What's happened
Paleontologists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Liverpool John Moores University have identified a four-footprint trackway in North Dakota that suggests a large theropod, likely T. rex, walked about 13 feet between prints, at speeds of roughly 3.5 to 4.5 mph. The site, dated to 66.5 million years ago, was scanned in the field with a 3D system, and associated skeletons bolster the attribution to T. rex.
What's behind the headline?
Context and significance
- The dinosaur trackway provides behavioral context that bones alone cannot, showing stride and potential gait in a large theropod.
- 3D field scanning and VR visualization offer new ways to study extinct animals without invasive excavation.
Implications for the Hell Creek Formation
- This discovery expands the geographic and behavioral record for large tyrannosaurids in the Hell Creek Formation, hinting at how these apex predators moved across Late Cretaceous landscapes.
Methodological notes
- The team cross-referenced tracks with nearby skeletal material to strengthen the identification as T. rex, a step that reduces misattribution risk.
- Digital tools accelerate analysis and enable collaboration across institutions.
Questions for readers
- How might more trackways reshape our understanding of large theropod behavior?}
How we got here
The trackway was discovered in 2025 on the Dakota Prairie Grasslands in Slope County and is preserved in fine-grained sandstone concretions. The team, combining field work with 3D scanning, aims to understand dinosaur locomotion; nearby skeletal finds strengthen the attribution to Tyrannosaurus rex as the end-Cretaceous period nears.
Our analysis
New evidence points to a large T. rex trackway in North Dakota, with researchers citing a 3D scans and nearby skeletons to corroborate attribution. The New York Post reports the trackway’s length and stride, while the team notes the Hell Creek Formation context and the use of VR for visualization. This contrasts with other articles that highlight different Tyrannosaurus discoveries and paleontological techniques.
Go deeper
- What does this trackway tell us about T. rex movement that bones cannot show?
- Will more trackways from the Hell Creek Formation appear as scanning tech improves?
- How do 3D scans change our understanding of dinosaur behavior?