The Bone Hunter

    Mary Anning was born in 1799. She grew up in the tiny seaside town of Lyme Regis, England. Mary loved to spend hours walking with her dad along the beach near their house. This area was famous for its peculiar shells and rocks. Mary and her dad would gather them and sell them.

    Then something terrible happened: When Mary was about 11, her dad died. The family was left with little money. Mary wanted to help. So she kept walking the beach, searching for shells and rocks to sell. 

    Soon she found something more than shells and rocks though. And what she found wouldn’t help just her family.

    It would change the way people understood ancient creatures too.

    Mary Anning was born in 1799. She grew up in the town of Lyme Regis, England. Mary loved to walk with her dad along the beach near their house. This area was famous for its peculiar shells and rocks. Mary and her dad would gather them and sell them.

    Then something terrible happened: When Mary was about 11, her dad died. The family was left with little money. Mary wanted to help. So she kept walking the beach, looking for shells and rocks to sell.

    Soon she found something more than shells and rocks though. And what she found wouldn’t just help her family.

    It would change the way people understood ancient creatures too.

    Mary Anning was born in 1799 and grew up in the tiny seaside town of Lyme Regis, England. Mary loved to spend hours walking with her father along the beach near their house. The area was famous for its peculiar shells and rocks, and Mary and her dad would gather them and sell them.

    Then something terrible happened: When Mary was about 11, her father died. The family was left with little money. Mary wanted to help, so she kept walking the beach in search of shells and rocks to sell.

    Soon she found something more than shells and rocks though—and what she discovered wouldn’t only help her family.

    It would also change the way people understood ancient creatures.

    Mary’s brother spotted it first. It looked like a huge skull buried in the sand. One giant eye peeked out. 

    But it was Mary who found the rest. For months, Mary returned to the beach. Slowly, she chipped away at the rock surrounding the skeleton. 

    Finally, Mary uncovered the full fossil. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Its body was like a lizard’s. But it also had flippers like a dolphin and a tail like a shark. It was 17 feet long. Several men had to help Mary carry it home.

    Mary quickly sold the skeleton. This earned her enough money to feed her family for months. The skeleton was put on display at a small museum in London. People were amazed. Mary’s discovery seemed like a monster from a storybook. 

    But as the world would learn, Mary’s creature came from a place even more fantastic. The animal was an ichthyosaur. It lived about 200 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period.

    This is when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

    Mary’s brother saw it first. It looked like a huge skull buried in the sand. One eye peeked out.

    Mary found the rest. For months, she returned to the beach. She chipped away at the rock surrounding the skeleton.

    Finally, she uncovered the full fossil. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Its body was like a lizard’s. But it had flippers like a dolphin and a tail like a shark. It was 17 feet long. Several men had to help Mary carry it home.

    Mary sold the skeleton. She got enough money to feed her family for months. The skeleton was put on display at a museum in London. People were amazed. The skeleton seemed like a monster from a storybook.

    But Mary’s creature came from a place even more fantastic. The animal was an ichthyosaur. It lived about 200 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period.

    This is when dinosaurs roamed Earth.

    Mary’s brother spotted it first. It appeared to be a massive skull buried in the sand, with one giant eye peeking out.

    But it was Mary who found the rest. She returned to the beach repeatedly, chipping away for months at the rock that surrounded the skeleton.

    Finally, Mary uncovered the entire fossil. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Its body was similar to a lizard’s, but it also had flippers like a dolphin and a tail like a shark. To carry the 17-foot-long fossil home, Mary needed the help of several men.

    Mary quickly sold the skeleton, which earned her enough money to feed her family for months. The skeleton was put on display at a museum in London. People were amazed by the discovery, which seemed like a monster from a storybook.

    But as the world would learn, Mary’s creature came from a place even more fantastic. The animal, an ichthyosaur, lived about 200 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period.

    This is when dinosaurs roamed Earth.

    Imagine what it was like to see such a skeleton in 1811. No one had heard of dinosaurs. The word dinosaur didn’t even exist.

    Of course, people had found odd fossils before. They’d seen strange bones on cliffsides. Huge footprints had been found in rocks. But scientists back then believed that these fossils came from animals that still lived somewhere on Earth. 

    Mary’s skeleton was different. It did not look like any creature on Earth. To many scientists, it proved that animals could become extinct. 

    Mary’s discovery helped create paleontology. That’s the field of science that studies fossils. And soon it would change our view of Earth’s history. 

    Scientists began to wonder: What other large and mysterious creatures roamed our planet millions of years ago? And what else could we discover through fossils?

    Imagine seeing that skeleton in 1811. No one had heard of dinosaurs. The word dinosaur didn’t even exist.

    Of course, people had found odd fossils before. They’d seen strange bones on cliffsides. Huge footprints had been found in rocks. But scientists back then believed that these fossils came from animals that still lived somewhere on Earth.

    Mary’s skeleton was different. It did not look like any creature on Earth. To many scientists, it proved that animals could become extinct.

    Mary’s discovery helped create paleontology. That’s the field of science that studies fossils. And soon it would change our view of Earth’s history.

    Scientists began to wonder: What other mysterious creatures roamed Earth long ago? And what else could we learn from fossils?

    Imagine how astonishing it was to see such a skeleton in 1811. At the time, no one had heard of dinosaurs. The word dinosaur didn’t even exist.

    Of course, people had encountered odd fossils before. They’d noticed strange bones on cliffsides and found enormous footprints in rocks. But scientists back then believed that these fossils came from animals that still existed somewhere on Earth.

    Mary’s skeleton was different. It didn’t resemble any creature on Earth. In the minds of many scientists, it proved that animals could become extinct.

    Mary’s discovery helped create paleontology, the field of science that studies fossils—and soon it would transform our understanding of Earth’s history.

    Scientists began to wonder: What other large and mysterious creatures roamed our planet millions of years ago? And what else could we discover through fossils?

    Mary continued to make important discoveries for the rest of her life. She found a fossil of a flying reptile called a Dimorphodon. She was the first to find a complete skeleton of a sea reptile called a Plesiosaurus. She even studied coprolite. That’s fossilized poop!

    So why isn’t Mary Anning as famous as Thomas Edison or other important scientists from history?

    The reason is this: Mary was a woman. At the time, women were kept out of colleges and high-level jobs. In Europe and the U.S., scientists were almost all rich men. Many of them met Mary. They praised her talents. But they did not ask her to join their scientific groups. 

    Some of the men even took credit for her work. Mary resented this. Still, she loved science. She kept working at it until she died at age 47.

    Mary made other big discoveries. She found a fossil of a flying reptile called a Dimorphodon. She was the first to find a complete skeleton of a sea reptile called a Plesiosaurus. She even studied coprolite. That’s fossilized poop!

    So why isn’t Mary Anning as famous as Thomas Edison or other important scientists from history?

    The reason is this: Mary was a woman. At the time, women were kept out of colleges and high-level jobs. In Europe and the U.S., most scientists were rich men. Many of them met Mary. They praised her talents. But they didn’t ask her to join their scientific groups.

    Some of the men took credit for her work. Mary resented this. But she loved science. She worked at it until she died at age 47.

    Mary continued to make important discoveries throughout her life. She found a fossil of a flying reptile called a Dimorphodon, and she was the first to find a complete skeleton of a sea reptile called a Plesiosaurus. She even studied coprolite—that’s fossilized poop!

    So why isn’t Mary Anning as renowned as Thomas Edison or other important scientists from history?

    The explanation is that Mary was a woman, and at that time, women weren’t offered opportunities to attend college or hold high-level jobs. Nearly all scientists in Europe and the United States were rich men—and while many of them met Mary and praised her talents, they didn’t invite her to join their scientific organizations.

    Some of the men even took credit for Mary’s work. Mary resented this, but she remained passionate about science and continued working at it until she died at age 47.

_{Text copyright ©Lauren Tarshis}

_{Text copyright ©Lauren Tarshis}

_{Text copyright ©Lauren Tarshis}