Gorgosaurus libratus GOR-go-SOR-us
"Fierce lizard"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Gorgosaurus 9 m (29.5 ft) long
6 people holding hands
- Length
- 9 m (29.5 ft) — About 9 m long, ~2.5 tonnes — very similar to Albertosaurus.
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (77–75 Mya)
- Place
- North America · Alberta, Canada · Montana
- Food
- Carnivore — Hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and ankylosaurs — a generalist predator.
Gorgosaurus is one of the best-known tyrannosaurs because so many complete skeletons have been found. It lived a few million years before Albertosaurus in nearly the same place, and the two look so similar that scientists sometimes lump them together. A 2009 skeleton of a juvenile included gut contents — the last meal of its life, made up of the legs of two young birdlike theropods.
What we know
- More than 20 skeletons known, ranging from juveniles to large adults.
- Same general body plan as Albertosaurus: long legs, large head, two-fingered hands.
- A juvenile preserved with its last meal in its gut — bones of two young oviraptorosaurs.
- Lived in the Dinosaur Park Formation alongside Centrosaurus, Corythosaurus, Daspletosaurus.
What we guess
- Whether Gorgosaurus and Albertosaurus are different enough to be separate genera.
- How it shared territory with Daspletosaurus — another tyrannosaur in the same formation.
- Whether the species changed hunting style as they grew, like some living predators do.