WATCH: High school teacher discovers T. rex tracks in North Dakota

In 2025, a high school science teacher named Kent Hups discovered four connected three-toed footprints in the Hell Creek Formation in southwestern North Dakota. The tracks, which measure about 23 feet long and date back approximately 66.5 million years, are believed to be from an adult Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex). Scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Liverpool John Moores University used a 3D scanner to analyze the prints, confirming they were made by a T. rex moving at roughly 3.5 to 4.5 mph with strides measuring about 13 feet long.

The significance lies in providing direct evidence of T. rex movement across the landscape, rather than just skeletal remains or isolated footprints. The Hell Creek Formation spans parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, a region that was once covered by broad floodplains during the late Cretaceous Period. This discovery offers unprecedented insight into how one of the most iconic predators behaved 66.5 million years ago.