Did T. rex Have Feathers?

Recent discoveries are reshaping our understanding of the iconic predator and the feathered history of dinosaurs

Have you heard of the “Draw-A-Scientist” experiment? Between 1966 and 1977, a group of scientists collected 5,000 drawings from children who were asked to draw a scientist. The results were discouraging for us female scientists: only 28 of these drawings depicted us, and they were all drawn by girls, not boys. That was 0.6% of the drawings!

However, this experiment was reported multiple times until a 2019 study showed that up to 28% of the children drew female scientists. More specifically, 58% of the girls draw a female scientist.

Of course, there’s still a long way to go. Apparently, as kids get older, they are more likely to represent scientists as male, but education is helping the newer generation catch up with the actual numbers, which say that women make up to 35% of STEM jobs.

At least I know that if you ask some of my friend’s children, they are likely to draw a woman. Why? Well, because they’ve met tenths of other female scientists. Representation matters!

This exemplifies how perceptions and long-held beliefs can shadow our understanding of a particular concept. Proper education can slowly change our perceptions toward a more accurate narrative. Another example is how we perceive dinosaurs.

Once illustrated as lizard-like, clumsy, soulless creatures, most recent discoveries change this perception. To date, new dinosaur illustrations are more likely to feature feathers along the animals’ bodies. Wait, did I say feathers? Yes, I did! Keep reading to learn the whole picture of the story.

When we think of T. rex, it’s hard not to imagine a massive, scaly, fearsome predator with sharp teeth and a roaring presence. But what if I told you that this dinosaur might have been a bit fluffier than you’d expect?

For decades, scientists portrayed Tyrannosaurus rex as the ultimate lizard-like monster, but recent discoveries have added a new layer to this ancient giant’s story — literally.

Feathers on dinosaurs have become a hot topic in paleontology, ever since the realization that birds are not just distant relatives of dinosaurs but their direct descendants. And that connection led to one big question: If birds evolved from dinosaurs, did any of the dinosaurs sport feathers, too?

The short answer is yes, and it’s possible that even T. rex had a bit of fluff.

Did All Dinosaurs Go Extinct 66 Million Years Ago?

The answer depends on how we define “extinction” and “dinosaurs.”

But before we jump to conclusions, let’s back up a bit. Where does all this information come from, and how did paleontologists reach these conclusions?

The idea of feathered dinosaurs first came from an unexpected place: a fossil discovered in Germany in 1861. This fossil, named Archaeopteryx, looked like a bird with its feathers, but it also had some rather un-birdlike features, like a bony tail, claws, and teeth.

It wasn’t until over a century later that scientists started connecting Archaeopteryx to dinosaurs, hinting that maybe dinosaurs had feathers, too. But before we go there, I always love sharing some paleontology folk. So here’s a little kids’ sound dedicated to Archaeopteryx, my favorite dinosaur! Learning is always more fun with animated songs.

But back to being serious about science, it took a lucky find in 1996 to confirm this. In China, paleontologists uncovered a small dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx, complete with a line of fuzz along its back and tail. This discovery was groundbreaking — it was the first solid evidence that non-avian dinosaurs (dinosaurs that are not birds) had feathers.

Suddenly, the idea that dinosaurs, even large ones, might have been fluffier than we thought didn’t seem so far-fetched.

So, where does T. rex fit into this feathered picture? Scientists began to piece together evidence from related dinosaurs. For example, another tyrannosaur found in China, called Yutyrannus, was covered in feather-like filaments. And though Yutyrannus was smaller than T. rex, it wasn’t exactly tiny — this was a sizable predator, yet it still had dinofuzz.

This discovery opened the door to new possibilities. If a large tyrannosaur like Yutyrannus had feathers, could T. rex have had them too? The idea seemed more likely when researchers used a technique called phylogenetic bracketing, a way of making educated guesses about an extinct animal based on its relatives.

Since we know that some tyrannosaurs had feathers, and birds (which are dinosaurs, too) obviously do, it’s not a stretch to think T. rex might have been sporting some fuzz as well.

Now, before you start imagining a fluffy T. rex bouncing through the Cretaceous period like a gigantic Chicken Little, there’s a catch. While it’s possible that T. rex had feathers, we don’t have direct fossil evidence of them. Booh!

Unlike smaller dinosaurs, where fossilized feathers have been found preserved in rock, no feathers have been directly linked to T. rex remains yet. However, that doesn’t mean they didn’t exist. Large animals today, like elephants and rhinos, often have sparse body hair. So, even if T. rex did have feathers, they might have been limited to certain parts of its body, or they might have been more prominent in juveniles.

Feathers weren’t just for flying, after all. Many dinosaurs, including ones that couldn’t fly, had feathers for different reasons. They likely started off as a way to keep warm. That makes sense, right?

Just like modern birds, early feathered dinosaurs probably used their fluff as insulation. In cold climates or cooler periods, having a bit of fuzz could help trap body heat. Remember, we use them as jacket filling.

Feathers were also great for showing off. Some dinosaurs may have used them to signal to each other, just as birds today display their feathers for courtship rituals. One such example is Sinosauropteryx, whose preserved feathers showed bands of color, suggesting that visual communication was important even for dinosaurs.

Other dinosaurs may have used feathers for protection. Fossils of a dinosaur called Citipati were found in a brooding position over its nest, suggesting that it used its feathered arms to shield its eggs. This kind of behavior is similar to what birds do today, providing more clues that dinosaurs weren’t just mindless reptiles but caring parents, too.

Have I blown up your mind enough times already today?

Regarding T. rex, feathers might have been part of its evolutionary toolkit — perhaps for insulation, display, or something else entirely. While it’s unlikely that an adult T. rex was fully covered in feathers like a bird, it’s quite possible that it had some, especially when young or in areas like the neck and back.

In the end, the possibility of a fluffy T. rex reminds us just how dynamic and unpredictable evolution and scientific discoveries can be. What scientists once considered scaly, clumsy, monstrous predators are now being revealed as more complex creatures with feathers, displays, and nurturing behaviors.

Each new fossil discovery adds more pieces to the puzzle, reshaping how we see dinosaurs as a diverse and complex group of organisms.