First Series of Adult T. Rex Footprints Hints at its Walking Speed
"mrpg" writes:
An estimated speed of 1.6 meters per second roughly matches a person's brisk walking pace:
Four ancient footprints are helping scientists step into a T. rex's shoes.
The prints form the first set of tracks probably left behind by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex, researchers report September 8 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Measurements of the 7-meter-long trackway suggest the ancient predator was ambling along at about 1.6 meters per second, roughly equivalent to a person's quick walking pace.
A few single adult T. rex footprints exist in the fossil record, as do trackways possibly from T. rex juveniles or other dinosaur species, says Peter Falkingham, a paleontologist at Liverpool John Moores University in England. "But an individual track doesn't tell you a lot. A trackway tells you more about foot placement as the animal's moving along." And younger and older dinosaurs probably walked differently, just as human toddlers and adults do.
[...] Slender toe impressions and fossils unearthed in the area signal a T. rex left behind the footprints roughly 66.5 million years ago. "There's always the possibility that we haven't found the skeletons of some species that we don't know about," Falkingham says. "But as far as our knowledge goes, T. rex is about the only track maker that could have made these."
The team used stride length and body size to calculate the dinosaur's speed. Unfortunately, the footprints aren't well-preserved and estimating speed from tracks is tricky, so the T. rex may have been walking slightly faster or slower than calculated. Better tracks could have revealed whether the foot landed flat or toe-to-heel, or how foot pads supported the predator's weight.
More tracks are sure to follow. In fact, a fifth step may be concealed in the hill. But the team is waiting for Mother Nature to wear away the surrounding rock, Hups says. "I can't wait to get back out there and keep looking for more."
Journal Reference: P.L. Falkingham et al. A large tridactyl trackway from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota, likely attributable to an adult Tyrannosaurus rex. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 2026. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2026.2706201
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