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AMERICANALMANAC (Sadie Smith) - Paleontologists find first-ever adult T. rex trackway in North Dakota badlands

A high school teacher volunteering on a fossil dig stumbled onto four connected Tyrannosaurus rex footprints in the North Dakota badlands, the first trackway ever confirmed from a full-grown T. rex. Kent Hups, an amateur fossil hunter, made the find in 2025 while working on a dig led by Dr. Tyler Lyson, senior curator of […] The post Paleontologists find first-ever adult T. rex trackway in North Dakota badlands appeared first on American Almanac .

A high school teacher volunteering on a fossil dig stumbled onto four connected Tyrannosaurus rex footprints in the North Dakota badlands, the first trackway ever confirmed from a full-grown T. rex. Kent Hups, an amateur fossil hunter, made the find in 2025 while working on a dig led by Dr. Tyler Lyson, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The site sits on U.S. Forest Service land near Marmarth, a small town in southwestern North Dakota close to the Montana border. A peer-reviewed paper describing the discovery was published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Before this find, only two isolated adult T. rex footprints had ever been confirmed anywhere on Earth, one in New…Open

What are the plans for the preservation and transport of the discovered footprints?
Three of the four footprints are scheduled to be airlifted by helicopter later this year and transported to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, while the fate of the fourth print has not been addressed.
Q&A ID e0fcba12-4502-4131-a38b-38fec5ec3fc3
How old are the footprints found in the North Dakota badlands and what geological formation are they in?
The footprints are approximately 66.5 million years old, dating to near the end of the Cretaceous period, and are located within the Hell Creek Formation.
Q&A ID 00db6d31-22c6-4ed2-b3e1-92d8b946a129
What are the physical characteristics and estimated speed of the T. rex that left the footprints in the Hell Creek Formation?
The trackway spans roughly 23 feet and consists of four three-toed prints that are each about 3 feet long. The animal weighed more than seven tons and was estimated to be walking at a speed of 3.5 to 4.5 miles per hour based on the spacing between the prints.
Q&A ID 2492f800-8941-44c8-aeee-3b1d6f78aa14
Where is the specific location of the T. rex trackway discovery in North Dakota?
The site is located on U.S. Forest Service land near Marmarth, a small town in southwestern North Dakota positioned close to the Montana border.
Q&A ID 1dcc22bd-fd9b-4ab6-9219-0c3ec31cb033
Who discovered the adult T. rex footprints and under whose leadership was the dig conducted?
The footprints were discovered by Kent Hups, a high school teacher and amateur fossil hunter volunteering on a dig. The excavation was led by Dr. Tyler Lyson, who is the senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Q&A ID 7735a6f5-efac-4853-a6a8-fa280dae9701
What was the significance of the Tyrannosaurus rex trackway discovered in the North Dakota badlands in 2025?
The find consists of the first-ever confirmed trackway of a full-grown T. rex, featuring four connected footprints. This is significant because, prior to this, only two isolated adult T. rex footprints had been confirmed (one in New Mexico and one in Montana), neither of which showed how the animal moved.
Q&A ID 122f61c8-46e1-4414-9313-cfbd97d39f97
Keywordspaleontologyfossilsdinosaurst-rextyrannosaurus-rexnorth-dakotabadlandssciencediscoveryhell-creek-formationprehistoricbiologygeologynaturewildliferesearchdenver-museum-of-nature-and-sciencebreaking-newscretaceousanimal-behaviordr-tyler-lysonkent-hupsamerican-almanac