Dinosaur restores image as scaly killer after feather flap

PARISTyrannosaurus rex had scales, not feathers, said a study on Wednesday, which rescues the giant lizard's reputation as a fearsome killer with a rough-and-tough hide.

Recent research has claimed to provide evidence for feathers in ancestors of T. rex, and suggested the iconic carnivore may itself have sported birdlike plumage rather than reptilian scales.

Those findings challenged a long-held contention that large-bodied dinos had no feathers, requiring them for neither warmth nor flight.