In 2012, three specimens of a newly discovered species was found that would rock the paleontological world. These skeletons not only were a new species, but opened up a whole new world on what dinosaurs could look like. When scientists first found Yutyrannus Huali, it was an insane find.
At the time, it was believed that only smaller dinosaurs could sport feathers, but when a fairly large tyrannosaur had protofeathers it was revolutionary. Yutyrannus was a whole nine meters long, as well as an estimated 1.5 tons. This meant that larger dinosaurs could have had feathers too, which let us understand dinosaurs better and what they looked like. At the time, the largest known feathered dinosaurs were over 40 times smaller than yutyrannus.
As I mentioned above, yutyrannus was in the clade tyrannosauroidea, which makes it a relative of the mighty tyrannosaurus rex (hence the name). Another fascinating thing about yutyrannus was that it lived in the early cretaceous, before the tyrannosaurs would truly rule. At that time most tyrannosaurs were pretty small, and most tyrannosaurs only started to become yutyrannus size in the late cretaceous. However, yutyrannus had many differences from later tyrannosaurs, such as its longer arms and having three fingers. Yutyrannus skulls were made to slice flesh rather than to crush bone, like its later relatives, and its legs were shaped in a way that supports a bit more speed. When the yutyrannus was found, feather impressions were everywhere, including its tail, hips, arms, near the feet, and neck. Using this information, it can be guessed that yutyrannus had feathers on most of its body, as it would be more likely that it had a full coat of feathers than a few large clumps.
But what were these feathers for? The feathers were too short, and yutyrannus didn't have the build for flying. There are two different explanations on what they were for. One was for warmth, which would have helped yutyrannus stay insulated. Another is that it was used for mating. Modern birds have extremely colorful feathers to attract mates, and yutyrannus could have done that as well. It could also have been a mix of both.
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