<\/p>
The classic image of\u00a0Tyrannosaurus 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 dinosaur<\/a> palaeoart: a feather-covered T. rex<\/em>.<\/p>\n Is this true?<\/p>\n First, there is not yet any direct fossil evidence of feathers on a\u00a0T. rex<\/em>. Nobody has found a\u00a0T. rex<\/em>\u00a0skeleton cloaked in feathers, or any feathers sticking out of a\u00a0T. rex\u00a0<\/em>arm bone. But this isn\u2019t surprising. Feathers,\u00a0muscle, skin,\u00a0internal organs\u00a0and other soft structures don\u2019t often preserve\u00a0as fossils.\u00a0Most fossils are of hard objects like bones, teeth and shells,\u00a0which\u00a0can be more easily turned to rock and survive the ravages of geological time.<\/p>\n With that said, we have good reason to believe\u00a0T. rex<\/em>\u00a0did have some feathers. In\u00a0China, in the\u00a0Early Cretaceous, volcanic eruptions buried entire ecosystems<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Many of these dinosaur skeletons are covered in feathers, including two tyrannosaurs \u2013 close cousins of\u00a0T. rex<\/em>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0called\u00a0Yutyrannus<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dilong. This means that the ancestors of\u00a0T. rex<\/em>\u00a0had feathers, which means\u00a0T. rex<\/em>\u00a0probably did too.<\/p>\n As an aside, a recent study made headlines by dividing\u00a0T. rex<\/em>\u00a0into 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<\/a> to show whether there was more than one type of\u00a0T. rex<\/em>.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Asked by: Eddie Smith, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Dr Stephen Brusatte Published: Saturday, 27 August 2022 at 12:00 am The classic image of\u00a0Tyrannosaurus 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":24,"featured_media":17041,"template":"","categories":[30],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers.jpg",1200,511,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers-300x128.jpg",300,128,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers-768x327.jpg",768,327,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers-1024x436.jpg",800,341,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers.jpg",1200,511,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers.jpg",1200,511,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Dr Stephen Brusatte Published: Saturday, 27 August 2022 at 12:00 am The classic image of\u00a0Tyrannosaurus 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\/rss_feed\/17040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"