Theropod dinosaur — Gorgosaurus libratus

Geologic period: Late Cretaceous — Campanian

Age: Late Cretaceous, Campanian.

Feeding: Carnivorous.

Locomotion: Bipedal terrestrial locomotion.

Body plan: Large bipedal tyrannosaurid with a deep skull, powerful hind limbs and reduced two-fingered forelimbs.

Evidence: Skull and tooth anatomy are direct fossil evidence. Hunting strategies remain reconstructed.

Why it matters: Gorgosaurus shows that sophisticated tyrannosaurid predators were already established millions of years before T. rex.

Plain Language Identity: A large Campanian tyrannosaurid predator closely related to later Tyrannosaurus.

What You Are Looking At: A fossil skull of Gorgosaurus libratus.

Defense Or Attack: Large jaws and robust teeth were its primary prey-capture system.

Ecosystem: Late Cretaceous western North American terrestrial ecosystems.

Formation: Dinosaur Park Formation for documented Smithsonian material.

Find Location: Alberta, Canada.

Preservation: Original fossil skull.

Open Questions: Do not turn Gorgosaurus into a smaller T. rex clone; it belongs to a distinct tyrannosaurid genus.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/nmnhpaleobiology_3451251

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; comparative chronology retained; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Gorgosaurus libratus

Evidence / representation: comparative_exact_taxon_skull_visual

comparative_exact_taxon_skull_visual

Cretaceous Worlds: Dinosaurs at Their Most Diverse.

Media license: CC0

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en