This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Liverpool John Moores University in England have discovered the first adult T. rex trackway, providing insights into how this emblematic predator moved. The findings are published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The approximately 23-foot-long (7-meter-long) trackway consists of four three-toed footprints discovered in the Hell Creek Formation of southwestern North Dakota. Each footprint is roughly 3 feet (0.9 meters) long, and researchers estimate they were made about 66.5 million years ago. The team identified T. rex as the most likely trackmaker based on the footprints' exceptional size and narrow toe shape, along with the abundance of T. rex fossils found in the surrounding area.
While isolated footprints have been attributed to adult T. rex in the past, this is the first time scientists have described a sequence of tracks, or trackway, likely left by this famous dinosaur. "Bones tell us an enormous amount about these animals, but footprints capture a moment of behavior. With a trackway, we can actually follow an animal as it moved across the landscape.
That is incredibly rare for T. rex," said Tyler Lyson, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The trackway was found in 2025 on federal land administered by the U.S. Forest Service near Marmarth, North Dakota.
The team used high-resolution 3D surface scanning to document each footprint and the full trackway. The resulting digital models allow scientists to examine the tracks in detail and create physical 3D reproductions. Peter Falkingham, a professor of paleobiology at Liverpool John Moores University and a dinosaur track expert, was lead author of the study, despite never having seen the tracks in person.
"The technology we're able to apply in the digital age means my colleagues could scan the tracks in the field and then send the 3D information over to me to visualize on my computer and in VR, enabling me to take as close a look as they did in person," he said. The trackway records two left and two right footprints, with a stride of approximately 13 feet (4 meters). Researchers estimate the animal was walking about 3.5 to 4.5 mph (5.6 to 7.2 km/h), roughly comparable to a brisk human walking pace.
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