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Gorgosaurus

Gorgosaurus
Image by Mike Chung (Redpath Museum).

For many years, the name Albertosaurus referred to a large number of tyrannosaurids. We know that this specimen is in fact a Gorgosaurus, a species that lived about five million years before Albertosaurus.

Species: Gorgosaurus libratus
Family: Tyrannosauridae
Group: Theropoda
Name means: Fierce Lizard
Adult Size: 8 metres long (26 ft)

Size comparison of the gorgosaurus
Source: Matt Martyniuk. Accessed at the Wikipedia Commons. License terms.

Weight: 1000 kg (1 tonne)
Age at death: Teenager, only about 70% full-grown adult size.
Lived during: Late Cretaceous (74 million years ago)
Diet: Meat

Known distribution: Southern Alberta and parts of Montana

Gorgosaurus, known distribution, Redpath Museum
Image credit: Bruno Paul Stenson (Redpath Museum)


Behaviour: This group of dinosaurs probably lived and hunted in packs
Discovery: Found in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, by Levi Sternberg in 1920. The original fossil bones are at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Other info: In comparison to the related Tyrannosaurus rex, the Gorgosaurus was 2/3 smaller but probably ran faster and had a few more teeth. The two small forearms had two clawed digits or fingers. The teeth had serrated edges like a steak knife for sawing flesh.

Gorgosaurus, broken leg, Redpath Museum

Image credit: Adrian Bobb (Redpath Museum)

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