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Introduction:

Gorgonops (literally "Gorgon' face") is the name given to an extinct genus of therapsid which lived about 255-250 million years ago, during the latest part of the Permian Period.

It was a typical representative of the Gorgonopsia, the dominant predators of their day, which in the largest forms grew to over four meters long and had evolved canine teeth, as well as other traits associated with its mammalian descendants, particularly timberwolves.

Physical Features/ Dino Profile: (Size and weight, pelvic structure, locomotion, brain, tail, etc.)

Gorgonops itself was a medium to large-sized representative of the group, with a skull length of twenty to thirty-five centimeters, depending on the species. It ranged from 2 to 2,5 meters long from nose to tail.

Lifestyle & Behavior: (Behavioral patterns, hunting style, offense/ defense, herds and packs, etc.)

Gorgonops had straight, long legs that held them up and gave them speed. They had the first "saber-teeth", 12 centimeter long canines. They had strong muscles and bones, making Gorgonops a powerful predator. (direct from wikipedia)

Factoids & Trivia: (era lived, dietary type, hot or cold blooded, life span, co-existance with other dinos, etc.)

Arguments have even been made for synapsids of its time being endothermic, though no strong evidence exists either way.

Nearly all of the gorgonopsids, who were mostly native to Siberia, are believed to have died out in the Permian extinction, which was a massive drought.

Paleontology: (history and discovery, fossils, latest news, etc.)

The holotype of the type species, Gorgonops torvus, was in 1876 one of the first therapsids described, by Richard Owen, who also coined the name "Dinosauria" on the basis of the first known dinosaur fossils.

It was also used as the type for which Richard Lydekker described the family in 1890.

Five years later, in 1895, Harry Govier Seeley used this genus to establish the group as a whole.

In later years, a large number of further species and genera were designated, but some of these turned out to be synonyms.