T rex ancestor had feathers
A 130 million year old fossil suggests that the ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex had feathers. The dog-sized dinosaur had thin filaments covering its body, not true feathers, but the evolutionary precursors of feathers. They would most likely have been used for insulation. Dilong paradoxus, which means Emperor dragon, is the oldest known member of the tyrannosaurid family. Its descendant T. rex would have lost its feathers, as its immense size would have meant that losing heat, not keeping it in, was more of a problem for the reptile, although there is some evidence to suggest that the small T. rex hatchlings were covered in down. The Chinese fossil is particularly significant because it means that feathers would have evolved before the appearance of birds. According to palaeontologist Mark Norell, all of the dinosaurs that he has seen from Jurassic Park IV have feathers.
-Zoe Cormier
Source: Nature
