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A T. Rex walked here: Teacher finds rare footprints in North Dakota
The Seattle Times • • science
Key Points:
- Kent Hups, a high school science teacher from Colorado, discovered the first confirmed walking trackway of a fully grown Tyrannosaurus rex while volunteering on a fossil dig in North Dakota's Hell Creek Formation.
- The trackway consists of a continuous 23-foot trail with four massive three-toed prints, each about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, showing a 13-foot stride, indicating the T. rex was walking at about 3.5 to 4.5 mph.
- This discovery marks only the third adult T. rex footprint ever found, with previous finds being isolated prints, and provides valuable insight into the dinosaur's gait and foot positioning during slow walking.
- Researchers used high-resolution 3D scanning to document the footprints and plan to excavate three large prints weighing 800 to 1,000 pounds for further study and public display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
- The discovery highlights the potential for amateur paleontologists to make significant finds and offers educational opportunities for students, inspiring interest in paleontology and science.
