A high school science teacher stumbled upon the first known T. Rex trackway

Colorado high school science teacher Kent Hups discovered what researchers identify as the first known trackway made by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex while exploring North Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation in 2025. The find consists of four enormous, three-toed prints extending about seven metres; each footprint is nearly a metre long. Hups and his co-authors matched them to T. rex based on their size, shape, spacing and location near fossils of the species. The identification is compelling, though not absolutely certain: no T. rex remains at the end of the tracks. The discovery was documented in a study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, and the excavated prints were unveiled at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Footprints can reveal aspects of a living animal’s behaviour that bones cannot, including how it moved, where it travelled and whether it moved alone or in groups. Researchers estimate the dinosaur took strides of roughly four metres and walked at about 5.5 to 7.2 kilometres per hour - similar to a brisk human pace. The trackway may also help test competing calculations of T. rex speed using direct evidence rather than biomechanical models. Scientists made high-resolution 3D scans before excavation and plan further study, potentially including a search for preserved skin. The rarity of tyrannosaur tracks may reflect poor conditions for fossilizing footprints or researchers overlooking them while searching for bones. One print will remain on public display through the end of next year.