Landmark Discovery: First Adult T. rex Trackway Unearthed in North Dakota
Scientists uncover first-ever adult T. rex trackway in North Dakota badlands, revealing new insights into dinosaur movement and behavior.
POLICY WIRE — Marmarth, United States — A groundbreaking paleontological find has revealed the first known trackway of a full-grown Tyrannosaurus rex in the rugged badlands of southwestern North Dakota. The discovery, made near the Montana border, includes four connected footprints that offer unprecedented insight into how these ancient predators moved across their environment.
The findings are detailed in a recent paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Prior to this, only two isolated adult T. rex footprints had been confirmed globally, both in New Mexico and Montana. Neither provided evidence of the dinosaur’s locomotion. Dr. Tyler Lyson, a senior curator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, emphasized the significance of the discovery, stating that while bones provide valuable data, footprints capture a moment of behavior, allowing researchers to trace an animal’s path across the landscape.
📄 POLICY WIRE WHITEPAPER PUBLISHED: PAKISTAN’S NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY PRIORITIES
The trackway was discovered in 2025 on U.S. Forest Service land by Kent Hups, a high school teacher and amateur fossil hunter participating in one of Lyson’s excavations. The four three-toed prints span approximately 23 feet, with each footprint measuring about 3 feet in length. Researchers estimated the dinosaur was walking at a pace of 3.5 to 4.5 miles per hour despite its massive weight of over seven tons. The site, which has yielded numerous tyrannosaur fossils, including a juvenile nicknamed “Teen Rex,” helped confirm the tracks as belonging to T. rex. Three of the prints will be transported to the Denver Museum via helicopter this fall for further study.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
