Sunday Conversation with Paleontologist

By Jeff Raymond

Published: June 29, 2008

Some have called Paul Sereno a real-life Indiana Jones.

The University of Chicago paleontologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence meticulously pieces together dinosaur bones from places few would ever venture, using his artist's eye and understanding of anatomy to re-create species that were alive about 180 million years ago.

The Sahara desert has been the site of some of his best-known finds, three of which are on display through Aug. 24 at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman.

Q:How does one become a globe-trotting dinosaur hunter?

A:Well, I think it starts with a curiosity in nature. Actually I got my start collecting butterflies outside my Chicago home. Then it goes through earning some decent grades in a variety of classes and then all the specialized training that occurs afterwards. In the end, there's a lot of different things you can do in the field of paleontology. We have a real curiosity about the past — where we come from, what kinds of animals existed.

Q:I imagine most people would think it's pretty difficult to find something, just to go out and look for it.

A:I think if you have a natural curiosity, and this is where it starts. If you find it curious that someone speaks a different language than you, and you're struggling to learn it; if you find it curious that, ‘Wow, it's 130 degrees here, the sand's blowing, and look at this horizon, can you imagine living here;' if you find that curious and enjoyable, then this is the job for you. You will find yourself in a place where nobody has been, looking for dinosaurs. And you're likely to find them.

Q:Why has the Sahara been less "pored over” than other areas?

A:The Sahara is an enormous place. We just can't conceptualize. It is as big as the continental United States. It crosses from one side to the other of the continent of Africa. There's not a single road that goes across it, north- south. It is so vast you can drive for 500 miles — and I have — and not see one living thing. In some places it's like you're on Mars. You can look back in time in many ways across vast areas bigger than Oklahoma.

Q:National Geographic magazine lists several of your discoveries as milestones. What do you consider to be some milestone finds?

A:I think the first one is always memorable. I took a team down to Argentina. We didn't have really enough money. I didn't speak Spanish; they didn't speak English. How could we survive in this desert at the foothills of the Andes? We had no maps and within three weeks we had located the first skeleton — complete skeleton — of the early dinosaur. And it sort of unfolded that way. We found the only three complete early dinosaurs from the era when dinosaurs were just getting a toehold.

Q:How was Africa during your expeditions?

A:The truth of it is I joined an expedition on a lark. I joined an expedition out of England because I wanted once in my life to cross the Sahara desert. I wanted to feel what that desert was like. And, yes, there was a chance that I could find a reason to come back or even justify going across the desert. I would end up finding on Day 7 an enormous field of dinosaurs. I realized that Africa's story of dinosaurs was just there for the taking. Ultimately, it just evolved into a passion. Africa can do that to you.

Q:How are the dinosaurs on display at the Sam Noble Museum unique?

A:Three of my favorite animals — two are dinosaurs, one's a crocodile. One crocodile is the largest crocodile that has ever lived — we call it SuperCroc. It was tremendously fun and interesting to reconstruct it. It involved trapping live crocodiles, the biggest we could find, on rivers in Costa Rica. The other two (dinosaurs) really win the award for bizarreness among dinosaurs. One is a spinosaur. A spinosaur is a dinosaur trying to be a crocodile. It has stretched its skull out to almost unrecognizable proportions. It attacks with vicious claws. The thumb claw on this dinosaur in the museum is a foot long. The actual claw is bigger — 16 inches. It's got a sail on its back.

One of their (SuperCroc and spinosaur's) favorite prey items was a very common plant eater. We've just reconstructed it, and we've named it after the country: Nigersaurus. It just took its skull to the other extreme. It evolved tiny teeth — 500 of them — so that it could mow down plants right along the ground. Its mouth expands like a vacuum. It was adapted for munching right along the ground.

Q:Is paleontology equal parts art and science?

A:It's a Cinderella science that involves everything. That's what makes it, I think, so much of an entree to science in general for kids. We have to realize as a nation that this century is the critical century for science. And if it is dinosaurs that get kids interested in sciences, then it's dinosaurs that we need to use.

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