September 19, 20261 min read

First known adult T rex trackway found in North Dakota

A composite of two images. On the left, a dusty, three-toed footprint; on the right, two people working in a rocky, scrubby outdoor area. — Source image from One giant step: first known adult T rex footprints found in North Dakota. theguardian.com.Full-size image

The first known footprint trail from an adult T rex has been found in North Dakota, left 66.5 million years ago. The 23ft trackway, four three-toed prints in the Hell Creek Formation, was identified last year by teams from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Liverpool John Moores University. Each print is about 3ft long. "Bones tell us an enormous amount about these animals, but footprints capture a moment of behavior," said Tyler Lyson, the Denver museum's senior curator of vertebrate paleontology. 3D scans suggest a rough walking speed of 3.5 to 4.5mph, about a brisk human pace.

Paleontologists now have a rare record of how an adult T rex moved, not just the shape of its bones.

Source: One giant step: first known adult T rex footprints found in North Dakota (theguardian.com). Spotted via Good Good Good.

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First known adult T rex trackway found in North Dakota

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