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Oldest T. rex footprint found

London: Dinosaur hunters have uncovered what could be the oldest footprint of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex ever found.

Palaeontologist Phil Manning of the University of Manchester came across the well-preserved three-toed footprint last year while on a dig at the Hell Creek rock formation in eastern Montana. These rocks have been dated by scientists as being 65mllion to 67 million years old, at the boundary of the Cretaceous and Palaeocene periods, known as the end of the age of the dinosaurs.

The area is a good source of remains of T. rex and its relatives.

“Whilst we were walking through that locality, I spotted something that made me stop in my tracks — there was a big, three-toed footprint,” said Dr. Manning.

T. rex was one of the largest known land-based predators. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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