Dinos with down coats.

• Position: Science - Carnosaurs - Brief Article

Fossils of the earliest known ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex--those mighty predators among dinosaurs--have been found with clear impressions of downy feathers from head to tail. These "protofeathers" are considered precursors to the feathers found on present-day birds. The paleontologists who unearthed the 130-million-year-old fossils in northeastern China announced in October that their find provides the first direct evidence that tyrannosaurs had protofeathers.

This supports a theory that some dinosaurs evolved a feathery covering to help them keep warm. The early tyrannosaur specie is a five-foot-long dinosaur that has been named Dilong paradoxus. According to Mark A. Norell, a scientist from the American Museum of...