Paleoprofile: Yutyrannus

Yutyrannus Huali

For the longest time, paleontologists speculated a large amount of dinosaurs had feathers, most feathered dinosaurs being relatives of raptors and therizinosaurs, leaving everyone's favorite dinosaurs like t-rex and other large dinosaurs scaly and relatively far from feathered...

However, that all changed when at easter time 2012, with the discovery of Yutyrannus Huali. This dramatically increased the size range of dinosaurs with definitive proof of feathers. Yutyrannus Huali, meaning "feathered tyrant from Huali", is part of a genus, a group related to tyrannosaurus rex.  Yutyrannus Huali existed in the early cretaceous, about 124.6Ma, and lived in what's now northeastern China, or Manchuria. Yutyrannus Huali was discovered in 2012, and is known from 3 nearly complete specimen; an adult, adolescent and a juvenile. These fossils were acquired from a fossil dealer, who claimed they were all found in the same quarry, suggesting Yutyrannus Huali lived in small family groups.

  Yutyrannus Huali is currently the largest dinosaur with definitive evidence of feathers. the oldest, and largest specimen being 9m(30ft) in length, and weighing 1,400kg (3,117lbs) 40x heavier than the last record holder, Beipiasaurus inexpectus (41-91kg), which funnily enough, was found in the same area as Yutyrannus Huali. The feathers of our tyrannosaurid are long (approx. 8") and more like a fuzz than the branching feathers of modern birds. these fur-like feathers covered various parts of the body. On one specimen, the feathers covered the pelvis and foot, another specimen had feathers on the tail facing rearwards. The juvenile specimen had 8" feathers on the back of its neck, and 6" on the forearms. The various placements of feathers on the body suggest that feathers covered the whole body of Yutyrannus Huali and probably helped with regulating temperature, given the cold climate of Yutyrannus' home, with an annual temperature of 10°c (50°f), with this evidence, Yutyrannus Huali was the cretaceous equivalent of a Canadian grizzly(Ursus arctos horribilis), living in cold climates and hunting the available prey. Yutyrannus Huali has been reconstructed in two ways; dull and unattractive, only used for warmth, or bright and flamboyant, being used to attract mates. None of these ideas can be confirmed though. The colours and uses of Yutyrannus' feathers are entirely speculative. But most scientists can agree that these feathers are used to keep warm in its chilling cold environment, like the hair on mammals. as said before, Yutyrannus Huali is a tyrannosaur, a close cousin to tyrannosaurus and Gorgosaurus. The presence of feathers on large tyrannosaur ancestors suggests the possibility of feathers being on other tyrannosaurids. However, scaly skin impressions from various late-cretaceous tyrannosaurids (, like Gorgosaurus and Tyrannosaurus) that had scales where Yutyrannus Huali had feathers. Scientists had been lead to conclude t-rex and other late-cretaceous tyrannosaurids had little, if any feathers. Late cretaceous dinosaurs lived in a hotter environment compared to Yutyrannus Huali. Compare Yutyrannus Huali as a Mammoth, and Tyrannosaurus as an elephant, that's probably how the feathers of Yutyrannus Huali are compared to the feathering of T-rex and others. One animal was completely covered in them, while the other having very little (if any at all). Yutyrannus Huali is a very interesting dinosaur as it has transformed how we look at other dinosaurs, unfortunately Yutyrannus Huali has only been featured once in Euro-American Pop culture due to its very recent discovery, only appearing in Jurassic Park Builder as a limited edition dinosaur, featured with both flamboyant and dull feathering, also Yutyrannus is the only dinosaur in Jurrasic Park Builder to feature feathers. Look out for the next Paleoprofile which is about this particular creature: Prionosuchus Plummeri.