Brevard Zoo Welcomes 120-Pound Giraffe Gail After 6-Foot Birth Drop

Q: What secrets about a walking adult T. rex will researchers uncover after airlifting its 66-million-year-old footprints?

Researchers are most likely to learn how an adult T. rex actually moved across the landscape: its walking speed, stride mechanics, gait and possibly details of the foot itself. The four connected footprints from North Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation are the first known adult T. rex trackway, not just an isolated print. From the spacing of the tracks, scientists have already estimated a stride of about 13 feet and a walking speed of roughly 3.5 to 4.5 mph, suggesting the animal was moving at a steady, unhurried pace rather than running. Once three of the rock-encased prints are airlifted to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and cleaned in the lab, researchers expect a closer look at how the dinosaur planted its feet and balanced its body while walking. The trackway’s narrow, nearly straight alignment may also clarify how little side-to-side sway an adult T. rex had as it moved. The fossil tracks are heavily weathered, so they preserve limited fine detail now. But lab preparation could expose subtler features, including possible claw marks or even skin impressions, which would help scientists refine what a T. rex foot looked like in life. Combined with high-resolution 3D scans, the footprints offer what paleontologists call a rare “behavioral snapshot” — evidence not just of what T. rex was, but of how a full-grown individual walked during one of the species’ final known eras, about 66.5 million years ago.

1 articles · Updated · DISCOVER Magazine · Sep 18

Gail, an endangered giraffe calf at Florida's Brevard Zoo, was born after a roughly 6-foot drop typical of giraffe births and weighed nearly 120 pounds.
Extra bedding in the birthing stall and overnight checks on mother Kumi helped keepers prepare for the calf's arrival and cushion the landing.
The newborn now faces the next immediate challenge for giraffes—getting steady on her unusually long legs after birth.
Gail's birth was highlighted in a Sept. 12-18 science news roundup that also featured fossil, dinosaur-track and medical-detection stories.