INTRODUCTION…
Versions of this overview of the 2000 Expedition to
Niger first appeared on Project Exploration's "Dinosaur
Expedition 2000" web site.
WRITTEN by GABRIELLE LYON and PAUL
SERENO
PHOTOGRAPHY by MIKE HETTWER, unless otherwise noted.
Paul works on the Suchomimus
site
long after the sun has begun to set.
Imagine leaving all you are familiar with to spend
four months in the heart of the world's largest desert
looking for dinosaurs and fossils. Imagine bringing
14 people; two and a half tons of equipment, medical
supplies and food; five Land Rovers; a life-sized replica
of a 27-foot long skeleton; and everything you need
to make a major fossil discovery with you. Imagine what
the last few days are like before you depart on the
expedition…
Niger's Sahara Desert preserves some of the richest
dinosaur-bearing rocks in the world and our expedition
team of students and professionals had been planning
the trip for more than a year.
Click on the photograph to
meet the team
The primary goal of our expedition was to find out
what kinds of animals lived on Africa during the Cretaceous
period, the last chapter of the dinosaur era and to
work with the government of Niger to survey and map
fossil sites in some of the richest areas of the desert.
Filling out the skeleton of Sarcosuchus
was just one of the accomplishments of the 2000 Expedition
to Niger. During four months in the field we collected
more than 20 tons of fossils during the expedition.
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