Scientists Identify First Adult Tyrannosaurus rex Trackway in North Dakota
Paleontologists have documented a four-print trackway attributed to an adult Tyrannosaurus rex in the Badlands of southwestern North Dakota, dating to roughly 66.5 million years ago.
Paleontologists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Liverpool John Moores University reported the discovery of a four-print trackway in the North Dakota badlands near the Montana border. The three-toed footprints, spaced about 13 feet apart, extend roughly 23 feet and suggest the dinosaur was walking at 3.5-4.5 miles per hour. The prints, preserved in fine-grained sandstone cemented with calcium carbonate, are dated to about 66.5 million years ago, near the end of the Cretaceous Period.
"Bones tell us an enormous amount about these animals, but footprints capture a moment of behavior," said Tyler Lyson, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
"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," added Peter Falkingham, professor of paleobiology at Liverpool John Moores University and lead author of the study.
The researchers used a 3D scanner to record the site and later analyzed the data remotely. Additional T. rex skeletal remains found nearby support the identification of the tracks as belonging to an adult Tyrannosaurus rex. The footprints are slated for recovery this fall and will be transferred to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for display.