Dilong

What it was like

Dilong was a small, early relative of Tyrannosaurus. It ran on two legs, had three-fingered hands and a long, low skull, and was covered in simple, hair-like feathers.

Those feathers were the first clear sign that the tyrannosaur family had feathers, at least in its smaller, earlier members.

Its world

It lived about 126 to 120 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now China. Its fossils come from the Yixian Formation, a land of lakes and forests where ash from volcanoes preserved animals in fine detail.

It shared that world with Yutyrannus, Sinosauropteryx, Psittacosaurus and Caudipteryx.

How it was found

Xu and colleagues named Dilong in 2004. Two finds are known.