Scientists found something T. rex bones could never show: First known trackway reveals how the dinosaur actually walked 66.5 million years ago

The bones of Tyrannosaurus rex have been used for reconstruction of the dinosaur for over a hundred years. It was through skulls, teeth, hips and huge leg bones that scientists could put together the image of one of the best-known dinosaurs.

However, bones have one serious disadvantage – they cannot provide information about movement.

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CNN reports that the first-ever trackway made by an adult T. rex has been found recently and provides scientists with a unique opportunity to learn about how this famous dinosaur moved 66.5 million years ago.

This discovery happened in 2025 in North Dakota's Hell Creek Formation, where Kent Hups, a high school science teacher from Northglenn, Colorado, saw two peculiar marks.

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At first, even Hups was not certain they were footprints.

The track was quite large, about one meter in length, with three distinct toes. They might easily be mistaken for weird shapes caused by weathering, which is fairly common in areas where fossils abound.

As CNN reported, researchers dug around the suspected footprints and found additional impressions.

Four footprints created the fossilised trackway reported in the scientific article; the fifth footprint was found through additional research.

This research paper, published on September 8, 2026, in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, concludes that the trackway probably belonged to an adult Tyrannosaurus rex.

A teacher saw two strange footprints — then researchers found a trail

Hell Creek Formation covers parts of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota, where fossils of the final stages of dinosaurs can be found.

However, the finding of dinosaur footprints in the region is quite uncommon compared to finding their bones.

That made Hups' observation particularly important.

CNN reported that his first reaction was disbelief.

Both tracks seen by him in July 2025 were three-toed, yet there could be cases when peculiar rocks might resemble dinosaur footprints.

Tyler Lyson, the senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, who is one of the study’s coauthors, needed more proof to accept the identification.

The scientists continued their search for further footprints.

They marked locations where another step might reasonably have occurred and began excavating. The work revealed a third footprint, followed by a fourth.

The scientific paper describes a trackway approximately 7 metres long, containing four large three-toed tracks. Each footprint is approximately 0.9 to 1 metre long and 60 to 80 centimetres wide, although erosion makes precise measurements difficult.

A fifth print was found later, according to CNN.

The shape alone was not enough to establish that a T. rex had made the tracks. Researchers also considered the animal species known from the same geological formation, the age of the rocks and the extraordinary size of the impressions.

That combination narrowed the possibilities.

Why these footprints matter more than another T. rex bone

A fossilised bone can tell scientists what an animal was built like.

A track can tell them what the animal was doing.

That distinction makes trace fossils such as footprints particularly valuable.

This set of tracks has recorded evidence of locomotion that cannot be found in the fossilised skeletal remains.

CNN mentioned this point in its report, stating that through these footprints, one can learn about the behaviour of the creature that dates back to around 66.5 million years.

This track set has given information about the distance between footsteps of the animal, and thus, it becomes possible for scientists to understand how it used to move.

In this situation, the stride length has been found to be around 4 meters.

The walking speed has been estimated to be between 1.5 and 2 meters per second, or 5.4 to 7.2 km/h.

That is important context.

The discovery does not show how fast T. rex could run at maximum speed. It captures one particular movement across ancient sediment.

The dinosaur appears to have been walking.

And that is precisely what makes the trackway useful. Instead of asking only what T. rex looked like, scientists can begin asking how its enormous body moved across the ground.

Why the first adult T. rex trackway is so rare

The fossil record contains plenty of evidence for T. rex in the Hell Creek Formation.

Its bones are relatively abundant compared with its footprints.

The reason is partly geological. Fossil bones and footprints require different conditions to survive. A footprint needs to be created in suitable sediment, buried quickly enough to escape erosion and then preserved through geological processes.

An unusual method of preservation has apparently helped the Hell Creek trackway.

According to the scientific paper, the footprint is preserved in the form of sandstone concretion cemented by calcium carbonate. While the hard part with the footprint remained, the soft part around it has been eroded.

That process effectively helped protect the impressions.

Eventually, erosion exposed the harder formations at the surface, allowing researchers to discover them millions of years after the dinosaur had walked across the original landscape.

CNN noted that this is especially significant because only isolated footprints had previously been attributed to T. rex.

One was described from New Mexico in 1994, while another was reported from Montana's Hell Creek Formation in 2008. The newly reported discovery is different because multiple consecutive footprints provide information about movement.

Other trackways from North America have been reported for tyrannosaurs, but the tracks have been assigned to smaller tyrannosaurids or younger animals.

This new sequence from North Dakota is important because the age, size, location, and three-toed structure are all consistent with T. rex.

What the ancient footprints reveal about T. rex movement

The trackway is not perfectly preserved.

In fact, researchers caution that weathering has removed much of the fine anatomical detail. The clearest footprint, identified as R2, preserves the three major toe impressions, but even those surfaces are fractured.

That limits what scientists can reconstruct.

Still, the spacing of the tracks offers useful information.

The stride is approximately 4 metres, and the trackway is relatively narrow. Researchers used these measurements to estimate the dinosaur's walking speed.

The result falls within the expected range for a large theropod walking across the landscape.

Thomas Holtz Jr., a palaeontologist from the University of Maryland not affiliated with this study, added that one should use trackways on soft ground with caution for determining the maximum speed of the animal.

According to CNN, the soft soil may have impacted the movements of the dinosaur.

That matters because a footprint is not a perfect mould of a foot. The foot pushes into sediment, the material deforms around it and the resulting track can change shape as the animal lifts its foot.

Scientists therefore have to separate genuine anatomical information from effects created by the sediment itself.

Even with those limitations, a sequence of four tracks gives researchers something an isolated footprint cannot: direction, spacing and stride.

It provides a short record of movement.

Researchers hope the site can reveal even more

The discovery is still being investigated.

According to CNN, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science plans to collect three of the prints from North Dakota for additional examination. Researchers hope they may contain information about the dinosaur's foot or even microscopic traces of soft tissue and skin.

The scientific paper notes that the existing surfaces contain relatively little anatomical detail because of weathering.

Further excavation could potentially expose additional footprints.

There is a major obstacle, however. The trackway lies along a steep, heavily covered slope, meaning much of any continuation is buried beneath a substantial amount of material. The researchers say future excavation could reveal more evidence, although the amount of overburden may make extensive digging difficult.

The site also demonstrates why researchers continue to examine familiar fossil formations.

Hell Creek Formation has been researched extensively. Many dinosaur skeletons have been found in the rocks, and it has taken scientists decades to put together the ecosystem that existed just before the end-Cretaceous extinction.

However, a teacher who looked carefully into some strange rocks discovered something else.

CNN's report brings attention to the human side of the discovery, but the scientific importance lies in what the tracks preserve.

They are not another T. rex skeleton.

They are evidence of movement.

About 66.5 million years ago, an enormous three-toed dinosaur crossed a muddy landscape in what is now North Dakota. It left a series of impressions behind. The animal vanished, the landscape changed, and the sediment hardened.

The footprints remained.

Now, scientists can use those marks to reconstruct a few moments from the life of an adult T. rex — something its bones alone could never show.

FAQ

1. Could this be the first-ever T. Rex footprint?

Not really. Before this, there have been sightings of footprints thought to be from the T. Rex. What makes this discovery unique is that this is the first trackway of T. Rex ever reported.

2. Where was the first-ever T. Rex footprint found?

The footprint was found in the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota in sedimentary rocks that are about 66.5 million years old.

3. What do T. Rex footprints say to the researchers?

Footprint tracks give information regarding the movements of the creature, such as its stride and speed. The reported trackway has a stride of 4 metres and is moving at a speed of approximately 1.5-2 meters per second.

4. Who discovered the T. Rex trackway?

Kent Hups, a science teacher in high school from Colorado and a volunteer research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, noticed the unusual markings during the research expedition of 2025. According to CNN, further digging by the researchers uncovered more footprints.