Albertosaurus

dinosaur · predator · Late Cretaceous · Alberta

Giant predator. Albertosaurus was a huge tyrannosaurid dinosaur, meaning it belonged to the same family as the famous T-rex, though it lived earlier and was a bit smaller.

Named after Alberta. The dinosaur is named after Alberta, Canada, where fossils of its type species were first found and studied by scientists.

71 million years old. Albertosaurus roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous period, specifically between about 71 million years ago, long before dinosaurs went extinct.

Scientist disagreements. Experts still debate exactly which fossils belong to Albertosaurus versus related dinosaurs like Gorgosaurus, so we may not know the complete picture yet.

Found in two countries. While most Albertosaurus fossils come from Alberta, Canada, scientists have also discovered fossils of a related species in Mexico, showing these dinosaurs lived across a huge area.