[2] One among a string of discoveries of ornithopods in South America, following taxa such as Gasparinisaura and Anabisetia, the specimen that would become Talenkauen was collected in February 2000 and would later be described and named in a short 2004 paper by Fernando E. Novas and colleagues.

It was discovered on Los Hornos Hill on the coast of Viedma Lake, in the Santa Cruz Province region of Argentina.

Wear on the tiny, 1.7mm wide tooth crowns indicate the individual had fed, meaning it was not an embryo and had hatched, but only recently before death.

It was noted as possible that the adult had been practicing parental care due to the individuals being found together, but that more concrete evidence would be needed to confidently make such an assertion.

[2] Several other dinosaurs are known to have had similar plates, including Hypsilophodon, Nanosaurus, Parksosaurus, Thescelosaurus,[7] and Macrogryphosaurus (also from Argentina, but from somewhat older rocks), which may have been related.

Novas and colleagues suggested that the plates may be homologous to uncinate processes, strip-like bony projections found on the ribs of a variety of animals including the tuatara, crocodiles, birds, and some maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs.

In birds, uncinate processes help to ventilate the lungs, working with rib cage muscles, and Novas and colleagues proposed a similar function for the plates of Talenkauen.

[10] Other dinosaurs from the Pari Aike Formation include the giant titanosaurid Puertasaurus and Dreadnoughtus[11] and the large predatory theropod Orkoraptor.