Although the descriptor of ”cute”…
Might be stretching it a tad?
Must admit that the T.Rex looks a heck of a lot better with feathers…
Than it does with just scales, which is the way we have always ‘seen’ it in the past.
[via io9] Hard evidence that giant tyrannosaurs were cuter than you ever thought possible
Imagine a tyrannosaur weighing one and a half tons, completely covered in soft, downy plumage. Even its tail is fluffy with feathers. Though we’ve known for a while that many dinosaurs were covered in feathers, a group of Chinese researchers have now provided direct evidence that gigantic, deadly tyrannosaurs might have looked a bit like wuffly birds. Three nearly complete, well-preserved fossils give us a glimpse of tyrannosaurs the way we’ve never seen them before.
The fossils were found in the Liaoning Province in China, in the “Yixian formation,” a package of rocks that is known to date to the early Cretaceous period. Described today in Nature magazine, the creatures are in the subgroup Tyrannosauroidea, which is part of the Therapod family that includes both the iconic T. Rex as well as winged dinosaurs who eventually evolved into today’s birds. The animals that paleontologist Xing Xu and colleagues dubbed Yutyrannus huali would have been quite large for tyrannosaurs (the largest, an adult, likely weighed almost 1.5 tons) and were probably the apex predators of their region.
The researchers write:
Most significantly, Y. huali bears long filamentous feathers, thus providing direct evidence for the presence of extensively feathered gigantic dinosaurs and offering new insights into early feather evolution.
Though not sure this point isn’t moot.
Cause after all…
Once the Titanoboa gets through with it?
New updated cuteness of the T.Rex, or lack thereof, will no longer be a factor.
It’s the ultimate battle of the predators – the monster snake’s unbelievable power against the tyrannosaurus’ giant bite. They lived in different times and places, but if they ever met, who would win?
At least in THIS instance…
Cause a 40 foot long snake?
You have GOT to be kidding me?!
Poor wittle, itty-bitty, precious T.Rex, at least in my opinion…
Stand NO chance.
And now that I can picture it all fluffy and cute?
