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Dino hunters hit grand
slam
Publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: December 3, 2000
Author: PAUL SERENO AND GABRIELLE
LYON PROJECT EXPLORATION
SPECIAL TO THE SUN-TIMES
Section: SUNDAY NEWS
Edition: LATE SPORTS FINAL
Page: 31
Word Count:
787
Column: DINOSAUR EXPOSITION
2000
Dinosaur hunters Paul Sereno and Gabrielle Lyon
have been in Niger since August, hunting for fossils of African
dinosaurs and other animals and plants. The couple are providing
reports for Chicago Sun-Times readers, direct from the Sahara
Desert. Their final report will run in next week's Sunday
Sun-Times. Icing on the cake. That was what
we wanted as we began the 100-mile drive north along an unpaved road
and then made our way through a field of dunes.
The target area awaiting us was huge, according to maps and
1950s scientific reports. All we wanted was one good find.
At our three previous camps, we made discoveries in
135-million-year-old and 110-million-year-old beds. At Camp 4, we
explored rocks dating back 90 million years in search of Africa's
youngest dinosaurs.
"Bone!" yelled Didier Dutheil, a French-African
paleontologist, after he spotted some white-colored fragments from
the truck. The team dispersed in all directions, eager to see what
this region might hold.
A pair of broad, plate-shaped hipbones, each a foot wide, lay
partially exposed and attracted the attention of Allison Beck, a
graduate student at the University of Chicago. The rest of the team
gathered in the center of the flat, red plain for a look.
As we brushed the loose sediment away, other bones appeared.
The bones would rank as a major discovery, as they clearly belonged
to a new plant eater, possibly a descendant of one we had discovered
in the older rocks at Camps 1 and 2.
Other team members shouted as they discovered more bones
nearby.
Hans Larsson had stumbled upon a 3-foot skull of a crocodile,
also a new species. Then, not 50 yards away, he was totally consumed
by another discovery_the jaw of a carnivorous dinosaur. The
predator's skull lay on its side, its upper jaw studded with shiny
black teeth. From our work in 90-million-year-old beds in Morocco,
we were familiar with one huge carnivore, Carcharodontosaurus,
Africa's answer to T. rex. The jaw Hans was cleaning belonged to a
different meat eater.
"There's a vertebra and ribs over there," called out Jack
Conrad, another graduate student at the University of Chicago. Chris
Sidor was running back to tell us he had spotted a good part of a
skeleton of a plant eater different from the one Allison had found.
In less than one hour, we had four new species, all within a short
walk of each other.
A few days later, Paul carefully wrapped the predator's skull
in plaster and burlap. While waiting for it to dry, he strolled
around, intrigued by what the flat plain might still hold. He
noticed the paper-thin edges of several vertebrae. Gingerly, he
brushed back the sediment_and other vertebrae began to appear. A
backbone, with vertebrae in sequence, was lying just below the
surface. The spongelike texture of the bone was an important clue_it
was a titanosaur, a long-necked plant eater, possibly the same
species as Allison's.
When the team members pursued Paul's site, we had one
question on our minds: How much of the animal would be preserved? We
were down to our last bags of plaster and our last days in the
field. As we followed the backbone into the ground, a huge femur
(thigh bone) was uncovered, then a forelimb and shoulder blade.
Slowly, an enormous dinosaur skeleton came into view. The discovery
that began as a lacy outline of bone had become the most complete
late Cretaceous dinosaur ever found in Africa.
The world of dinosaurs in Africa 90 million years ago has
become a crowded place. In addition to Deltadromeus and
Carcharodontosaurus, we have discovered another predator, two plant
eaters and a crocodile. Camp 4 was the ninth inning for Expedition
2000, and the team hit a grand slam.
For more stories and photos of the team in the field, or to
read weekly e-mail messages to Chicago area schoolchildren, log on
to www.projectexploration.org.
Paul Sereno is a paleontologist at the University of
Chicago; Gabrielle Lyon directs Project Exploration. Sereno
and Lyon co-founded Project Exploration to bring the excitement of
real-life scientific expeditions to city kids.
This jaw, complete with shiny black teeth, belongs to a
new carnivorous dinosaur. The team excavates the bones of a new
dinosaur, the last discovery of the trek. As bone after bone emerges
at a titanosaur site, dinosaur hunter Paul Sereno can't help
but smile.
Copyright 2000 Chicago Sun-Times,
Inc.
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