'Holt' Gorgosaurus
Some families go to the beach or an amusement park for a summer vacation. The Linsters—Cliff, Sandy, and their seven children—were a family of amateur paleontologists who hunted dinosaurs on their summer vacations. They found this Gorgosaurus, now nicknamed “Holt,” in 1997 in Teton County, Montana.
A Children’s Museum blog post explains what both scientists and museum visitors can learn from Holt. “We can tell by the injuries found on The Children’s Museum’s gorgosaur that she lived a very rough life. Her injuries included broken bones, bad teeth, and a brain tumor! The gorgosaur’s brain tumor may be the first one ever discovered in a dinosaur. It may have contributed to the gorgosaur’s other injuries and may even have caused her death. Almost all the fossilized teeth of the gorgosaur are intact and attached to her jaw, but she had a bad infection in her mouth that caused her to lose some teeth. Because of all her injuries, scientists believe this gorgosaur walked with pain and most likely had help from others in her pack to survive.”