Its fossils were discovered in the Valentine formation and Myers Farm of Nebraska, and represent the earliest known member of the Ursinae, showcasing that basal members of this subfamily were small, but already showed adaptions towards increasing herbivory as well as an arboreal lifestyle The genus name combines the Latin words aurora (dawn) and Greek arctos (bear); the specific epithet references the creator god Tirawa in Pawnee mythology.

The relative depth of its robust mandible is similar to that of modern bears, and much greater than in the stem ursid Ballusia elmensis.

Modern bears possess a deeper antero-posterior depth of the humeral condyle than Aurorarctos, but lack its large entepicondyle foramen.

Many insectivorous carnivores, such as badgers, mongooses and Ballusia, possess a pair of m1 entoconids, which are, however, fused together in Aurorarctos, decreasing its puncturing ability.

A geometric morphometric analysis of Aurorarctos distal humerus shows that it falls into a similar morphospace as small, arboreal and fossorial carnivorans, such as the red panda, coatis and badgers, although its epicondyle is notably weaker than in badgers, indicating it was adapted to climbing rather than digging.