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MoriceMonkey93 — Tyrannosaurus rex - updated version
#paleoart #tyrannosaurus #feathereddinosaur
Published: 2014-10-21 14:32:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 32292; Favourites: 224; Downloads: 94
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Description
In this piece I tried to come up with an accurate yet reasonable design for our beloved Edmontosaurus hunter (yes, the T.rex is feathered!).The specimen in case is Sue, the very well known Tyrannosaurus, which has been reconstructed basing on both the skeletal by Scott Hartman, and the skeleton itself (I tried to stay as accurate as possible here, to get the anatomical stance right).
Now, I have to clarify a few things about the concept:
As you can see it displays cassowary-like black feathers, that surely did a great job in helping the animal keep its body temperature. The layers of feathers themselves aren't that long, as they last for just about 30cm from the animal's bulkiness. I decided not to give the head and a portion of the neck feathers, but rather keep them naked, as this would help the dinosaurs during hunting and eating process, allowing to keep itself relatively clean (you can witness this in some vulture species nowadays).
About the Tyrannosaurus feathers matter, check this: dinogoss.blogspot.ro/2014/07/p…
Head and skin: yet again, I used birds such as turkeys and cassowary's for the neck and some of the head's skin (not to forget the classical bird feet). I also gave it some facial and neck features such as lips, cheeks (where the line of the mouth ends), and a wattle. Now, on the wattle, we do have some sort of paleontologic reference, as there has been found a preserved wattle-like structure on the Asian T.rex cousin, Tarbosaurus. However, when it comes to things like lips and cheeks, we can just be speculative here, as we don't have clear evidence supporting them. I just feel like the addition of these two adds a feeling of natural, a feeling of seeing an animal that could have existed (and here I mean just as I showed above).
Having said that, I truly hope you will enjoy this artwork, and of course, feel free to post your thoughts and feelings about it, but also criticism if needed.
Maurizio.
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Comments: 138
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not anymore,we are now in the era of the fat t-rex,the feathered t-rex is dead for now
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this is gorgeous! however, regarding the featherless head - some vultures have bald heads as thermoregulation, and has nothing to do with diet. there are vultures with head feathers too, i.e. the bearded vulture. it would be more reasonable for the rex to have at least a partially feathered head, but bald tail, seeing as how we have impressions from somewhere on the tail of bald skin. though that could also just be preservation of the skin but not any feathers attached.
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Amazing!
I saw your picture featured in one of TREY the Explainers yt channels videos and
made an own version too
You did a great job !
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Good work, but the tail is noticeably too thin: img13.deviantart.net/92b4/i/20…
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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.
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Feathers are not hair, they keep an animal's total temperature regulated. Also, herbivorous animals generally tend to generate more heat, so Tyrannosaurus, though larger than an elephant would generate the same as- if not less heat than an elephant. And no, there would be no reason for the feathers to fall off, that's a baseless claim.
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I like the idea of them having so much fluff that you can't see their tiny appendages
like a cassowary's, it looks really creepy
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Pffffft XD
It'll be the biggest thanksgiving party ever if this was real XD
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This is by far one of the worse depictions, in regards to trying to supposedly attempting to be accurate
First off, a theropod (especially a tyrannosaurid) of that size would likely never have such a thick coat of feathers. This is because an animal of that size would actually have major issues lowering its body temperature. Larger bodies tend to be hotter and dissipate body heat significantly less than smaller organisms.
All of which is especially true when considering that all dinosaurs were likely warm-blooded.
The only way for it to be possible for such a massive theropod to have such a thick coat of feathers is if it lived in an ice-age; not even the winters were likely cold enough. But even if so, why would the head be naked? If anything based on fossil evidence such as Yutyrannus huali (a large tyrannosauroid) had small feathers on its head and face.
At the very best, tyrannosaurus had very small feathers on its body (including head and face). Though there is a small possibility that tyrannosaurus had larger feathers likely only being on its head, back and tail for display; if even that.
Also, based on modern predatory birds, tyrannosaurus should be in a more complex patterned color scheme.
__________________________
Based on factual data, the very best and actually scientifically accurate depiction of a feathered tyrannosaurus is that by Davide Bonadonna:
www.comune.milano.it/dseserver…
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For once one with a brain writes something good.
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It had been while, but I had revised my opinions on how much feathering tyrannosaurus had. Read my comment around the top of the comments in this link:
fredthedinosaurman.deviantart.…
It is my opinions based on a mountain of evidence.
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You have nice points and all what you said is true. But you forgot the fact that teeth covering lips are also innacurate on a T. rex.
PS: can you believe that many people (even on this site) use yutyrannus as an excuse to put a thick coat of feathers on T. rex (even if evolution works trough random mutations that may make the descendants look way differently than their ancestors)?
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It had been while, but I had revised my opinions on how much feathering tyrannosaurus had. Read my comment around the top of the comments in this link:
fredthedinosaurman.deviantart.…
It is my opinions based on a mountain of evidence.
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What do you think about lizard like lips on T. rex?
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I read it. Well, I have heard that yutyrannus did not live on a colder region, but it ws lighly built and was about 1.5 tonnes.
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If you think this is bad you should seen how tyrannosaurus mostly depicted as like a naked chicken ! (ie. Jurassic park version; most people accep that version as true)
In compassion; this version is definitely much more better
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It had been while, but I had revised my opinions on how much feathering tyrannosaurus had. Read my comment around the top of the comments in this link:
fredthedinosaurman.deviantart.…
It is my opinions based on a mountain of evidence.
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Oh; understood; a main body with a bit (normal) plumage; albeit its feathers were short and fur like; a bit bear-ish
I'm (very) confused about that particular subject; especially after seeing yutyranmus had fur even on is mouth\beak
:
img-cdn.ntv.com.tr/gorsel/turk…
www.nature.com/nature/journal/…
www.xinglida.net/Yutyrannus/yu…
It was a big tyrannosauroid; and full of fur-plumage... It's odd very odd :\
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Before saying anything else I must enforce that this is an old drawing, that from its start was meant to be speculative, and not so much of a hard fact piece. For example, I acknowledge there are several things wrong with this art from a paleontological point of view, and I don't want to prove its validity. Thus my understanding of paleontology and these animals got richer and better since this was painted and posted.
Now, onto your points: "First off, ... head and face." Yutyrannus was a big theropod, averaging at 9m in lenght, as opposed to Tyrannosaurus's 12. Also, Hell Creek's climate was pretty similar to that of Yixian's, as in they were both subtropical/temperate regions, none of them having "ice-age" scenarios... yet, Yutyrannus had a reasonably large coat of feathers! And tell you more, there are some large birds today that live in hot climates, particularly deserts and tropical forests (large ratites, for example), even so, they are heavily feathered. Why so? Feathers not only help warming up an animal, but they also have the function to keep it cool, because of their special structure that allows air to ventilate easily. So, in this way, feathers are BENEFICIAL to such a large animal living in a warm climate.
This being said, the naked head was more of an artistic license, the piece being inspired by a cassowary (and I can't really say it was the best choice to be honest, but after all, this is SPECULATIVE art).
"At the very best, tyrannosaurus had very small feathers on its body (including head and face). Though there is a small possibility that tyrannosaurus had larger feathers likely only being on its head, back and tail for display; if even that." Actually, no. That is at the very worst! We know (because of phylogenetic bracketing and the reasons I mentioned above), that T.rex was feathered. How? That we don't know. But it's reasonable if not likely to think, that its feathers were similar to some extent to that of its close relatives or even birds.
"Also, based on modern predatory birds, tyrannosaurus should be in a more complex patterned color scheme." On this I agree on, not the most inspired choice.
Lastly, "Based on factual data, the very best and actually scientifically accurate depiction of a feathered tyrannosaurus is that by Davide Bonadonna". Nope, actually not. Your personal favorite? Yes, that's your opinion. But the "actually scientifically accurate depiction of a feathered tyrannosaurus"? Not a chance. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's inaccurate, or ugly. I like that T.rex too! However, there are so many more depictions out there that are still as accurate, if not more, while looking great and staying in the realm of possibilities set by the evidence we have. As I said, we don't exactly know what T.rex's feathers looked like, so paintings such as the one you showed, this one (even if less likely), upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/i… or even 3D models such as media.indiedb.com/images/games… and oi59.tinypic.com/2rrql1k.jpg are all as accurate.
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It had been while, but I had revised my opinions on how much feathering tyrannosaurus had. Read my comment around the top of the comments in this link:
fredthedinosaurman.deviantart.…
It is my opinions based on a mountain of evidence.
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Feathers (or in the case of mammals, fur) can be used to keep the hot rays of a desert sun. However, I am still not seeing any likely reason to why such a massive animal would have a coat of feathers 'that' thick; likely had a light coat of feathers. I highly doubt the summers or winters were extreme enough for a massive theropod to need to evolve such temperature efficient feathers so thick
DISCLAIMER:
I never even said T. rex itself actually had proven feathers on itself. In fact most T. rex skin impressions show it to be apparently scaly. However, this does not mean it did not have feathers in at least some form due to its ancestry and relatives.
If anything, tyrannosaurus at best likely just had a lighter feathered coat equivalency to that of yutyrannus. This would course mean it evidently had feathers to its head and face as well, but smaller versions.
Image with green coloring to emphasize feathers on fossil
cdn.zmescience.com/wp-content/… z
Davide Bonadonna depiction of a feathered tyrannosaurus was based on the type of feathers found on yutyrannus, but apparently lighter.
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VultureSaurus
But this version is actually the most Accurate Reconstruction of the Tyrannosaur ever
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Decent work, but I think the feathers are a bit longer than would be necessary, even if feathers actually did cover that much of the skin. Also, Dr. Thomas Holtz has proposed (informally) that the forelimbs may have been functional in providing a feathery display structure, so don't be too quick to cover 'em up! Just my thoughts.
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well, considering it's based off of the female T-rex skeleton Sue, I think not having a display is fairly accurate, given extant birds today give the burden of impressing mates to the males.
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I don´t want to sound too critical but... I don´t like this t rex. Yes, I know possibly t rex was feathered, but this animal doesn´t seem natural to me, I can´t picture this animal as a predator or even a scavenger. Is too feathered, like a cassowary, we know from fossils that tyrannosaurids had scaly areas, like the belly, the hands, under the neck and the legs and feet. Also, the lips are difficult because the teeth are too long and the jaws dont´t close hermetically, like in monitor lizards, in that way, you can say that it was a bit closer to a crocodilian . In my opinion, a more natural cassowary-like t rex can be seen in the developing game Saurian, that t rex looks more natural, is fearthered, but it recognizes that t rex had scales and feathers.
However, I´m not all criticism, I totally see good things in this paleoart, I recognize that you did the proper research to this, you combined modern day relatives of the t rex to a purpose helping the animal and actually giving a reason to the structures of the animal. And you also used artistic liberties that actually work for the dinosaur, I just think that it could have been better. Anyway, I´m looking foward to see other t rexes from you in the future
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Actually, in most fossils the teeth have come out of their sockets at least partially during the process of fossilization, and many skulls in museums have the teeth mostly out of the sockets (whether this is because they won't go back in or to make the dinosaur look fiercer, I'm not sure).
Take this photo for instance:
blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/…
If you look closely at the teeth, you'll notice there's a distinct point at which the teeth are no longer curved, and instead are straighter. I believe this is where the roots of the teeth would be and the enamel would end. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, though.)
As far as lips go, crocodilians are highly specialized due to their semi aquatic lifestyle.
farm6.staticflickr.com/5226/56…
They have a lot of texturing on their skulls, which relates to their sensory pores used to detect vibrations in the water as well as the thick skin covering their heads. This sort of texturing isn't present above the teeth of most theropods as far as I know, so it seems to me to be evidence in favor of them having lizard-like lips. (Or, immobile tissue covering the teeth.) Also lips are important to allow the mouth to stay wet. There's also reason to believe that dinosaurs didn't have their mouths "crushed closed" the way so many people depict them. For a better discussion of this issue, see this book:
books.google.com.ph/books?id=I…
Pages 159 to 171. Some pages aren't available, but you can still get the gist of it.
Anyway, I agree with you that I'm not fond of how this reconstruction looks. I'm all for feathered Tyrannosaurus rex,, though, so at least he's helping to bring that idea to light more, though. I personally think it's more likely that some or all of the legs were bare or partially feathered though, considering that it would aid in heat loss.
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Thank you. It is a very speculative concept, it's meant to break the boundaries a bit perhaps. I will try something else in the future too.
Thanks for the feedback!
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Also, I forgot to mention, the detail is really well done, I like the feet and some of the details on the neck.
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If vulture heads supposedly lack filaments in order to keep the heads clean, then what about mammalian carnivores? There's definitely times when they get their heads/faces covered in blood when they're feeding but they're also still covered in fur. How do they get around this issue?
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Not to mention that not all vultures have naked heads and no predatory bird has naked heads, from what I've read (can't find the publication at the moment) their naked heads are for thermogulatory purposes not hygiene.
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Great work! Very cool concept and interesting take on the feathers.
Obviously there is no way to know at this point, but it is unclear if North American Tyrannosaurs had proto feathers in the first place. That said, perhaps the juvenile's did. An early Tyrannosaur species found in China was seen to have a thin coat of light downy proto feathers. I think the image is cool and could be the right idea, but I think there is more evidence to show that no large dinosaur had more sophisticated feathers than proto feathers and the larger dinosaurs had none. Insulation as a need is also suspect when you get to an animal of this size. This big of an animal was much less effected by cold. Unless T-Rex lived in a cold Arctic region, which he did not, it is likely something this big would not even need extra insulation. Perhaps it had downy proto feathers when young and eventually shed them.
The Tyrannosaur from China is an earlier species and was only about 24 feet long. The climate was different then and it lived in an area a little more seasonal. T-Rex lived in hot areas, evidenced by the flora. I could see a T-Rex having a set of display feathers that might have been in a small concentrated area of the tail or head, but I'm personally very dubious of any feather covering this thick. The type of feather looks pretty cool and the right idea, but I even wonder if those are a bit too "feathery" for a protofeather.
Again, that said, who knows, you might be right on and regardless of any of that, it is a great pic, as is your skill.
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T. rex didn't live in hot areas.
specialpapers.gsapubs.org/cont…
While I have my doubts on the reconstruction too feather length is not one of them, he says that they are about 30cm long, the feathers in the smallest Yutyrannus (femur length of 61cm) preserved in the neck and arm area are 16-20cm long so his depiction shows them proportionally much shorter than in Yutyrannus.
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Interesting abstract and it is more recent. Though it's from 2002, check this out for a more detailed look at Hell Creek books.google.com/books?id=cHvc…
In the link to the abstract you provide it says the average mean temp as 11-12 C. That indicates a varied season. Cool to cold winters and warm to hot summers depending on other factors. The abstract does not speak of what time period of the maastritchtian it is referring to. The book I mention above offers that over the course of the maastritchitian the mean temperature rose to 15-19 C. This would be not unlike the Carolinas now and would be less affected by cold seasonal temps. As far as I know the average temp over the course of the Cretaceous hovers at 18 C. Not stifling, but not always seasonal. Obviously there was some variation over time, but the average global temp today is about 4 C BELOW that. So, in general the world was hotter then, than it is now.
I have also read other evidence of palms being found as well as cycads and ferns in the badlands. So on that point I cannot say, these reports are conflicting in that aspect. Due to overlying formations there may indeed be a mixup in classifying flora to the proper time period and the abstract you provide the link to wants to show that. So time will tell as more evidence is studied and clarified. I still am dubious of such a large animal needing a feathery covering as much as this. It was not an ice age in the least so....Maybe T-Rex migrated too?!
Thanks for the info.
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No problem! the abstract I linked is specific to the PDM locality in Montana, at the base of the Hell Creek Formation, it is possible that is not representative of the whole formation but it could also be that the discrepancy with the older book could be due to improved accuracy of techniques (the book cites studies from the 90s) or some other factors like the flora mixup.
I think it's easier to consider great feathery covering if you think about the metabolism of T. rex, the only studies I've seen on the topic (Barrick and Showers, 1994,1999) estimate one similar to an 800kg mammal for a 6t T. rex, therefore heat production too would be comparable, most mammals of that size are not naked, add the fact that the greater surface area of T. rex would have make it loss more heat than a comparable mammal the need for insulation doesn't seem that extraordinary now, methinks.
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I would argue argue against a heavily-feathered, adult Tyrannosaurus. The environment was certainly warm for at least much of the time, and that can be seen from not only palm trees, but the presence of numerous cold-blooded animals. Not only were there lizards, turtles, and snakes, which can survive in a fluctuating climate, there where also large crocodylomorphs and choristoderans. That kind of fauna doesn't tend to show up just anywhere.
As for insulation, I would compare a large tyrannosaur to our large mammals. They aren't uniform in terms of integumentary. Elephants such as the African species, the Asian elephant, and even the extinct Columbian mammoth have/had sparse hair and rely on other means for temperature regulation, such as evaporative cooling. When these animals experience cool temperatures, they either migrate or rely on their mass to keep them warm. On the other hand, elephants like the famous Mammuthus primigenius lived in primarily cool or cold environments and needing the extra help only dense fur can provide. That fur worked in the cold, but if those wooly mammoths were transplanted to warm environments they would have suffered from overheating.
That said, I don't know why people insist that Tyrannosaurus was fluffy just because large tyrannosaurs in other, cooler parts of the world appear to have been fluffy. Feathers don't have to doom an animal to overheating, of course- just look at the relatively large ostriches in Africa- but in Rex's case, I think it's a little extreme to reconstruct it as seen here. I'm willing to compromise; Yutyrannus almost certainly was a shaggy giant, but a big, energy-burning hunter that shared an environment with crocs (aka, a warm one) doesn't strike me as likely.
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It probably comes down to the the Yixian having more extreme seasons, I now too think tht maybe such long feathers in this reconstruction are not very probable but as I mentioned before comparing Tyrannosaurus to large mammals like elephants is inaccurate as the evidence points to them having an intermediate metabolism thus lower heat production, mammals around 1 ton still have a lot of hair, maybe not shaggy but definitely not naked.
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That is a fair point. I suppose we'll only be certain of Rex's integument once we have fossilized remains of it. I understand there are metabolic differences but I do think any feathers it may have possessed would have been relatively modest in size. Anyway, I admire the level of thought you put into your work!
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Yeah, hopefully we get such fossils sooner rather than later and thanks!
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Indeed I would not be at all surprised if a T-Rex was found with a feathery covering, I just doubt this much. But I'm no biologist soooo... I don't know. Thanks for the info.
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I agree that this might be too much.
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Here's another link to a publication from 2014. Towards the end of the preview it has temp stats and mentions the mean temp stretched from 40 degrees north to 70 degrees north. That's a much wider span for seasonal temps than exist today. Winters were a bit shorter than now. books.google.com/books?id=chKD…
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Actually, I find this to be even more terrifying than the outdated, lizard-like T-rex... 
This reconstruction is really cool. It was a cool move to make the T-Rex's hands completely covered in feathers, since the hands were probably fairly useless anyway. c:
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Thank you! It would have certainly be a threatening figure indeed! And whether the arms had a real purpose is still debatable, but it's just likely to think it tucked them in when walking, instead of hanging them out without apparent control.
Thanks once again!
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