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D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 3 - 2 4
MONTANA'S MONTANA'S
MEET MEET
BISON-LIZARD BISON-LIZARD
article and illustrations by ROBERT RATH
74
MILLION YEARS AGO, vast herds of large, power-
ful, irritable herbivores spread across the wide open
plains of Montana. They were bison-sized, with large
horns, but they weren't bison—although they have so much in
common that a paleontologist named the recently-discovered
species Einiosaurus (pronounced "eye-knee-o-saurus"), which
means, literally, "Bison-lizard."
The name also connects this dinosaur to other long-time
Montana residents, as "Eini" is the Blackfeet Indian name for
"bison." At 15 feet long and tipping the scale at over one ton, this
