A high school teacher from Colorado has made an extraordinary discovery while volunteering on a fossil dig in North Dakota, uncovering the first-ever adult Tyrannosaurus rex trackway. This remarkable find, estimated to be around 66.5 million years old, comprises four three-foot-long footprints that collectively span approximately 23 feet. The exciting discovery is set to be showcased at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, providing a unique insight into the behaviour of one of history’s most famous dinosaurs.
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Kent Hups, who teaches at Northglenn High School, was volunteering in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation when he stumbled upon what he believed to be a T. rex footprint. Initially, fellow dig members, including Tyler Lyson, a senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum, were not fully convinced of the significance of his find. However, upon returning to the site the following day, they confirmed that Hups had indeed uncovered not one but a series of footprints from an adult T. rex, marking a significant milestone in paleontological research.
In a statement to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Hups expressed the profound excitement he felt about his discovery: “As a teacher, I’m always telling my students that science starts with curiosity, passion, and careful observation. I never imagined that could lead me to a discovery like this.” Following the find, Hups contributed as a co-author to an article published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology that details the trackway’s characteristics.
Researchers estimate that the trackway was created during a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, specifically around 66.5 million years ago. Described as “exceedingly rare,” the trackway comprises tridactyl footprints approximately one metre in length, indicative of an adult T. rex walking at a speed estimated between 3.4 and 4.5 miles per hour. This new evidence provides crucial insights into the movement and behaviour patterns of this iconic species.
The tracks are preserved within fine-grained sandstone concretions, cemented with calcium carbonate, which formed around the depressions left by the footsteps. Despite experiencing fracturing and damage over millions of years, the discovery represents an important data point in the study of T. rex, as previous isolated footprints attributed to the dinosaur have been found in New Mexico and Montana. Until now, no one had documented a complete trackway.
Tyler Lyson commented on the significance of the find, stating, “Bones tell us an enormous amount about these animals, but footprints capture a moment of behaviour. With a trackway, we can actually follow an animal as it moved across the landscape. That is incredibly rare for T. rex.” This underscores the value of footprints in understanding not just the anatomy of prehistoric creatures, but also how they interacted with their environment.
The lead author of the study, Peter Falkingham, a palaeobiologist at Liverpool John Moores University, emphasised the importance of the trackway in providing a deeper understanding of dinosaur movement. Alongside Falkingham, researchers Evan Tamez-Galvan and Antoine Bercovici from the museum played crucial roles in analysing the trackway’s significance.
As the Denver Museum of Nature & Science prepares to display the T. rex trackway this winter, the excitement surrounding this discovery continues to grow. Visitors will be given a rare opportunity to engage with paleontological history, witnessing firsthand the remnants of an adult T. rex and gaining insight into the life of this colossal predator that once roamed the Earth.
Kent Hups’ journey from classroom teacher to contributor of a groundbreaking paleontological discovery serves as an inspiring reminder of the power of curiosity and exploration in science. His experience underlines the potential for amateur paleontologists to make significant contributions to our understanding of the natural world, reaffirming the idea that passion and observation can lead to monumental discoveries.