FONA herzogae, a newly discovered dinosaur species in Utah’s Cedar Mountains, was named after a Chamorro goddess.
The grandparents of paleontologist Haviv Avrahami, a member of the research team, are from Guam. He gave the dinosaur its genus name, Fona, based on the ancient Chamorro creation myth. Its species name, herzogae, is in honor of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science’s manager of paleontological operations, Lisa Herzog.
According to a press release from North Carolina State University, where Avrahami is studying to earn his doctorate, Fona was a “small, plant-eating dinosaur.”
It had anatomical features that led scientists to believe that the dinosaur could dig and dig underground. He had “large bicep muscles, strong muscle attachment points in the hips and legs, fused bones along the pelvis … and hind limbs that are proportionally larger than the fore limbs.”
Avraham joked that the dinosaur was like a “giant gopher, mixed with a vegetarian crocodile and also like an ostrich.” He said he could walk on his two hind legs.
Avrahami told Variety that “one of the most remarkable things” about Fona is that it was one of only two dinosaurs known to excavate.
She also raised her young underground. Avrahami said predators may have driven the animals to seek shelter there. Fona was a “small” dinosaur — adults could stretch up to seven meters long from tail to snout, Avrahami said, adding that researchers were able to find many of its bones intact. He said their tendency to bury themselves in the ground helped in preservation.
It was this connection to excavation and fossilization that led Avraham to draw a parallel between the creation myth of the dinosaurs and the Chamorro.
The name Fona came from the Chamorro goddess Fo’na, who created the world from the body parts of her divine brother after he died. When her work was done, Fo’na turned into a rock from which all the people emerged.
In Avraham’s scientific paper about Fona herzogae, he said at a location called “Mini Troll,” he and his team discovered two “subadult dinosaurs” that could have been male and female or “perhaps siblings.” These specimens “fell to the ground where they … fossilized,” he said.
It took Avraham years to realize that Fona is her kind.
“I took all the bones of his skeleton and traveled around the world and looked at a group of his relatives and came to understand that these features were unique,” he said.
With his self-described “hunger for everything” related to Pacific culture, Avraham called it an honor to be able to name his first dinosaur after his cultural heritage.
He finalized Fona as her genus name after consulting with cultural practitioners from Guam, including Dietrix Duhaylonsod, Jeremy Cepeda, Ralph Unpingco and Brandon Cruz.
“We went into the ancestral creation story because it’s a story about beauty, about life, about creation, which most closely mirrors the life of the Fona dinosaur,” Avrahami said.
Besides honoring its roots, naming species based on indigenous culture is also an attempt to “decolonize” paleontology, he said, adding that Western science has many instances of “dark history.”
“There have been many Western, colonial powers that have landed or parachuted onto indigenous lands and extracted minerals, fossils and dinosaurs from indigenous American lands,” he told Variety. “They bring [specimens] return to their Western museums and take away the cultural heritage and the natural heritage that is on indigenous lands.”
Avrahami hopes that by honoring his indigenous culture, he can help create a more diverse group of scientists in the future.
“Ultimately what I hope is that this will inspire kids who are growing up to see that indigenous cultures are being represented more in the sciences,” he said. “That there is a place for all kinds of ethnicities and cultures to flourish. We’re trying to create a community that’s really accepting of a lot of different cultures.”