The findings, which centered on footprints discovered near Marmarth, North Dakota, were published Sept. 9 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.<\/p>\n
The trackway, or sequence of footprints, was discovered in 2025 in the Hell Creek Formation of southwestern North Dakota, on federal land administered by the U.S. Forest Service.<\/p>\n
BOY STUMBLES ON STRANGE BEACH OBJECT IDENTIFIED AS RARE 1.8M-YEAR-OLD FOSSIL<\/a><\/p>\n In a recent announcement, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science<\/a> said the trackway stretches more than 23 feet and consists of at least four three-toed prints.<\/p>\n Pictures from the site show researchers examining the massive, three-toed prints in the rocky terrain.<\/p>\n Researchers in North Dakota discovered what they believe to be the first known trackway left by an adult T. rex. (Tyler Lyson)<\/p>\n The prints are roughly 3 feet long \u2014 and their enormous size led researchers to determine that they were left by an adult T. rex.<\/p>\n The identification was “based on the footprints\u2019 exceptional size and narrow shape of the toes, along with the abundance of T. rex fossils<\/a> found in the surrounding area,” the museum said in a statement.<\/p>\n ANCIENT OCEAN MYSTERY DEEPENS AS LONG-MISIDENTIFIED FOSSIL IS FINALLY REVEALED BY RESEARCHERS<\/a><\/p>\n While other isolated footprints have been attributed to adult T. rex, researchers said no adult T. rex trackway had been described previously.<\/p>\n “This is the first time scientists have described a sequence of tracks, or trackway, likely left by this most famous of dinosaurs,” the release also noted.<\/p>\n “I have no doubt that if we were to continue to dig further into a hill \u2026 we would find more.”<\/p>\n Tyler Lyson, the senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the study’s co-author, told Fox News Digital he was initially skeptical when volunteer Kent Hups, a high school teacher, spotted the print.<\/p>\n “Initially I wasn’t convinced because it was only one print,” Lyson said.<\/p>\n Rocks, he noted, “can erode into many different types of shapes.”<\/p>\n T. rex was a massive apex predator that roamed western North America during the final chapter of the dinosaur age. (Culture Club\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “I thought, well, if there’s three, that’s a pattern,” he said. “If we can find a third print, then I’ll be a true believer.”<\/p>\n The team began digging farther into the hill \u2014 and within about 30 minutes, they struck a third print.<\/p>\n SHOCKING PREHISTORIC DISCOVERY ON NJ BEACH ‘100%’ CAME FROM COLOSSAL ANCIENT PREDATOR<\/a><\/p>\n “At that point, myself, [plus] Kent, who found the trackway \u2014 we were absolutely ecstatic,” Lyson said.<\/p>\n The four footprints \u2014 two left and two right \u2014 were spaced at a stride of approximately 13 feet.<\/p>\n Researchers determined the dinosaur was likely walking between 3.5 and 4.5 miles per hour when it left the tracks. (Kent Hups)<\/p>\n The dinosaur may have been walking between 3.5 and 4.5 miles per hour \u2014 much like humans do today \u2014 the researchers estimated.<\/p>\n They used high-resolution 3D surface scanning to document the footprints<\/a> and entire trackway.<\/p>\n The study’s lead author, Peter Falkingham, a paleobiology professor at Liverpool John Moores University in England, then analyzed the footprints remotely using the 3D data, even though he never saw the tracks in person.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n The team returned to the site this summer and made another discovery while excavating farther into the hill: a fifth track.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I have no doubt that if we were to continue to dig further into a hill that we would find more,” Lyson said.<\/p>\n Tyler Lyson, seen at left, led the fieldwork behind the newly described T. rex trackway. (Natalie Toth; De Agostini via Getty Images)<\/p>\n The footprints are each more than 3 feet long. They likely weigh between 800 and 1,000 pounds, according to Lyson.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n Three of the tracks are slated to be recovered in October, when crews will place them in a helicopter net and airlift them out of the rugged Badlands<\/a>, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the museum, researchers plan to clean the tracks \u2014 and Lyson said he’s hopeful they could contain preserved skin impressions.<\/p>\n TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ<\/a><\/p>\n “By cleaning these tracks, we might be able to have a better idea of what the actual foot of a T. rex looked like,” he said.<\/p>\n The recent research follows other dinosaur-related discoveries from across the world.<\/p>\n Researcher Alex Polich is pictured at left. The ancient T. rex trackway stretches over 23 feet and consists of four massive, three-toed footprints. (Natalie Toth; Tyler Lyson)<\/p>\n Last year, paleontologists revealed a roughly 150-million-year-old dinosaur trackway in Colorado that may have preserved the footsteps of a limping long-necked sauropod<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Split](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ND-T-REX-DINOSAUR-TRACKWAY-FOUND-ANCIENT-HISTORY-DISCOVERY-ARCHAEOLOGY-1.jpg\")
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