Even though it's grown more common to reconstruct certain dinosaurs, such as the raptors, with feathers, T. Rex remains one of those dinosaurs you can depict as entirely scaly without being corrected. People like to think that, while T. Rex may have descended from feathered tyrannosauroids such as Dilong paradoxus, somewhere in its evolution it lost its feathers and became scaly again so that it wouldn't overheat due to its size.
However, there is in fact reason to think that T. Rex retained much of its ancestors' plumage. It has been calculated that despite weighing over six tons, T. Rex's metabolism was equivalent to that of a one-ton mammal, meaning that it would only produce as much body heat as a one-ton mammal. Now, it turns out that almost all terrestrial mammals weighing close to a ton, such as the African buffalo, giant eland, and Indian gaur have retained insulatory integument without overheating. Given that T. Rex was in no more danger of overheating than these animals, it's very likely that it too retained insulatory integument.
"But T. Rex skin impressions showing scales have been found," you might object. That's true, but they're all from the underside of the tail. That only suggests that T. Rex's underside was scaly, not that the whole animal was scaly. Even birds have scales on some parts of their bodies. Most likely T. Rex had a mixture of scaly and feathery integument, with the scales being located on the underside while the upper half was feathered.
A lot of people may not like the idea of a feathered T. Rex, but I for one think it would look totally sweet. A feathery coat would make T. Rex easily stand apart visually from other big meat-eating dinosaurs like Allosaurus or Giganotosaurus.
Hopefully more evidence regarding T. Rex's integument will surface sometime.
Posts: 7102 | From: Fallbrook, CA | Registered: Mar 2004
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A lot of people may not like the idea of a feathered T. Rex, but I for one think it would look totally sweet. A feathery coat wold make T. Rex easly stand apart visually from other big meat-eatingdinosaurs like Allosaurus or Giganotosaurus.
... a pink feathery coat? lol
Probablywouldn't matter to you but opening this page i was wondering whether your response would be a resounding "Pimpin'!" or a resentful "... flaming ..".
A lot of people may not like the idea of a feathered T. Rex, but I for one think it would look totally sweet. A feathery coat wold make T. Rex easly stand apart visually from other big meat-eatingdinosaurs like Allosaurus or Giganotosaurus.
... a pink feathery coat? lol
Probablywouldn't matter to you but opening this page i was wondering whether your response would be a resounding "Pimpin'!" or a resentful "... flaming ..".
Pink would not work. The dinosaur would have needed to blend in with its habitat in order to hunt.
Posts: 7102 | From: Fallbrook, CA | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Not only was T-rex a vicious killer but having to blend in with its surroundings? Really. Oh wait. If it had pink feathers then yes it would have to blend into...someplace.
How 'bout that. A fag Tyrannosaurus rex.
Posts: 2118 | From: midwest, USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Oo!! stop it,Grumman.. maybe some did some did not If the camara man did not use a colored filter then maybe an environment like this could explain it.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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