Discovery

The first known Albertosaurus fossil consisted of a partial skull, discovered in June 1884, in the Red Deer River, Alberta, by the Geological Survey of Canada. A second skull was discovered in 1889. The team, not equipped with the proper tools to manage such a find, damaged the skull during its recovery.In 1892, the two skulls were assigned incorrectly to the existing species now known as Dryptosaurus. The specimens were determined to differ too greatly from Dryptosaurus and were given a new name, Albertosaurus, in 1904.In August 1910, a large group of Albertosaurus was partially excavated at another nearby quarry by American paleontologist Barnum Brown. Paleontologist Phil Currie resumed excavations in 1997 after he relocated the bone bed from photographic evidence.The number of individuals can be calculated from the number of unique skeletal elements found - if this estimate is used, the bone bed contained 12 unique Albertosaurus specimens. If instead we count skeletal elements that occur multiple times in one animal, but differ in size, there could be as many as 26. The large number of unique individuals found could be evidence of pack behavior, or the animals may have been brought together by a drought or flood.