T. rex has another fine, feathered cousin
New dinosaur species was generously plumed
From 125-million-year-old rocks, scientists have unearthed the remains of a new species of extensively feathered dinosaurs that weighed up to about 1,400 kilograms and stretched 9 meters from nose to tail.
The fossils, from one adult and two younger dinos, were unearthed in northeast China, a region known for keeping soft tissues of ancient animals well-preserved. The discovery is described April 5 in Nature.
“It changes the way we really look at things — from these big, scaly, Jurassic Park animals to ones that were big and fluffy,” says Mark Norell, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.