Dilong the Feathered Tyrannosaur

Dilong 

Dilong paradoxus was an early Tyrannosaur.  It was the ancestor of the more well known Tyrannosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex.  Dilong was a small dinosaur.  It was only about 6 1/2 feet or about 2 meters long and weighed around 24 lbs.  That is a mass of about 11 kg.  Dilong was only about 3 feet or about a meter tall.  There were other large Theropods at the time that had that top of the food chain niche.  The presence of the larger carnivores kept Dilong from evolving into a larger form earlier on.  Dilong was from the Jurassic Period while T. rex was from the later period called Cretaceous.  

Dilong was found in China and the name means Emperor Dragon.  It had a crest or two crests on the top of its skull.  Protofeathers. . . not flying feathers but feathers that acted and looked like fur were found as part of the fossilized animal.  This evidence of feathers on an early Tyrannosaur bodes well for the idea that one day we will discover proof that T. rex had feathers as well.  If the ancestor has the trait that is evidence that the descendant may have the trait as well.  

Of course Dilong paradoxus still had grasping claws.  It had three claws, not the two claws per hand on the much later Tyrannosaurus rex.  Dilong's teeth were sharp teeth for slashing prey.  Its relative T. rex would evolve bone crushing banana shaped teeth millions of years later.  Of course T. rex was much larger than Dilong.  T. rex was around 40 feet long and weighed somewhere between 18,000 and 15,000 lbs.  That is between 6,100 and 8.164 kg.  

Both the drawings on today's entry in the blog were made in part from photos of the dinosaur's skull.  

NOTE:  The below drawing is from an older post so it is found further up the lists of printable drawings.  The top drawing, of Dilong, is at the bottom of the lists.  You can find these under the "All Printables" button or the "Paleontology" button.   The buttons are at the top of the blog.  

T. rex drawing from Skull