Bison Latifrons.Pmd
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
North Dakota Stratigraphy Bison latifrons ROCK ROCK UNIT COLUMN PERIOD EPOCH AGES MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO Common Name: Holocene Oahe .01 Giant Ice Age bison Coleharbor Pleistocene QUATERNARY Classification: 1.8 Pliocene Unnamed 5 Miocene Class: Mammalia 25 Arikaree Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Brule Oligocene 38 South Heart This specimen, the only Bison latifrons skull ever found in North Chadron Chalky Buttes Dakota, was discovered by Kent Pelton of Watford City on U. S. Camels Butte Eocene Golden 55 Valley Bear Den Army Corps of Engineers administered land within the Fort Berthold Reservation near New Town. Bone from this fossil was Sentinel radiocarbon dated indicating that it is over 47,500 years old. It is Butte TERTIARY on display at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. Funding for restoration of the skull was provided by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Garrison Project. Skull Bullion is 2.2 m wide. ND State Fossil Collection. Paleocene Creek Slope Description: Cannonball The scientific name Bison latifrons is derived from the Greek language and refers to this bison’s broad cranium and large horns. Ludlow 65 They were huge animals, the largest of all North American bison Hell Creek with horn cores that spanned over 200 cm compared with horn core spans of about 65 cm for the living North American bison. Fox Hills They were about 25% larger than the living bison. Bison latifrons lived in North Dakota during the last Ice Age at the same time that mammoths and mastodons lived here. Bison latifrons inhabited ACEOUS Pierre forest openings and woodland areas unlike the grassland-dwelling CRET modern bison. They lived in small groups unlike the herding 84 modern bison. Bison latifrons became extinct during the last Ice Niobrara Age several thousand years ago. Carlile Carbonate Calcareous Shale Claystone/Shale Siltstone Sandstone Sand & Gravel Mudstone Lignite Glacial Drift Bison latifrons. Painting by, and courtesy of, Dorothy S. Norton. Locations where fossils have been found ND State Fossil Collection Prehistoric Life of ND Map North Dakota Geological Survey Home Page.