[1] He led a series of expeditions through the politically disturbed China of the early 20th century into the Gobi Desert and Mongolia.

After graduating, Andrews applied for work at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

He so much wanted to work there that after being told that there were no openings at his level, Andrews accepted a job as a janitor in the taxidermy department and began collecting specimens for the museum.

During the next few years, he worked and studied simultaneously, earning a Master of Arts degree in mammalogy from Columbia University.

From 1909 to 1910, Andrews sailed on the USS Albatross to the East Indies, collecting snakes and lizards and observing marine mammals.

From 1916 to 1917, Andrews and his wife led the Asiatic Zoological Expedition of the museum through much of western and southern Yunnan, as well as other provinces of China.

In 1920, Andrews began planning for expeditions to Mongolia and drove a fleet of Dodge cars westward from Peking.

In 1922, the party discovered a fossil of Paraceratherium (then named "Baluchitherium"), a gigantic hornless rhinocerotoid, which was sent back to the museum, arriving on December 19.

This distinction was given to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys...".

Douglas Preston of the American Museum of Natural History wrote: "Andrews is allegedly the person that the movie character of Indiana Jones was patterned after.

"[8] An analysis by the Smithsonian Channel concludes that the linkage was indirect, with Andrews (and other explorers) serving as the model for heroes in adventure films of the 1940s and 1950s, who in turn inspired Lucas and his fellow writers.