Gorgosaurus
Name	Gorgosaurus
Order	Saurischia
Suborder	Theropoda
Class	Reptilia
Name Translation	Fierce Lizard
Period	Late Cretaceous
Location	North America
Diet	Meat
Length	26 to 30 ft (8 to 9 m) and up to 2.4-3 tonnes

Gorgosaurus (Latin for "fierce lizard") is a genus of carnivorous dinosaur that reached 8 to 9 meters (27 to 30 feet) in length, and weighed 2.5-3 tonnes. It was first described by paleontologist Lawrence Morris Lambe in 1914, and has been found in western Canada and the United States. It lived about 70 million years ago in the late Cretaceous period.

Over 20 Gorgosaurus skeletons have been recovered, making it the most well-represented tyrannosaurid in the fossil record. Gene

rally

similar to Tyrannosaurus and most other large tyrannosaurids (such as Daspletosaurus, and Albertosaurus), Gorgosaurus can be described as having a massive head, large, curved teeth, tiny two-fingered front limbs, and powerful legs. Compared to the other tyrannosaurids, Gorgosaurus is most similar to its very close relative Albertosaurus. Although it has been suggested that Gorgosaurus was a scavenger, its co-existence with the similarly sized, but more robust tyrannosaurid Daspletosaurus casts doubt on this theory. Another hypothesis proposes that Gorgosaurus, which was rather lean for a tyrannosaurid, actively hunted fleet-footed animals such as duckbills and ornithomimids ("ostrich-mimic" dinosaurs). Accor

ding to this proposition, the more troublesome ceratopsians and ankylosaurians (horned and heavily armoured dinosaurs) would have been left to Daspletosaurus. An apex predator, it was at the top of the food chain.

For years, the species Gorgosaurus libratus (the only species of Gorgosaurus currently recognized) was assigned to the Albertosaurus genus. However, recent work done by paleontologists suggest that enough differences exist between G. libratus and the other Albertosaurus species, to justify the original genus name of Gorgosaurus.

In Popluar CultureEdit

Gorgosaurus had a large role in the movie March of the Dinosaurs, where it was show to be "king of the North". It

stalked a herd of Edmontosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus and an Edmontonia and bullied around a Troodon pack. It was finally killed when the Edmontonia hit it in the leg with its tail and crippling it, causing it to starve to death.