Children's Museum unveils feathered Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture — a rare find in North America

Most people know the Tyrannosaurus rex is for its aggressive reputation, wicked bite and arms that look tiny relative to its massive body. 

What it's not as widely known for is a scalp that sprouted feathers. 

With so many images of the reptilianlike creature burned into the public consciousness, the fluff can be difficult to imagine.

That will become a lot easier thanks to a piece of paleo art at The Children's Museum by famed artists Brian Cooley and Mary Ann Wilson. It's a giant, three-dimensional head of a T. rex with hazel eyes, sharp teeth, scaly snout and a plethora of real white, gray and black feathers. 

And, according to the scientists, the depiction is a rare one in North America.

Scientists have known since the 19th century that birds descended from dinosaurs, said Phil Manning, a paleontologist-in-residence at The Children's Museum. Discoveries of thousands of feathered dinosaurs over the past few decades catapulted paleontologists much further in their understanding of the creatures. 

"It's completely revolutionized the way we view the science of paleontology. More importantly, how we view the animals, how they looked and how they functioned as well," Manning said.

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He called the discoveries a paradigm shift that can take time for the general public to realize. Manning and Victoria Egerton, who are professors at the College of Charleston and the University of Manchester, have spent years studying the chemistry of feathers, how dinosaurs are preserved, processes of fossilization and mummified dinosaurs.

"One of our big questions that we ask with our research is a simple question: 'What color were dinosaurs?'" said Egerton, who also is a paleontologist-in-residence at the museum. "We're working on unlocking that. We're identifying the pigmentation, light versus dark."

In this vein, having Cooley and Wilson create a representation of what paleontologists have discovered is exceedingly important. Manning lauded the artists' work and the way it brings the creature to life for kids — the future generation of scientists. Cooley and Wilson cast the sculpture in resin, painted it by hand and added real feathers that came from an emu.

"There's evidence to show that feathers like these exist in these organisms," Manning said of the sculpture. "How they're arranged on the animal, we're waiting for the perfect fossil still, but as far as I'm concerned, the closest we're going to get to it at the moment is that representation." 

The artistic depiction reveals a window into dinosaurs' daily life. People often associate feathers with flight, but the predatory dinosaurs who sported them — which could include the T. rex and velociraptors — used them in many ways, Egerton and Manning said.

"It could do anything from, 'Hey, I want to look pretty for my girlfriends,'" to attract potential mates, Egerton said. The feathers allowed dinosaurs to maintain a warmer body temperature on a cooler night, and they could cool off on hot days by trapping air pockets, she said. 

The fluff could have camouflaged dinosaurs from prey while they were on the hunt, Manning said. And feathers also could have served as a dump for poisons in the body, much like the human body dumps toxins into its hair, Manning said.

Beyond its usefulness for understanding the past, the research behind the new T. rex head shows how scientists are using the findings to solve imminent problems for the future, too. 

"There is real relevance for dinosaurs in the 21st century," Manning said. "If you want to put some biohazard waste into a landfill site, is it safe? Is it going to stay put? These are really hard questions to answer. ...

"Well, this is where fossils come in. Fossils provide us with hindsight. They allow us to look back in time. What happens when you've buried something in the ground? And we can create much more accurate models as to what happens to the chemistry of an organism as it moves into the sediment."

Call IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at (317) 444-7339. Follow her on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.