Gorgosaurus
Gorgosaurus was a fierce meat-eating dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous. It was an apex predator, hunting big plant-eaters like horned dinosaurs and duck-billed dinosaurs. With dozens of fossils found, it is one of the best-known tyrannosaurs.1
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Fun facts
Gorgosaurus lived about 76.5 to 75 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1
It is known from at least 12 complete or almost complete skulls and several partial skeletons, making it the best-represented tyrannosaurid.21
In 2023, scientists found a juvenile Gorgosaurus with the remains of two Citipes in its stomach, showing it ate smaller prey than adults.1
Gorgosaurus lived in a lush floodplain along the edge of a huge inland sea, with a subtropical climate and seasonal droughts.1
It coexisted with another tyrannosaur, Daspletosaurus, and they may have hunted different prey to avoid competition.1
The first complete Gorgosaurus skeleton was found in 1913 by Charles M. Sternberg in Alberta, Canada.1
Most asked questions about Gorgosaurus
?How big was Gorgosaurus?
About 8 to 9 metres long and weighed 2 to 3 metric tons.3
?What did Gorgosaurus eat?
Adult Gorgosaurus hunted big plant-eaters like horned dinosaurs and duck-billed dinosaurs. A 2023 fossil showed a juvenile ate two small feathered dinosaurs called Citipes.34
?When did Gorgosaurus live?
It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 76.5 to 73 million years ago.3
?Where was Gorgosaurus found?
Fossils have been found in western Canada, especially Alberta, and in the U.S. state of Montana.3
?Was Gorgosaurus bigger than T. rex?
No, Gorgosaurus was smaller than Tyrannosaurus rex. It was about 8 to 9 metres long, while T. rex was much larger.3
?Did Gorgosaurus have feathers?
The sources do not say whether Gorgosaurus had feathers, so it is not known for sure.3
?How fast could Gorgosaurus run?
The sources do not give a speed for Gorgosaurus, so scientists are not certain how fast it could run.3
?Is Gorgosaurus a dinosaur?
Yes, Gorgosaurus is a dinosaur. It is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur.3
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think Gorgosaurus is the same as Albertosaurus.
Truth: Gorgosaurus is a separate genus, though some scientists once thought it was a species of Albertosaurus. Today most recognize it as distinct.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Gorgosaurus
- Named by
- Lambe 19145
- Group
- Tyrannosaurs
- Family / clade
- Tyrannosauridae5
- Classification
- Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea > Tyrannosauridae5
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)5
- Rock formations
- Dinosaur Park, Hell Creek, Judith River5
- Countries
- Canada, USA5
- Fossil records
- 20 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- Gorgosaurus was named by Lawrence Lambe in 1914, based on a nearly complete skeleton found in Alberta, Canada by Charles M. Sternberg in 1913.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating whether some fossils from Montana belong to Gorgosaurus libratus or a new species.1
Where the facts come from
- Gorgosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Gorgosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Gorgosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Exceptionally preserved stomach contents of a young tyrannosaurid reveal an ontogenetic dietary shift in an iconic extinct predator (science.org)
- Gorgosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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Tarbosaurus
Albertosaurus
Daspletosaurus
Alectrosaurus
Dryptosaurus
Triceratops
Velociraptor
Spinosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Parasaurolophus
Pteranodon