Mary Anning, the woman
who helped discover dinosaurs.
Mary Anning was born
into a poor family
in Lyme Regis, on the south coast
of England, in 1799.
As a child,
she loved strolling across the beach
and cliffs with her father.
He was a cabinet maker who earnt
extra money by searching for fossils.
He taught Mary everything
he knew about them.
They sold the fossils to tourists
on a stall outside their house.
But one night, tragedy struck.
While walking over the cliffs,
her father slipped and fell.
His injuries were serious.
Weakened from the fall, he died
soon after from tuberculosis.
His death left the family devastated
and in great debt,
their lives became
a struggle for survival.
To help make ends meet,
Mary continued her father's
fossil business without him.
One day, Mary's brother spotted
an unusual skull in the cliffs.
Twelve-year-old Mary
searched relentlessly
for the rest of the fossilised bones
and dug them out.
She had found the skeleton
of a prehistoric reptile -
the ichthyosaur.
The bizarre-looking creature
was half fish, half lizard.
Her discovery was evidence
of a highly controversial theory
at the time -
extinction.
Many Christians were shocked
and confused
as to why God
would let a species die out.
Mary was noticed
by educated geologists,
who started to come
to her for advice.
Later, aged 22, Mary discovered
the first plesiosaur skeleton.
Experts thought her new find
was a fake,
but eventually, she was proven right.
Women weren't accepted in the
Geological Society in Mary's time,
so she wasn't properly credited
for her groundbreaking discoveries.
Some men even gave lectures
introducing her new finds,
without any mention of the woman
who had discovered them.
But Mary remained determined.
She saved up for a shop
to sell her fossils
and continued searching
for ancient Jurassic creatures.
She studied the rocks so carefully
that she could even spot coprolites,
lumps of fossilised poo.
Despite all of this,
she was still not well respected
in the local community
and remained very poor.
Things got worse.
Her beloved dog Tray
was killed in a landslide
and she became sick
with breast cancer.
The medicine she was given
made her wobbly.
The locals sneered at her,
calling her a drunk.
Sadly, Mary Anning died
aged just 47, in 1846.
Only on her death bed did she begin
to get the respect she deserved.
The Geological Society of London
made her an honorary member,
and began to write about
her life's achievements.
Now, her outstanding contribution
to palaeontology is fully recognised
and she is a celebrated
woman of science.
It's often said that the famous
tongue twister,
"She sells sea shells
on the sea shore",
was based on the life of Mary Anning.
But it's hard to say for sure.
The truth is buried
in the sands of time.
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