Full Breakdown
First Adult *Tyrannosaurus rex* Trackway Unearthed in North Dakota Badlands
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
In 2025 a team of paleontologists uncovered four consecutive, large, three-toed footprints in the Hell Creek Formation of southwestern North Dakota, on the Dakota Prairie Grasslands managed by the U.S. Forest Service in Slope County. The prints, spaced about 4 m (13 ft) apart, form a 7 m (23 ft) trackway that researchers attribute to a fully grown *Tyrannosaurus rex*. The sediment that preserved the prints has hardened into calcium-carbonate-cemented sandstone casts, allowing the footprints to survive for roughly 66.5 million years, near the end of the Cretaceous Period.
Background & Context
Theropod tracks are rare in the Hell Creek Formation; before this find only isolated adult *T. rex* footprints from Montana and New Mexico had been documented. Earlier trackways from Canada and Wyoming were linked to smaller tyrannosaurids or juvenile *T. rex*. The abundance of *T. rex* skeletal material from the same region supported the hypothesis that an adult made the new trackway.
Data & Statistics
- Trackway length: ~7 m (23 ft)
- Footprint length: ~1 m (3.3 ft)
- Stride length: ~4 m (13 ft)
- Estimated walking speed: 1.5–2 m s?¹ (3.4–4.5 mph)
- Age of prints: ~66.5 million years
- Prior adult *T. rex* single-footprint finds: 2
Official Statements & Responses
Peter L. Falkingham, professor of paleobiology at Liverpool John Moores University and lead author, noted that the field team scanned the prints with a 3-D scanner and visualized them in virtual reality, reducing handling of the fragile casts. The researchers plan to recover the footprints this fall and transport them to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for display and further study.
On-the-Ground Report
The trackway was discovered by Kent Hups, a teacher at Northglenn High School participating in a field trip.
Verbatim Quotes
- “As a teacher, I’m always telling my students that science starts with curiosity, passion and careful observation,” — Kent Hups
- “It’s kind of that elusive thing that you look for, and you look for, and you look for, and you can never find. I still to this day can’t believe that I found it,” — Kent Hups
- “There are more fossils than you think sitting in collections, hiding secrets from millions of years ago,” — Jerit Mitchell
Publication Details
The findings were published online in the *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology* on September 8, 2026 (doi: 10.1080/02724634.2026.2706201).
Why It Matters
The trackway provides the first direct behavioral evidence of an adult *T. rex* moving across a Cretaceous floodplain, complementing skeletal data and offering insights into locomotion, stride dynamics, and the paleoenvironment just before the end-Cretaceous extinction.
