Did Tyrannosaurus have feathers? This question is one of the most controversial questions because Tyrannosaurus is very popular.
While many of the newer reconstructions of this dinosaur depict it with feathers, the newest one displays a muscular and somewhat "fat" dinosaur with stubby arms and a shortened tail
However, is this really accurate? While we have never seen the real dinosaur, I think that this reconstruction wouldn't make sense physically. The biggest problem is with the tail. The massive head and neck, along with the gigantic body, is only supported by a short tail and two legs? The tail seems to be shortened and I don't think that this would work out as most of the weight is in the body.
So what about this?
The tail is still relatively short and the legs are too small and thin to support its body.
The thing is, we haven't found feather impressions on a Tyrannosaurus fossil at all. We know for one thing that Yutyrannus, a close relative of Tyrannosaurus had feathers but we have no evidence that an even closer relative of Tyrannosaurus, named Tarbosaurus had feathers. Dashpletosaurus, Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus and Tarbosaurus all likely didn't have feathers. No feathers have been found. One of the most likely cases is that Tyrannosaurus had feathers as it was young and shed them. Tyrannosaurus likely did not have feathers as an adult and was scaly.
So, now we have four different possibilities.
1. It was scaly even as a baby.
2. It was feathery even as an adult.
3. It was feathery as a baby and scaly as an adult.
4. It was scaly as a baby and feathery as an adult. This was is unlikely.
My conclusion is that it was feathery as a baby and scaly as an adult.
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