{
  "id": 6426210,
  "title": "A 66.5-million-year-old trackway captures adult T. rex at walking pace",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/a-66-5-million-year-old-trackway-captures-adult-t-rex-at-walking-pace",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-09T14:20:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-million-year-trackway-captures-adult.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An ancient dinosaur trail from nearly 67 million years ago has revealed how a fully grown Tyrannosaurus rex moved. The remarkable 7-meter-long trackway, found in North Dakota, consists of four three-toed footprints made by the apex predator. Each print measures about 3 feet in length and was likely left around 66.5 million years ago. The exceptional size and narrow toe shape of the footprints, along with the abundance of T. rex fossils in the surrounding area, led scientists to conclude the trackway was made by an adult T. rex. This is the first time a sequence of tracks, or trackway, left by this famous dinosaur has been described. Unlike bones, footprints capture a moment of behavior, allowing researchers to follow the animal as it moved across the landscape, a rare occurrence for T. rex. The trackway was discovered in 2025 on federal land near Marmarth, North Dakota, and researchers used advanced 3D scanning technology to document each footprint and create detailed digital models. The findings, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, provide valuable insights into the movement and behavior of the iconic carnivore.",
  "summary": "Scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Liverpool John Moores University in England have discovered the first adult T. rex trackway, providing insights into how this emblematic predator moved. The findings are published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}