Scientists identify new, smaller 'cousin' of 9-ton T. rex

Fox5 DC ^ | May 06 2019 | Amy Lieu

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Dr. Sterling Nesbitt and the partial skeleton of Suskityrannus hazelae,
which he found at age 16 in 1998

The fossil remains of Suskityrannus compared to a lower jaw from
a Tyrannosaurus rex

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Tyrannosaur Family Tree

Tyrannosaur Family Tree

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[faithhopecharity]

FINALLY, a T.Rex pet for apartment dwellers!

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[sparklite2]

If dinosaurs had only stayed around...

[Larry Lucido]

[Pilgrim's Progress]

[faithhopecharity]

ha!

[TigersEye]

90 lbs vs 9 tons

That would certainly be easier and cheaper to keep as a pet! :)

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From the exhibiting museum, The American Museum of Natural History in New York City...

A Feathered Tyrant

Tyrannosaurus rex roamed North America around 66 million years ago. But a small tyrannosaur from the same family lived in the Liaoning forest.

This small cousin of T. rex, Dilong paradoxus, was also a fierce predator. Certain features of Dilong resemble those of T. rex.

Both have large jaws with small, tightly packed front teeth. But this tyrannosaur has some surprising features—most notably, a thin coat of featherlike fibers.

A team of paleontologists led by Xu Xing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied the fibers and thinks these “protofeathers” may have helped keep Dilong warm.

Species: Dilong paradoxus
“dee-LONG pair-uh-DOX-us”

Feathered tyrannosaur with short, thin featherlike fibers on body. Relatively long arms with three-fingered hands

A relative of T. rex sporting feathers might seem surprising, but scientists actually expected to find a feathered tyrannosaur one day.

Tyrannosaurs are classified as advanced theropods (theropods are two-legged, meat-eating dinosaurs).

Scientists have found simple feathers on a wide range of advanced theropods, suggesting that feathers were present throughout the entire group.

Did T. Rex Have Feathers?

A feathered T. rex? Probably so—at least when the animals were young.

Paleontologists think feathers may have first evolved to keep dinosaurs warm.

But while a young T. rex probably had a thin coat of downy feathers, an adult T. rex would not have needed feathers to stay warm.

Large warm-blooded animals—like T. rex or modern elephants—generate a great deal of body heat so they usually don’t need hair or feathers to keep warm.

This is probably why elephants, which are mammals, don’t have much hair.

Feathers or “Fuzz”?

The flying reptiles known as pterosaurs are only distantly related to dinosaurs.

Pterosaurs did not have feathers but some were covered in thin fibers sometimes described as “fuzz.”

The first stages in the evolution of feathers could have taken place in a species that was the ancestor of pterosaurs and dinosaurs.

https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dinosaurs-ancient-fossils-new-discoveries/liaoning-diorama/a-feathered-tyrant

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Related...

I believe these are other dinosaur species, not the feathered T-rex referred to above.

A 99-million-year-old piece of amber with a feathered dinosaur tail trapped inside.CreditCreditRyan
McKellar/Royal Saskatchewan Museum (source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/science/dinosaur-feathers-amber.html)

[Zhang Fei]

You wanna bet it tasted just like chicken?

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[T. rex kinship with chickens confirmed. Tyrannosaurus rex, meet the chicken – your third cousin more than 100 million years removed. A new family tree based on protein sequences recovered from dinosaur fossils firms up the dinosaur’s avian lineage.]

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[GingisK]

t-rex?

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A supposed cousin of T-rex.

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You wanna bet it tasted just like chicken?

[Zhang Fei]

LOL. That claw is a nice touch.