Mike Hettwer Photography - Documentary, Archaeology and Dinosaur

Dinosaur Hunting

These photos were shot on the dinosaur expeditions of renowned paleontologist, Dr. Paul Sereno. All photos are from the Sahara Desert in Niger and the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia, China.

Paul Sereno has discovered over twenty new species of dinosaurs and crocodiles in very difficult environments. Among them are the forty foot long SuperCroc, the 600 tooth Nigersaurus, the thirty foot meat-eating dinosaur Suchomimus.

The expedition teams have regularly battled fierce sandstorms, sickness, long days, water problems and 120-degree daily temperatures.

(c) 2008 Mike Hettwer Photography - Dinosaur Photos

Paleontologist Paul Sereno fights an 80 mph sandstorm that eventually tore apart the team's tents. It was not uncommon for team members to wake with a half inch of sand on their faces in the 36-degree weather.
  
A Suchomimus dinosaur cast was donated to the country of Niger by paleontologist Paul Sereno at the Flamme de la Paix, which celebrated the end of a five year civil war.
   
An aerial view of the camp in the early morning shows the supply tents, blue water storage balloons, trucks, and plaster-coated dinosaur fossils. The team lived here for six weeks.
     
  
Dinosaur hunter Paul Sereno excavates the huge leg of the sixty-foot long, plant-eating dinosaur Jobaria. Over 10,000 dinosaur bones were found in this area.
  
Rhodes Scholar, Rudd Sadlier, wakes up at dawn from his cot on top of a forty-foot sand dune.
  
Paul Sereno, croc hunter Brady Barr, and several team members excavate two SuperCroc skulls - an adult and a juvenile.
     
  
The Land Rovers got stock in the soft Saharan sand over three hundred times.
  
An entire family of Ornithomimid dinosaurs were found stuck in the iron-laden, red mud of the Gobi Desert. The Sinornithomimus bones and the arm shown here were perfectly preserved.
   
The 110 million year-old SuperCroc measured forty feet and was as long as a school bus. The team got down on the ground behind the six-foot skull to show how long the ancient crocodile would have been. An aerial view of the camp in the early morning shows the supply tents, blue water storage balloons, trucks, and plaster coated dinosaur fossils. The team lived here for six weeks. (c) 2008 Michael Hettwer Photography
     
  
A Chinese Air Force bulldozer was used to slowly and carefully take down a hill to expose eight preserved dinosaurs at its bottom.
  
Bones of a very small Dromeosaur were found on the surface; Dr. Dave Varricchio sifts to find more pieces of its missing one-inch claws.
  
The team excavates a new species of dog-sized dinosaur.
     
  
An old, cracked window in the mud brick house where research was done nightly, offered a view of the team's tents, which were destroyed by a sandstorm a week later.
  
Team members return after a 2-hour prospecting session and show Dr. Paul Sereno the bones found so that they can decide what should be excavated.
  
Grad student Andy Gray never lost an arm wrestling match to the Chinese dinosaur team in over forty tries.
     
  
University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno has discovered over twenty new species of dinosaurs and crocodiles. He is shown here with one of his favorite tools.
  
The team breaks camp and starts the 100 mile drive to the next site loaded with 5,000 pounds of equipment, food and supplies. (c) 2008 Michael Hettwer Photography