Quote from: OmegaZilla on Mar 21, 2013, 12:55:53 PM
You also have to take into account the hand position in the theropods. Completely agreed otherwise -- though I have never seen the actual report of the Tyrannosaurus skin impressions! It is a very interesting subject and I would like to read on it.
By the way, the paleontological injections in this thread with you are always fun.
Yup, good point on the hand positions, though they may have kept that physiology even if it no longer became necessary for anchoring feathers. Another point about the larger coelurosaurs is that they may have been too heavy to sit on top of their eggs, so as well as not requiring feathers for insulation, they also wouldn't need the long arm feathers for covering a nest during incubation. There's a bit of research to suggest the arm feathers may have helped keep them steady when standing on struggling prey, but that is somewhat tenuous right now.
I think I read about Tyrannosaurus skin impressions in Gregory Paul's book, but there's a
reference on Wikipedia: 'skin impressions from a Tyrannosaurus rex specimen nicknamed "Wyrex" (BHI 6230) discovered in Montana in 2002, as well as other large tyrannosaurid specimens, show mosaic scales.'
There's always the possibility that other, unpreserved parts of the body may have been feathered, but for an animal of Tyrannosaurus' size (and the climate it inhabited) I think they'd strictly be for display.
And loving the discussions here, too.
