Scientists uncover 1st adult T. rex trackway in North Dakota
Scientists uncovered four T. rex footprints near Marmarth, North Dakota, the first time anyone's found a full trackway from an adult T. rex, not just single prints.
The discovery was published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Prints reveal T. rex walking speed
These 66.5-million-year-old footprints, each about 3 feet long with a 13-foot stride, give us a rare look at how this giant predator actually moved around.
Tyler Lyson, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and co-author of the study, called it, "With a trackway, we can actually follow an animal as it moved across the landscape. That is incredibly rare for T. rex."
Researchers even figured out that this T. rex strolled at about 3.5 to 7.24km per hour, comparable to a brisk walking speed for a human.
Three prints headed to Denver museum
Three of the prints are headed to the Denver Museum for more study, which could reveal even more about how T. rex lived and behaved (pretty cool for anyone curious about dinosaurs)!