Born in New York, Don Lessem outgrew his initial interest in dinosaurs at age eight, and went on to become an animal behaviorist and a science journalist for The Boston Globe and many other publications. He grew into dinosaurs again at age 35, while working on journalism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Reporting on dinosaur digs in Montana and Utah, he became fascinated with not only dinosaurs but their world and the scientists who study them. He has traveled to Arctic Alaska, Mongolia, Argentina, Europe and Australia in search of dinosaurs.

Lessem has written 21 books on dinosaurs, including The Dinosaur Society Dinosaur Encyclopedia (with Donald Glut), the NSTA award winning Jack Horner: Living with Dinosaurs, and Digging up Tyrannosaurus Rex (with Dr. Horner). He has also written 18 children's books about dinosaurs, including Dinosaurs to Dodos.

The company Lessem started, Dinosaur Productions, has constructed the world's largest dinosaur exhibit, including both the Giganotosaurus and the largest plant eater, the Argentinosaurus. You can find photos from the making of this exhibit in our online photo story about Argentinosaurus.

People magazine has called Don Lessem, "Mr. Dinosaur." But to many kids who love dinosaurs, he is simply, "Dino" Don.