T. rex could have had hairy coat

Could the killer Tyrannosaurus rex have sported a rough hairy coat instead of just hard scaly skin? A group of scientists say that’s possible.

The newly discovered fossils belonging to a feathery, large, meat-eating early relative of the T. rex suggest the king of dinosaurs may have looked different to how he has long been depicted.

A group of researchers based in Beijing, including one Canadian and a graduate student from the University of Alberta, discovered the new species — Yutyrannus huali — was covered with hairy bristles of sorts, which make it the largest feathered dinosaur ever found.

The research, published in the journal Nature, suggests the even larger T. rex, which followed about 60 million years later, could have had some fuzz as well.

“I think you can say that our feathered animal Yutyrannus at least increases the possibility that Tyrannosaurus rex was feathered as well, but it’s not a resolved question by any means,” Canadian co-author Corwin Sullivan told The Canadian Press in an interview from Beijing.

Sullivan, a Kitchener, Ont.-native who works at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said evidence has existed for years that smaller, feathered dinosaurs once roamed the Earth. But scientists have long wondered if the more gigantic dinosaurs shed their feathers as they got bigger and environmental temperatures rose.

While more evidence is still needed to figure out if the T. rex had any hair or feathers, the latest discovery is a concrete example of a huge, hulking dinosaur which did.

“What it has are primitive feathers that in their superficial structure resemble hair or bristles. So if you saw the animal walking around it would look quite furry,” Sullivan said of the newly discovered species.

“I think (it is) quite an interesting find because before this animal was discovered, we had no fossil evidence to tell us whether or not there were large feathered theropods.”

Yutyrannus huali’s name is a blend of Latin and Mandarin, which translates to “beautiful feathered tyrant.” Three well-preserved fossils of the species were discovered in northeastern China, two in 2009 and one in 2010, which allowed researchers to find the remains of hairy feathers on the neck and arms.

The creature lived about 125 million years ago. At about nine metres long and weighing a tonne, it would have reached T. rex’s chest.

Sullivan suggests its feathers could have provided insulation in a comparatively cooler climate than the T.rex’s world.

Researchers will now be analyzing the fossils even further.

“It’s possible that we’ll be able to tell you at some point what colour this thing was,” Sullivan said.

As images of the T. rex and other gigantic carnivorous dinosaurs could be re-considered, another co-author of the report said the latest research is significant.

Lida Xing, a Chinese graduate student from the University of Alberta said the discovery is likely to change how people think about large meat-eating dinosaurs.

“This one is a very awesome specimen because before we believed the T. rex family…when they grow up are just skin, no feathers,” he said. “It’s a very big change.”