Cretaceous

A natural-science research consortium announced on September 14 that a continuous trackway of footprints left by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex has been identified for the first time in a Late Cretaceous geological formation in North America. Individual prints approach the size of an adult human foot, marking the first concrete trace of an adult T. rex in motion. The discovery provides new physical evidence for the study of the species’ gait, social behaviour and the wider Late Cretaceous North American ecosystem, and is being described by the field as one of the most significant trace-fossil finds in decades.

Scientists have identified a prehistoric giant octopus measuring approximately 62 feet in length from fossilized beak fragments, revealing a Cretaceous-era marine creature that may have been one of the ocean’s largest apex predators.