Map of Mongolia The Art of Exploration EXTRAORDINARY EXPLORERS AND CREATORS INSPIRE US ALL TO REACH OUR OWN POTENTIAL • paleontology • Mongolia • Psittacosaurus • Cretaceous • Velociraptor • Protoceratops • Flaming Cliffs • Gobi Desert • fossils • skeleton n• s a u t u o r e a c l a t h e i r Bolortsetseg Minjin - Mongolian Paleontologist s t C o • r y s • u r M u a o s n o g c o a t l t i E Books. s m P p Dinosaur Lives: Unearthing an Evolutionary Saga (Harvest • i a r i e l o Book) (Paperback) by John R. Horner (Author), Edwin • g d n i n Dobb (Author), Celeste Clair Horner (Illustrator), Bruce Mongolian emblem : the outer rim symbolizes eternity, o o M s Selyem (Illustrator), Terry Panasuk a surrounds a circular blue field, symbolizing the sky. On • u y r g Lone Star Dinosaurs by Louis Jacobs the centre of the field is the soyombo within the wind • o l k o i t horse symbolizing Mongolia's independence, sovereignty, l l i n n o g and spirit. Above the field is a chandmani, representing e Mongolia Websites l c a l p www.sunshine.mn/ mongolia.htm the Buddhist Three Jewels, which in Mongolian folklore a w • • http://www.mongoliatoday.com/ grants wishes, and symbolizes past, present, and future. n o h i t e i Below the central emblem is a green mountain range, with r d http://www.kiku.com/electric_samurai/virtual_ b e i v p the wheel of destiny at the center. On the bottom of the o mongol/index.html x r e o • mountain range and wheel is a khadag, a ceremonial scarf. u s s u • o e Dinosaur Websites r x o p v i http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dinosaurs/ e b d r i e One of the most famous Mongolians t i dsc.discovery.com/dinosaurs/ h o n was Temujin, better known as Ghengis • • http://www.kidsdinos.com/ w a p (Chinggis) Khan . He was born in l a c l www.dinosaur-world.com e g 1162. When he was nine years old, his o n n i l l t http://www.e-mongol.com/mongolia_geography.htm i father, a chief, was killed by another tribe o k l o • http://www.kidsturncentral.com/links/dinolinks.htm called the Tartars. During the next few Photo: Courtesy of Bolortsetseg Minjin g r y u • years Temujin united all the tribes of the a s http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/ M o Bolortsetseg Minjin is a Mongolian paleontologist. She searches for dinosaur fossils in the Mongolian deserts o n surrounding region, more than eighty i n http://www.search4dinosaurs.com/ d where more than 60 species of dinosaurs have been discovered. Her specialty is the Cretaceous dinosaur g • groups of people in all, to create the Mongol Empire . He o l e http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~skafi Psittacosaurus. Bolortsetseg has been on paleontological expeditions with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the i r a was made Khan (King) in 1206. By the time Chinggis i • www.ucmp.berkeley.edu p American Museum of Natural History, was co-leader of expeditions with Georgia Southern University, and was P m Khan died in 1227, the Mongol Empire had become the s E i t l expedition leader for a joint expedition with the Museum of the Rockies. Her team found new fossil areas in t a most powerful nation on earth. In fact it was the largest o c g Mongolia and collected over 100 skeletons of the dinosaur Psittacosaurus. In 2007 Bolortsetseg founded the non- o n s single empire of all time. o a u M profit Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs (ISMD) in Ulaanbaatar. The goal of the Institute is to build r u • s y a museum in Mongolia to study dinosaurs and to train young Mongolian paleontologists. r • o C t s r i e h t a l c a "I had this dream that I wanted Mongolian paleontology to be developed better, e r o u t u Ginger Head, Executive Director a and I wanted Mongolian paleontologists to work on Mongolian species." s www.icfw.org Milbry Polk, Executive Director n [email protected] www.wingsworldquest.org • paleontology • Mongolia • Psittacosaurus • Cretaceous • Velociraptor • Protoceratops • Flaming Cliffs • Gobi Desert • fossils • skeleton • • paleontology • Mongolia • Psittacosaurus • Cretaceous • Velociraptor • Protoceratops • Flaming Cliffs • Gobi Desert • fossils • Ghengis (Chinggis) Khan • skeleton • natural history • Mongol Empire • dinosaur • killing claw • herbivorous • expedition • C e r r i e p "parrot lizard," was a plant-eater that lived about 120 million years t I was born and raised in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. I first became interested Psittacosaurus a m c e E in dinosaurs on my 9th birthday. My father, who is a paleontologist, brought a Russian movie ago in the Early Cretaceous Period. It was an early member of the group of o l u o dinosaurs that would later give rise to horned dinosaurs like Triceratops. Dr. Minjin on dinosaurs to my birthday party. My friends and I watched it, and I was fascinated by these s g n • o large extinct animals. After that my Dad brought me to the natural history museum in and American paleontologist Jack Horner from the Museum of the Rockies in V M e l • Mongolia, where I first saw the skeleton of the dinosaur Tarbosaurus, the Mongolian ver - Montana found 100 Psittacosaurus skeletons of many different ages during the o c y r sion of Tyrannosaurus rex. It was amazing to think that these animals lived in Mongolia and summers of 2005 and 2006. i r o a t p s i that more skeletons of dinosaurs lie undiscovered in the Gobi Desert. t o h r l a • r P u t Dr. Minjin decided she wanted to be a paleontologist and studied geology in college. Then r o a t n she received her Master’s degree in Invertebrate Paleontology from the Mongolian o • Things are not always as they seem ... c e n University of Science and Technology. She came to the United States to continue her stud - r o Oviraptor philocerataps "Egg Robber" (Andrews, 1924) a t t e o l ies and got her Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the City University of New Roy Chapman Andrews and his team of paleontologists thought the fossil eggs they found p e s k York. s in Mongolia belonged to the plant eating dinosaur Protoceratops. When bones of a differ - • • ent dinosaur were found near the nest, scientists thought this unknown dinosaur was steal - F l n a a I got my first chance to look for dinosaurs when I joined an expedition between the Mongolian Academy of Sciences m h ing the eggs and was caught in a sandstorm that buried both dinosaur and eggs. So the i K and the American Museum of Natural History in 1996. There I found eggs of the dinosaur Oviraptor and skeletons of n g ) dinosaur was named Oviraptor or Egg Robber. Later another nest was found with s i the dinosaur Protoceratops. I also found many skulls of the small mammals that lived alongside these dinosaurs. Since C g Oviraptor’s bones on top of it – but a little farther away they found a similar egg with an l i g f f n 2003 I have led expeditions to Mongolia and our expeditions have collected over a hundred skeletons of the dinosaur s i Oviraptor embryo. They then realized that Oviraptor was on top of its own eggs, and that h Psittacosaurus and found many new places to find fossils in the Gobi. • C G ( the eggs had been misidentified as those of Protoceratops. Paleontologists now think the o s i mother Oviraptor was protecting her nest during a massive avalanche of wet sand. This b g i n There are many reasons why Mongolia has lots of dinosaurs. First is the Gobi Desert. There is little vegetation there so D e amazing discovery completely changed our understanding of oviraptors and of other e h that when it rains, it floods, and new fossils are exposed. The Gobi Desert has several active faults and several areas are s e G dinosaurs as well. r • rising up. Along the edges of the uplifted areas, fossils are often found. The Gobi has been arid for most of the last 65 t • s l i million years, and this has also helped to preserve dinosaur fossils. f o s s s s o f Tools Paleontologists take into the field: i l s • Bolar’s advice: The most important thing to becoming a paleontologist is to get a good education. Paleontology requires a solid background t Pick, GPS (Global Positioning System), Magnifying glass, Shovel, Chisels, Computer, • r G e in geology and biology. So the more courses a student can take in these areas, the better. Paleontology is lots of fun, particularly finding fos - s Camera, Surveying tools, Water, Plaster bandages to wrap and protect the fossils. h e e D sils in the field, but it is also hard work too. Most paleontologists have their Ph.D., and to get this requires around 9 or 10 years of under - n i g b graduate and graduate school after high school. i s o ( G C • Paleontologists (from paleo - of prehistoric times + Greek onta - beings) are scientists h i s n f f g i who study fossils.