look for fossils in North Dakota when he noticed marks that looked like huge toes.
They turned out to be four dinosaur footprints in a row.
Scientists identified them as the tracks of a grown Tyrannosaurus rex, or T. rex.
The trail is seven metres long, and each footprint is nearly a metre long.
The prints were made about 66.5 million years ago.
By measuring the distance between the steps, researchers think the dinosaur was walking slowly, at about the speed of a person power-walking.
They made detailed 3D scans of the prints.
Three heavy prints will be taken to a museum for study.
Volunteer Kent Hups found a seven-metre trail of four large, three-toed footprints in North Dakota.
Researchers identified the prints as the first confirmed walking trackway of a fully grown Tyrannosaurus rex.
The trackway was discovered in July 2025 on federal land near Marmarth, North Dakota.
Researchers estimate the prints are 66.5 million years old and the animal walked about 5.6 to 7.2 kilometres per hour.
The team documented the trackway with 3D scans and plans to move three excavated prints to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
- Who
- Kent Hups found the trackway; Tyler Lyson and his research team identified and studied it.
- What
- A seven-metre trackway of four footprints was identified as the first confirmed walking trackway of a fully grown Tyrannosaurus rex.
- Where
- Federal land near Marmarth, North Dakota, in the Hell Creek Formation.
- When
- Found in July 2025; the footprints are estimated to be 66.5 million years old.
- Why
- The discovery gives researchers rare evidence of how a T. rex positioned its feet and walked slowly.
What the trackway indicates
Limits of interpretation
Evidence of walking speed
What the trackway indicates
The measured strides suggest the T. rex was walking at about 5.6 to 7.2 kilometres per hour.
Limits of interpretation
John Hutchinson cautioned that the trackway does not establish how athletic tyrannosaurs could be and that it is difficult to generalise from the prints.
Key facts
- Trackway length
- 7 metres
- Number of prints
- Four: two left and two right footprints
- Footprint size
- Nearly 1 metre long and half a metre wide
- Estimated age
- 66.5 million years
- Estimated walking speed
- 5.6 to 7.2 kilometres per hour
- Excavated prints
- Three prints, each weighing 160 to 200 kilograms
- Planned destination
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Quotes
John Hutchinson
Professor of evolutionary biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College who was not involved in the study.
“It tells us that near the end of the age of dinosaurs, a T. rex took several very closely spaced, short steps, and thus was walking slowly.”
telegraphindia.com
“I expect that in another 120 years, we will find, hopefully, a few more trackways of the Hell Creek Tyrannosaurus.”
telegraphindia.com
Sources
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