RE: Feathers for T-rex?

["Sticht, Aaron" <Aaron.Sticht@qwest.com>]

I think it is very plausible that at least the young t-rexes had some
feathery coating, and possibly even ornamental feathers adorning the heads
of the adult rexes.  If we look at the theropods as being as closely related
to birds as it is now believed we do, it would stand to reason that some
sort of feathers existed in this branch of the dinosaurs.  I have read in
some texts that Compsognathus was a direct ancestor of the Tyrannosauridae.
If I am incorrect in this please correct me.  But as there has been a lot of
discussion about feathers being evolved as a form of insulation, it would be
possible for a small Tyrannosaur ancestor to have developed feathers to keep
warm and over the course of time as the creature evolved into larger animals
some of the needs for feathers to keep an animal warm would slowly cause
feathers to become strictly for ornamental or a vestigal remnant from its
earlier ancestors.  I would also believe that at least the young having
feathers would be reasonable if you were to consider many animals living
today including elephants have a fairly good covering of hair when they are
young but usually lose the majority of their coverings by the time they
reach near adult age.  Most birds have a different kind of feathers for
their time they spend in the nest and it is only when they reach an age
where they develop flight feathers that their primary insulating plumage is
lost. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Lovejoy [mailto:michael@palaeoproductions.fsnet.co.uk] 
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 1:55 PM
To: DML
Subject: Feathers for T-rex?

A few months back, we had a thread on the possibility of feathered T-rexes.
Most people shot this idea down, but in a recent (unrelated) post, Doc Holtz
wrote: "...compsognathids, oviraptorosaur, therizinosauroids, and
dromaeosaurids...from China...share either simple "protofeathers" or
honest-to-goodness feathers...the simplest explanation is that their common
ancestor shared the derived trait of "feathers"...There remains the
possibility that large coelurosaurs did indeed lose this feature, but one
would need to find positive evidence to the contrary to
sustain this."
Okay, so maybe I'm reading to much into this, but surely this means we must
assume T-rex was at least partially feathered until we find evidence to the
contrary? Anyone got an opinion?
Regards,
Michael Lovejoy
PalaeoProductions
http://www.palaeoproductions.fsnet.co.uk
Michael@palaeoproductions.fsnet.co.uk