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Baby T. rex was probably covered in fluffy feathers.

It looked more like a giant chick than the leathery monster we picture.

2 min read
Baby T. rex was probably covered in fluffy feathers.
THE FULL STORY

We’ve spent decades picturing T. rex as a scaly, leathery monster. The real picture is probably much fluffier, at least when T. rex was young.

T. rex belongs to a family of dinosaurs called tyrannosaurs, and several of its smaller relatives - like Yutyrannus, a 30-foot tyrannosaur from China - definitely had a coat of fuzzy proto-feathers covering their bodies. Most paleontologists now think baby T. rex hatched covered in similar down, the way modern chicks do, and lost most or all of it as adults - when their giant body size meant they ran hot enough not to need insulation.

So picture a freshly hatched baby T. rex: about the size of a turkey, wide eyes, oversized head, fluffy feathers, banana-shaped teeth already growing in. Adorable. Horrifying. Both at once.

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