NAME

Meaning - Gorgosaurus means “Gorgon lizard” - Gorgons were three mythical Greek monsters (sisters) with snakes for hair - they turned people who looked at them to stone.
Pronounced - GOR-go-SAWR-us
Named By - Lawrence Lambe
When Named - 1914
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater) - it ate plant-eating dinosaurs like Lambeosaurus, Centrosaurus, Corythosaurus, Edmontonia, Euoplocephalus, and Styracosaurus
SIZE

Length - 26-30 ft (8-9 m) long
Height - 9.3 ft (2.8 m) tall at the hips
Weight - 2.5 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Late Cretaceous period, about 76 to 68 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Alberta, Canada, North America.
FOSSILS

Over 20 partial skeletons have been found.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods with three fingers
  • Infraorder Coelurosauria - lightly-built fast-running predators with hollow bones and large brains
  • Family Tyrannosauroidea
  • Genus Gorgosaurus
  • Species G. libratus (type species named by Lambe)
INTERESTING FACTS

Gorgosaurus was a tyrannosaur - it was closely related to T. rex and Albertosaurus. Gorgosaurus, like T. rex, had huge jaws with large, sharp, cone-shaped teeth, powerful legs, tiny arms and two-fingered hands.