Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

Turns Out The T. Rex Moved Like A Giant Chicken

Everything you thought you knew about how a T. rex moved might be wrong, and it was a 21-year-old college student in Maine who figured it out. Adrian Boeye, a senior at the College of the Atlantic, took careful measurements of leg and foot bones from four well-preserved T. rex skeletons held in museums across the United States and ran the numbers through a series of biomechanical equations to reconstruct exactly how the massive dinosaur walked and ran. For decades, scientists and filmmakers alike assumed the T. rex planted its enormous foot heel-first with each thundering step, the same way a human walks down the street. But Boeye’s research, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, shows that the most famous predator in prehistoric history actually moved toe-first, much like an oversized chicken or a sprinting ostrich.

This tiptoe style of walking allowed the T. rex to take shorter, faster strides while keeping its massive body balanced even on the uneven terrain of the ancient world. The legs acted as natural shock absorbers with each step, adding stability and allowing for smooth, rapid transitions from a walk into a full sprint. Fossilized footprints actually back up the math, with the deepest impressions consistently found under the front of the foot rather than the heel. Younger, lighter T. rexes could hit speeds fast enough to beat an Olympic sprinter in a 100-meter dash, while the massive adults moved more slowly, suggesting that animals of different ages likely hunted completely different prey. Scientists say this discovery adds the tiptoe gait to a growing list of bird-like traits that trace all the way back to the T. rex, making today’s backyard chickens look a little more terrifying in a whole new light.

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/like-an-eight-ton-chicken-tyrannosaurus-rex-may-have-run-on-its-tiptoes-to-catch-speedy-prey-180988279/?itm_source=parsely-api?itm_source=most-popular&itm_medium=parsely-api

PrevPreviousHow Two Animals Invented The Same Defense Mechanism
NextBumblebees Make Decisions The Same Way You DoNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

Scientists Just Proved That Your Brain Can Dream While You Are Wide Awake

May 11, 2026

A study from the Paris Brain Institute, published in Cell Reports, has overturned something most people take for granted: that dreaming and waking are two cleanly separate mental states, each with their own type of thoughts. Researchers monitored 92 adults using EEG caps as they drifted into and out of

Read More
Happy News

A Kitten Found Covered Head To Tail In Industrial Glue Just Made A Full Recovery And Has A New Home

May 11, 2026

When a good Samaritan in Fort Worth, Texas, discovered a small kitten stuck in a bucket of industrial-strength glue near an industrial area in April and rushed him to the Humane Society of North Texas, shelter staff were not sure the tiny animal would survive the night. The glue was

Read More
Happy News

The FDA Just Gave Pancreatic Cancer Patients Early Access To A Pill That Doubled Survival Time

May 11, 2026

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized early expanded access to a new pill called daraxonrasib, developed by Revolution Medicines, giving patients with advanced pancreatic cancer a chance to receive the experimental treatment while it awaits full regulatory approval, in a move the agency completed just two days after receiving

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.