She Discovered Dinosaur Poop

Dinosaur Lady
Written by Linda Skeers & Illustrated by Marta Álvarez Miguéns
Age Level: 4-8 Years
Published July 7, 2020

They’re extinct, just like my social life.

Mary Anning was struck by lightning when she was 15 months old, which was an early indication that she would be exceptional. When she was twelve, she discovered her first dinosaur, an aquatic creature called an Ichthyosaurus. By the time she reached her twenties, she was firing on all cylinders: she figured out that bezoar stones were fossilized poop (which enabled scientists to figure out what dinosaurs ate), she deduced that belemnite fossils contained dried ink (which she concluded was used against predators), and she discovered the first prehistoric flying reptile. 

This all happened in England during the first half of the 19th century when the word “dinosaur” didn’t even exist yet! It was a time when people believed the Earth was only 6,000 years old. Denied a university education, barred entry into the Geological Society of London, armed with only a homemade hammer and chisel, Mary still outpaced her male colleagues and is responsible for many breakthroughs in the field of paleontology.

"She scrambled over crumbling cliffs and rocky peaks while avoiding life-threatening landslides."

I’ll leave you with a fun fact. Truly a trailblazer, Mary owned her own business called “Anning’s Fossil Depot” where she sold seashells and displayed her finds. In 1908, a popular tongue twister was written, and the rumor is that it’s about Mary. Which one is it? “She sells seashells on the seashore…”