NGM Blog Central - Chris Sloan - National Geographic magazine

Chris Sloan’s office at National Geographic headquarters tells it all. A row of prehistoric skulls takes up half a bookshelf. One of the skulls, a modern one, is real. A metallic cast of a T. rex head, used to create an NGM cover photograph, sits atop a cabinet of papers. A plaster bust of King Tut catches the sun on a windowsill next to a fishing spear and a blowpipe brought back from the Amazon. Science books, stacks of reports, and computer screens take up the rest of the space, creating a curious blend of chaos and high-tech that is both frightening and stimulating at the same time.

Sloan’s office reflects his passion for all things National Geographic. He channels that interest to shape stories about the activity of Society-funded grantees as well as any great stories about archaeology, paleontology, and paleoanthropology he can find. He was the magazine’s art director and paleontology specialist for 12 years, and during that time, aside from spearheading the creation of computer graphic “sea monsters” and CT scan-based likenesses of the hobbit and King Tut, he wrote two feature articles on dinosaurs and early man for the magazine and five award-winning childrens’ books. Over the years he has visited many scientists in the field and has participated in a number of digs. He even has a prehistoric crocodile from China named after him: Jungarsuchus sloanii.

Published work:

“Feathers for T. rex?” National Geographic, November 1999.
“The Origin of Childhood,” National Geographic, November 2006.
Feathered Dinosaurs, foreword by Philip Currie, National Geographic Childrens Book Division.
SuperCroc and the Origin of Crocodiles, foreword by Paul Sereno, National Geographic Childrens Book Division.
Bury the Dead, foreword by Bruno Frolich, National Geographic Childrens Book Division.
How Dinosaurs took Flight, foreword by Xu Xing, National Geographic Childrens Book Division.
The Human Story, foreword by Meave Leakey, National Geographic Childrens Book Division.