{"id":15562,"date":"2022-07-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?p=15562&preview=true&preview_id=15562"},"modified":"2022-07-27T12:13:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T10:13:40","slug":"did-the-t-rex-actually-have-feathers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/07\/25\/did-the-t-rex-actually-have-feathers\/","title":{"rendered":"Did the T. rex actually have feathers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Did the T. rex<\/em> actually have feathers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

EDDIE SMITH, VIA EMAIL<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The classic image of Tyrannosaurus rex <\/em>is a reptilian monster. A green or brown, scale-covered brute that looks like an overgrown version of a crocodile or lizard. But in recent years, a new image has been making its way into books, television documentaries and online palaeoart: a feather-covered T. rex. <\/em>Is this true? <\/p>\n\n

First, there is not yet any direct fossil evidence of feathers on a T. <\/em>rex. <\/em>Nobody has found a T. <\/em>rex <\/em>skeleton cloaked in feathers, or any feathers sticking out of a T. <\/em>rex <\/em>arm bone. But this isn\u2019t surprising. Feathers, muscle, skin, internal organs and other soft structures don\u2019t often preserve as fossils. Most fossils are of hard objects like bones, teeth and shells, which can be more easily turned to rock and survive the ravages of geological time. <\/p>\n\n

With that said, we have good reason to believe T. <\/em>rex <\/em>did have some feathers. In China, in the Early Cretaceous, volcanic eruptions buried entire ecosystems similar to how the city of Pompeii was buried by Mount Vesuvius. The dinosaurs were killed and interred quickly, and their soft tissues were locked in place. Many of these dinosaur skeletons are covered in feathers, including two tyrannosaurs \u2013 close cousins of T. <\/em>rex <\/em>\u2013 called Yutyrannus <\/em>and Dilong. <\/em>This means that the ancestors of T. <\/em>rex <\/em>had feathers, which means T. <\/em>rex <\/em>probably did too. <\/p>\n\n

As an aside, a recent study made headlines by dividing T. rex <\/em>into three separate species, based on differences in the proportions of the thigh bone. It\u2019s a provocative study, but to me, this variation is minor, and not yet conclusive enough to show whether there was more than one type of T. rex. SB <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Email your questions to<\/span>
questions@sciencefocus.com<\/a>
or submit on Twitter<\/span>
@sciencefocus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

ILLUSTRATION: DANIEL BRIGHT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did the T. rex actually have feathers? EDDIE SMITH, VIA EMAIL The classic image of Tyrannosaurus rex is a reptilian monster. A green or brown, scale-covered brute that looks like an overgrown version of a crocodile or lizard. But in recent years, a new image has been making its way into books, television documentaries and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7013,"featured_media":15564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"","purple_seq_number":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"","purple_source_article":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"","purple_source_issue":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"Summer-2022","purple_external_id":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"Summer-2022-efcac930-215d-4070-abac-77ab5de09522","purple_issue_code":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089656||","purple_android_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue380","purple_ios_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue380","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-07-26T12:03:28Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"56bdee4e-0ff9-42fa-9fc4-c8f59fd39ef2","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-07-27T10:13:45Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AVr3uTg_5QvqfxMj1n9Oe8g","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex.png","author_info":{"display_name":"stephanieorgan@googlemail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/stephanieorgangooglemail-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex.png",980,1232,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex-239x300.png",239,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex-768x965.png",768,965,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex-815x1024.png",800,1005,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex.png",980,1232,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/07\/1-T-Rex.png",980,1232,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"stephanieorgan@googlemail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/stephanieorgangooglemail-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":3561,"uagb_excerpt":"Did the T. rex actually have feathers? EDDIE SMITH, VIA EMAIL The classic image of Tyrannosaurus rex is a reptilian monster. A green or brown, scale-covered brute that looks like an overgrown version of a crocodile or lizard. But in recent years, a new image has been making its way into books, television documentaries and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15562"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16513,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15562\/revisions\/16513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}