Group items tagged

Scientists have long debated whether gigantic dinosaurs lost their feathers the bigger they got or were just not as extensively covered.

this is the first direct sign of a huge, shaggy dinosaur

name is a blend of Latin and Mandarin, which translates to "beautiful feathered tyrant."

recovered from a quarry in China's Liaoning province by a private fossil dealer

Most striking were the remains of down-like feathers on the neck and arm

coverage was patchy, scientists suspected the species had feathers over much of its body

would have felt like touching "long, thick fur

compared it to the feathers of an emu.

Y. huali would have reached T. rex's chest.

dino-fuzz likely provided insulation, though camouflage or showing it off like a peacock could not be ruled out.

Since T. rex is related to this newfound feathery species, chances are good that T. rex was feathered as well

found in the Yixian Formation, a fossil deposit in northeastern China that over the last two decades has yielded dozens of dinosaur skeletons so finely preserved that it’s possible to discern feather-like structures.

early feathered members of the tyrannosaur family have been found, they were very smal

If the primary purpose of feathers was insulation, a possibility suggested by the feathers’ down-like shape, then larger tyrannosaurs might not have needed them. Thanks to small surface-to-volume body ratios, large-bodied animals tend to maintain heat easily.

didn’t know whether these larger-bodied forms would show as many.”

significance of Y. huali is its body size and the apparent density of feather-like structures

Yutyrannus skull. Image: Zang Hailong

What were tyrannosaur feathers used for? Might the king of dinosaurs have strutted like a peacock?

At this point we don’t have any data on the coloration of the plumage