The speculative discussion is based around a well-preserved set of Tyrannosaurs rex footprints. These patterns have allowed scientists to estimate the speed that the fearsome dinosaur most probably traveled at. Tyrannosaurs rex is one of the most well-known dinosaurs. It was a large theropod which lived in what is now western North America. According to National Geographic, the creature’s: “thick, heavy skull to its 4-foot-long (1.2-meter-long) jaw, was designed for maximum bone-crushing action.”
The new estimate into the prehistoric creature suggests Tyrannosaurus rex would have typically moved at a rate of 8 kilometers per hour (5 miles per hour). This is relatively fast for a dinosaur, but considerably slower than a jogger or even, as Science magazine puts it, a middle-aged power walker. However, what the research cannot answer is whether the T-rex could have gone faster and pursued its prey. This can only be answered through further fossil discoveries.
The rare discovery of preserved T. rex footprints was made by Scott Persons, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Alberta, Edmonton in Canada. The discovery was made in 66-million-year-old rocks. The rocks had formed along an ancient shoreline in present-day Wyoming.
The research has been published in the journal Cretaceous Research. The paper is titled “A tyrannosaur trackway at Glenrock, Lance Formation (Maastrichtian), Wyoming.”
