Below are brief biographies of some of the team members:

HANS LARSSON was born on July 15, 1971, in Edmonton, Canada.  He grew up in a rural area with his younger brother, Stig and younger sister, Ingrid.  Hans' parents are from Sweden and all of the family speaks Swedish in addition to English.  The family kept lots

QUESTION: HOW MANY OF THESE PEOPLE WILL HAVE BIRTHDAYS WHILE THEY ARE IN THE FIELD? QUESTION: HOW OLD IS EACH PERSON? HARDER QUESTION: USING JUST THE AGES OF THE PEOPLE INCLUDED HERE, WHAT IS THE AVERAGE AGE OF THE TEAM?

of pets, including three dogs, five horses, five cats, forty rabbits and some chickens.  Growing up in the country allowed Hans to spend a lot of time outdoors skiing, horseback riding and fishing.  He also liked to model cars, draw and play saxophone, clarinet and piano.  Hans went to elementary and high school in Ontario.  He then moved to Montreal to attend McGill University where he studied evolutionary biology.  Hans spent many summers doing field work at Dinosaur Provincial Park, in Alberta.
    Hans is currently in his third year as a graduate student in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, where he is studying the way animals grow from embryos into adults and how that relates to their evolutionary history.  This expedition will be his third to Africa.  He was also a team member in the 1996 Expedition to Argentina.  Hans is looking forward to seeing the diverse West African wildlife and hopes the team will discover a new carnivorous dinosaur, "with an awesome skull!"

GABRIELLE LYON was born on July 12, 1972 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  She grew up in New York and New Jersey and moved to Chicago to go to college.  As a kid Gabe liked to collect butterflies, draw and read.  At Pascack Valley High School, in Hillsdale, New Jersey, she played flute and competed in regional and state competitions.  She also founded the school's first environmental club, Students for Environmental Action and Awareness -- SEAA.  As a student at the University of Chicago Gabe studied Medieval History for her Bachelor's Degree and the History of Anthropology for her Master's.  She completed both in 1994.
    Gabe has always been interested in biology and geology and so when she was invited to be a team member and official "Expedition Scribe" for the 1993 Expedition to Niger she jumped at the chance.  She has also been on the teams of the 1995 Expedition to Morocco and the 1996 Expedition to Argentina.
    Currently Gabe is working to improve city schools and spens a lot of time with teachers and students.  She is also a writer who enjoys reading biographies, taking photographs and cooking.  She can't wait to return to Niger and fieldwork.  "I can't wait to get into the field -- and to reconnect with people we met in 1993.  I hope I can remember some Hausa!"

RUDYARD SADLIER was born in Oaklawn, Illinois on October 8, 1977.  He grew up in Park Ridge and attended Eugene Field Elementary, Lincoln Junior High and Maine Township South High School.  Rud has an older brother named Jack and a younger sister, Rose.  It was Jack who got Rud interested in chess, academics and speed skating.  Rud got so interested in skating that at age 13 -- under the coaching of four-time Olympian Nancy Sweider -- he won the North American Long Track speed-skating championship.  Rud's other interests include: creative writing, woodcarving, soccer, rugby, and science.
    Rud has just completed his second year as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he is studying Biology and Geology.  He has participated in an archaeology dig through the American Center of Archaeology, dug for fossil mammals in England and has spent two summers in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Canada.  Although he would love to pursue paleontology in graduate school, his original interest was in human origins rather than dinosaur evolution.  After graduate school Rud thinks he'd like to be a researcher and teacher.  Rud is really looking forward to meeting people from different cultures in Africa and he can't wait to "add to the list of known dinosaur fauna!"

PAUL SERENO was born in Aurora, IL, on October 11, 1957.  He was the second oldest of six children: he has on older brother, Marty, and four younger sisters -- Joan, Anne, Margaret, and Sara -- in that order.  As a kid, Paul delighted in annoying his sisters and often caused trouble in school.  Paul's mother, Rena, was an art teacher and all of the children were encouraged to experiment with art and ask lots of questions about things.
    In high school Paul played French Horn in the marching band and began to paint seriously.  By the time he went off to Northern Illinois for college Paul had decided to major in biology and art.  It wasn't until he was almost ready to graduate from college that he decided to study paleontology.
    During a trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York with his brother Marty, Paul got to see the "behind the scenes" activity that surrounded the science of fossils: bones, technical drawing, biology and travel.  He was hooked!  He turned his artistic talent to recording the fossil record and got a doctorate in Geology at Columbia University.  He has been teaching at the University of Chicago for nine years.
    The 1997 Expedition to Niger will be the seventh expedition that he has led.  "I think this upcoming expedition will be the most discovery-filled of them all!"

JEFF WILSON was born on September 6, 1969, and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  He has a younger brother, Greg, (who is also going on the expedition) and a younger sister, Kristy.  All of them went to elementary and high school in Kalamazoo.  As a kid, Jeff loved to read mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown stories; he also liked to collect stamps and coins and to draw superheroes.  Jeff played soccer throughout high school and college.  At Kalamazoo college he studied biology.
    Jeff is currently a third year graduate student at the University of Chicago in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy.  Jeff's main research interest is the evolutionary history of sauropod dinosaurs.  The fact that they are so large fascinates him.  "I really want to understand why it was possible for these dinosaurs to get so big and how they got that way."
    The upcoming expedition will be Jeff's third to Africa -- he participated in the 1993 Expedition to Niger and the 1995 Expedition to Morocco.  He was also a team member on the 1996 Expedition to Argentina.  Jeff speaks Spanish (much of which he learned from his mother, who is Colombian) and is looking forward to polishing up his French during the trip to Niger.  After he completes his doctorate Jeff would like to teach and do research.  He would also like to live outside of the United States for a while.

GREG WILSON was born on February 16, 1973.  He grew up in Kalamazoo with his older brother, Jeff, and his younger sister, Kristy.  As a kid he was fond of causing trouble -- he also liked to listen to rock music.  As a kid, Greg and his brother Jeff liked to build forts in the woods behind their house.  Like his brother, Greg played midfield on the local soccer team and at Stanford, where he went to college.  In college Greg studied human biology and anatomy.  The expedition to Niger will be his first time in Africa and his introduction to field work.  Greg will begin his graduate studies in paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley as soon as he gets back from the field.