OLogy Cards > Central Asiatic Expedition

Central Asiatic Expedition

It was during the 1920s that the first team of Museum paleontologists, led by Roy Chapman Andrews, trekked to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. At the Flaming Cliffs (named for their intense orange color), this team discovered many fascinating fossils of dinosaurs, mammals, and lizards.

Stats

Story

Skull of a Gigantic Beast
In the spring of 1923, a group of Museum researchers embarked on the second year of the Central Asiatic Expeditions. They made camp at Irdin Manha, "the Valley of the Jewels," in Inner Mongolia.

A day or two after the team’s arrival, Kan Chuen Pao, a young paleontological assistant, made an amazing find: a massive, 1-meter-long (3-feet-long) skull with huge teeth. It was given the name Andrewsarchus mongoliensis, in honor of the expedition’s leader, Roy Chapman Andrews.

It remains the only specimen ever found of the species, which lived about 45 million years ago. Scientists think that the animal was about 1.8 meters (6 feet) high at the shoulder and 3.5 meters (12 feet) long. This size would make Andrewsarchus the largest known meat-eating land mammal that ever lived!

Stumper

Which of the following was NOT discovered during the Central Asiatic Expedition?

dinosaur fossils

fossils of human ancestors

fossils of Protoceratops eggs

Correct!

Although the original goal of this expedition was to collect evidence of human ancestors, no such fossils were actually found.

Fact or Fiction

Before embarking on the Central Asiatic Expedition, scientists packed maps so they could find their way around the desert.

Fact

Fiction

Because the Gobi Desert wasn't yet charted in the 1920s, Roy Chapman Andrews had to create the team's own maps as they traveled.

Quote

“

One season in the Gobi we had six weeks of continual sandstorms. There never was a real calm.

„

head shot of Roy Chapman Andrews smiling

Roy Chapman Andrews
paleontologist

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Correct!

Fiction

Card 023: Roy Chapman Andrews

Going Gobi

Finding Fossils