The fossils, reported in the journal Biology Letters, show that T. rex was instead covered with a tough and scaly hide. Fossilized skin impressions for other tyrannosaurs — including Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus, and Daspletosaurus — reveal that all such dinosaurs lacked feathers, too.

Co-author W. Scott Persons and his colleagues were thrilled when they first saw the T. rex remains, which preserve numerous patches of skin impressions from the dinosaur’s neck, pelvis, and tail.

“Mostly I couldn’t wait to touch it!” Persons said, referring to one such well-preserved fossil. “It is every kid’s dream to pet a T. rex, and — if we are honest — it is also every dinosaur paleontologist’s.”