Fona
Fona was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 99 million years ago in what is now Utah. It was about the size of a large dog and spent much of its time digging and living in underground burrows. Fona's fossils are surprisingly common because it often buried itself before it died.12
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Fun facts
Fona had strong arm and hip muscles, fused pelvic bones, and large hind legs that helped it dig burrows.12
Scientists think Fona may have dug like a springhare: scratching soil loose with its front claws and kicking it away with its back legs.2
Fona's closest relative, Oryctodromeus, also burrowed, and its burrows have been found in Idaho and Montana.1
Fona skeletons are often found complete, lying chest-down with legs spread, as if they died in their burrows.1
At least two Fona skeletons have been found intertwined, which matches the idea that they shared burrows.2
Fona lived in a warm, wet floodplain with many rivers, between a huge inland sea to the east and volcanoes to the west.1
The species name herzogae honors Lisa Herzog, the paleontology operations manager at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.1
Most asked questions about Fona
?How big was Fona?
About the size of a large dog.1
?Did Fona live in burrows?
Yes, scientists think Fona spent at least part of its time underground in burrows, based on its anatomy and fossils.15
?What did Fona eat?
Fona was a plant-eating dinosaur.1
?When did Fona live?
Fona lived about 99 million years ago, during the mid-Cretaceous period.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Fona
- Named by
- Avrahami et al. 20246
- Group
- Beaked plant-eaters
- Family / clade
- Thescelosauridae6
- Classification
- Ornithischia6
- Age of the rocks
- 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)6
- Rock formations
- Cedar Mountain6
- Countries
- USA6
- Fossil records
- 3 in the Paleobiology Database6
- Discovery
- Fona was named in 2024 by paleontologists Haviv Avrahami, Lindsay Zanno, and colleagues from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The first fossils were found starting in 2013 in the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah.13
- Still debated
- Scientists have not yet found the actual burrows of Fona, only the skeletons that suggest it lived underground.1
Where the facts come from
- Life Underground Suited New Dinosaur Fine | NC State News (news.ncsu.edu)
- This dinosaur dug its own grave | National Geographic (nationalgeographic.com)
- PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
- The First ‘Burrowing Dinosaur’ Was Discovered In 2007—And 17 Years Later, We’ve Discovered The Second (forbes.com)
- A new semi-fossorial thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian-age Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah - PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Fona in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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