A fossil has revealed that a juvenile Gorgosaurus fed on smaller bird-like dinosaurs, a diet that's different from their adult counterparts, Alberta scientists say. (Julius Csotonyi/Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology)
CBC Radio's Quicks & Quarks podcast has a piece about tyrannosaurs. A juvenile Gorgosaurus, Gorgosaurus libratus, from Alberta, who lived about 75 million years ago, has the remains of its last meal preserved in its abdomen. The research by Royal Tyrrell Museum researchers François Therrien and Darla Zelenitsky was published in the journal Science Advances.
Researchers in Alberta uncovered a rare 75 million-year-old fossil of a young dinosaur with bony remains of its last meal preserved inside its abdomen. Royal Tyrrell Museum researchers François Therrien and Darla Zelenitsky say the fossil belongs to the species Gorgosaurus libratus, a relative of the famous apex predator Tyrannosaurus rex. The prey the young dinosaur consumed was much smaller than what the adult Gorgosaurus ate, which suggests that grown-ups and juveniles didn't compete for the same resources. These findings, published in Science Advances, help explain the success of tyrannosaurids during the Late Cretaceous era.
