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Teacher Discovers First Adult T. Rex Trackway in North Dakota
A high school teacher named Kent Hups enjoys looking for fossils.
In 2025, he was helping with a fossil dig in North Dakota.
He noticed what looked like a footprint from a T. rex.
Scientists checked the site and found four large footprints in a row.
The footprints were made about 66.5 million years ago.
Together, they show that an adult T. rex walked across the ground.
The dinosaur probably moved at a slow walking speed.
Footprints can show how an animal behaved, not just what its bones looked like.
Scientists say this is the first described trackway likely made by an adult T. rex.
Colorado teacher Kent Hups found four apparent adult T. rex footprints during a 2025 fossil dig in North Dakota.
The trackway lies in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation and is estimated to be about 66.5 million years old.
The four tridactyl tracks are about one metre long and extend across roughly 23 feet.
Researchers estimate the dinosaur was walking at 3.4 to 4.5 miles per hour.
The study describes the find as the first scientifically documented sequence of tracks likely made by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex.
- Who
- Kent Hups discovered the tracks while working with researchers led by Tyler Lyson; Peter Falkingham was lead author of the study.
- What
- Researchers identified four large footprints as the first described trackway likely made by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex.
- Where
- The tracks were found in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation in southwestern North Dakota.
- When
- Hups found the tracks during a 2025 fossil dig; the trackway was made about 66.5 million years ago, and the study was published September 8.
- Why
- The discovery is important because footprints preserve evidence of dinosaur movement and behavior, which is especially rare for adult T. rex.
Key facts
- Discoverer
- Kent Hups, a Northglenn High School teacher and amateur fossil hunter
- Number of tracks
- Four adult T. rex footprints
- Estimated age
- About 66.5 million years
- Track length
- The tridactyl tracks are approximately 1 metre long
- Trackway length
- About 23 feet
- Estimated speed
- Approximately 3.4 to 4.5 miles per hour
- Study publication
- Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, published September 8
Sources
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