Download: RealPlayer | Windows Media Player	Above: Novacek carefully uncovers dinosaur fossils. Right: Novacek takes a break from field work.

How I Got Started My passion for dinosaurs and other fossils began when I was about seven years old. I had a book called All About Dinosaurs, by Roy Chapman Andrews, that was the first of many books that I read and reread on the subject. I was captivated by his account of unearthing dinosaur bones in the Flaming Cliffs of the Gobi, a desert in Mongolia. I vividly remember the drawings of skeletons in the American Museum of Natural History, where I now work, and the etchings of paleontologists lifting huge dinosaur bones on pulleys. My interest wasn’t always appreciated by others. When a nun caught me reading about fossils in her class, I was promptly relocated to the section for mystics and dreamers that she called the “spaceman row.” Novacek was seven when he first read about dinosaurs. I used to go on explorations with my friends, hunting for whatever small animals we could find in Los Angeles, where I grew up. I’ve always been able to identify animals. My friends and I could identify different kinds of frogs, lizards, and butterflies. We’d find alligator lizards, which could be very mean and would even bite at us. Even so, we tried, not too successfully, to catch them. Sometimes they would lose their tails, which would then curl and uncurl on the ground for a bit after falling off. Occasionally, I would catch one and take it home and put it in a terrarium. It was fascinating to be able to watch the lizards molt, to actually watch the changes. Where My Interests Take Me I have, in fact, become a fossil hunter. My passion now lies in exploring how the history of life is revealed by many different kinds of fossils. I can’t think of anything more pleasurable and fulfilling than the danger, discomfort, frustration, debate, and criticism that come with this job. It is amazing to me that my work as a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History in New York City now takes me to the very same Flaming Cliffs that captured my imagination at seven. The dig that I went on in New Mexico while I was in college gave me my first real experience. I was hooked. Later, because I had gotten something of a reputation for knowing about bones, I was asked to work on a project at the LaBrea Tar Pits, near Los Angeles. I thought, Wow, I can get paid to do this! It was great. The Adventure I work in an incredible place—the American Museum of Natural History in New York City—which has more than 32 million specimens and artifacts. People come not only to see them but to continue to do research on them. Some of the dinosaur and mammal fossils that my team and I have found are on display here, including a dinosaur embryo in the egg and a parent Oviraptor sitting on a nest of eggs. My work also takes me to different locations around the world. For several years I have been going on expeditions to the Gobi. The environment can be very harsh, and the heat and isolation can make it difficult at times; but for me there is a lot of beauty to be found in a desert. Before each trip we set goals that we hope to accomplish, like mapping an area or collecting a certain type of dinosaur and other fossil bones. We usually can’t complete everything. There are always things left to explore from previous visits or new discoveries made on the spot that we will want to follow up on next time. A lot of preparation goes into removing objects from the ground. When we find a site, we record our location so we can plan to return to the spot in the future. As soon as we return from a trip, we start planning for the next one, a year in advance. There is a lot of coordinating to do. In many of the countries I go to, basic supplies are not available. Although I used to travel with just a backpack and a rock hammer like a mountain climber, we now ship over everything from cars to lumber and even the nails we might need. We prepare in advance for transportation, for food and water, for everything. Discoveries in the Field My most exciting field discovery occurred in the Gobi. In 1990 my partners, Mark Norell and Malcolm McKenna, and I led the first paleontological expedition to return to the Gobi from the West since Roy Chapman Andrews was there in 1922. Three years later, we decided to head toward the reddish hills we had seen in the distance on our previous visits—an area called Ukhaa Tolgod, which means “small brown hills.” When our truck got stuck in mud near the hills, we set up camp. Climbing one of the slopes, we found an incredibly rich site with some dinosaur skeletons scattered right on the surface. It was clear that other scientists had not been there, or the extraordinary specimens would have been collected. As Mark would call out to me that he had found a skull, I’d call back that I’d found one, too. They were all over. We knew that we had come across something special. Top Book Cummings, Pat and Linda Cummings. Talking With Adventurers. 1998. National Geographic Magazine Webster, Donovan. “Dinosaurs of the Gobi: Unearthing a Fossil Trove.” Pages 70-89. July 1996. Research Magazine Novacek, Michael J. “An Early Eocene (Wasatchian) Mammal Fauna from Baja California.” Pages 376-388. Summer 1987. Web Site Dinosaur Eggs, an NG Online Feature. Web Site Michael Novacek is curator at The American Museum of Natural History. Students can join Novacek and other research scientists online in an exploration of the Gobi.

Photo Credits. Top and right: David M. Sanders. Bottom: Courtesy of Michael Novacek. © 2000 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.