Unearthing America’s Ancient Past: The Discovery of a 230-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Species!

Paleontologists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a new species of dinosaur that is altering theories regarding the emergence and distribution of these ancient beings across the planet over 200 million years ago. The revelation of Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, the earliest known dinosaur from Laurasia, implies that dinosaurs might have existed in the northern hemisphere significantly sooner than was previously believed.

For many years, researchers held the belief that dinosaurs initially appeared in Gondwana—the southern part of the ancient supercontinent Pangea—before moving northward to Laurasia. However, the remains of Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, dated to be around 230 million years old, contradict this perspective. Excavated in 2013 in what is now Wyoming, which was near the equator on Laurasia during that period, the fossils suggest that dinosaurs coexisted in the northern hemisphere alongside their southern relatives.

“We possess, with these fossils, the oldest equatorial dinosaur known in the world—it’s also North America’s earliest dinosaur,” stated Dave Lovelace, a research scientist at the University of Wisconsin Geology Museum, who co-directed the project with graduate student Aaron Kufner.

Unearthed from a rock layer called the Popo Agie Formation, the remains of Ahvaytum bahndooiveche required years of scrutiny. Although the team lacks a complete specimen—a typical obstacle with early dinosaur fossils—they located enough bones, especially limb fragments, to classify it as a dinosaur and likely an early ancestor of the sauropods.

Sauropods were gigantic herbivores that included some of the largest terrestrial creatures in history, such as the titanosaurs. Conversely, Ahvaytum bahndooiveche existed millions of years prior and was considerably smaller. “It was roughly the dimensions of a chicken but had a very long tail,” Lovelace noted. “We often envision dinosaurs as these colossal behemoths, but their origins were quite different.” The specimen stood just over one foot tall and reached about three feet in length from head to tail.

The period during which Ahvaytum bahndooiveche lived corresponds with or occurs shortly after the Carnian pluvial episode, a time of substantial climatic alteration from around 234 to 232 million years ago. This era experienced a transition to significantly wetter conditions, converting dry deserts into friendlier habitats and potentially catalyzing an early diversification of dinosaur varieties.

Lovelace and his team implemented high-precision radioisotopic dating methods to ascertain the age of the rocks containing the fossils, verifying the dinosaur’s timeline. They also identified an early dinosaur-like footprint in slightly older rock layers, suggesting that dinosaurs or closely related species inhabited the area even earlier.

“We are kind of piecing together some of this narrative, and we are demonstrating that the concepts we’ve maintained for so long—concepts informed by the incomplete evidence we possessed—were not entirely accurate,” Lovelace commented. “Now, we have this piece of evidence which indicates dinosaurs were present in the northern hemisphere much earlier than previously assumed.”

Further enhancing the significance of the finding, Ahvaytum bahndooiveche is the first dinosaur species to receive a name in the language of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, whose ancestral territory includes the location where the fossils were uncovered. Tribal elders and middle school students from the Eastern Shoshone played a pivotal role in the naming process.

“The lasting partnership formed between Dr. Lovelace, his research team, our school district, and our community is one of the most crucial outcomes from the discovery and naming of Ahvaytum bahndooiveche,” remarked Amanda LeClair-Diaz, a co-author of the study and a member of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes. She facilitated the naming initiative alongside students and tribal elders.

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“Traditionally, the research approach in communities, particularly Indigenous communities, has been unilateral, benefiting the researchers entirely while leaving the communities out,” LeClair-Diaz elaborated. “The collaboration we have engaged in with Dr. Lovelace disrupts this pattern and fosters an opportunity for reciprocity within the research framework.”

The article was composed with the aid of a news analysis system.