The earliest known relative of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex had primitive feathers, probably to help it keep warm. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing found the remains of the early tyrannosauroid which roamed the earth between 139 and 128 million years ago, in western Liaoning, China, an area rich in fossil remains. "This provides the first direct fossil evidence that tyrannosauroids had protofeathers," Xing Xu, one of the scientists, said in a report in the science journal Nature. The primitive feathers were found on the remains of a dinosaur called Dilong paradoxus, which was about 1.5 yards...
