Teeth-rattling roars. Earth-shaking stomps. Teeth as long as your forearm. Claws as big as your hand. The mighty Cretaceous king of the ‘tyrant lizards’, Tyrannosaurus rex – and isn’t it just the most adorable thing you have ever seen?
Okay, this obviously isn’t a real video of a baby T. rex. It’s a reconstruction by palaeontologists at the American Museum of Natural History, showing what they think the wee things might have looked like: like a fluffy little baby bird with tiny chompers.
Historically, tyrannosaurids (the family of theropod dinosaurs to which T. rex belongs) have been depicted like reptiles, with rough, scaly skin. Although in recent years evidence has surfaced that some earlier tyrannosaurids were feathered, fossilized skin impressions from T. rex show little to no evidence of feathers.
Palaeontologists believe they may have been partially feathered, around the neck area. And because dinosaurs resemble birds in quite a few ways, feathers are definitely plausible.
Read more HERE
Ask me anything
Explore related questions