The Bone Hunter

One day, Mary’s brother spotted something shocking on the beach. It looked like a huge skull in the sand. Mary knew she had to uncover the rest of it.  

Mary carefully chipped away at the rock around the skull. 

She soon realized it was part of 

a whole skeleton. She worked hard to uncover it. It took her months. 

Finally, she uncovered the whole thing. It was not a creature that anyone had ever seen before. It had a lizard-like body. 

It had flippers like a dolphin. 

It had a tail like a shark! 

It was 17 feet long. That’s longer than four second-graders!  

Mary had found an amazing fossil. It was a skeleton that had turned into rock.  

She sold the fossil. This earned her enough money to feed her family for months. The fossil was put on display at a museum. 

Mary’s fossil seemed like a monster from a storybook. But, over time, people would learn that it was a real animal from millions of years ago. 

It was an ichthyosaur. It lived about 200 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed Earth.

One day Mary and her brother were walking on the beach. Mary’s brother saw something. It looked like a huge skull in the sand. Mary knew she had to uncover it.

Mary carefully chipped away at the rock. She worked around the skull. Soon she saw it was part of a whole skeleton. She worked hard to find the rest. She dug for months.

Finally, she uncovered the whole thing. The creature was something no one had ever seen before. It had a lizard-like body. It had flippers like a dolphin. It had a tail like a shark!

The fossil was 17 feet long. That’s longer than four second-graders!

Mary had found an amazing fossil. It was a skeleton that had turned into rock.

She sold the fossil. She made enough money to feed her family for months. The fossil went to a museum.

Mary’s fossil seemed like something from a storybook. It looked like a monster. People would learn that it was a real animal. It was from millions of years ago.

The creature was an ichthyosaur. It lived when dinosaurs roamed Earth. That was about 200 million years ago.

One day, Mary’s brother spotted something shocking on the beach. It looked like a huge skull in the sand. Mary knew she had to uncover the rest of it.

Mary carefully chipped away at the rock around the skull. She soon realized it was part of a whole skeleton. It took her months to uncover it.

Finally, she dug up the whole thing, and it was not a creature that anyone had ever seen before. It had a lizard-like body and flippers like a dolphin. It had a tail like a shark!

It was 17 feet long—that’s longer than four second-graders!

Mary had found an amazing fossil. It was a skeleton that had turned into rock.

She sold the fossil and earned enough money to feed her family for months. The fossil was put on display at a museum.

Mary’s fossil seemed like a monster from a storybook. But over time, people would learn that it was a real animal from millions of years ago.

It was an ichthyosaur, and it lived about 200 million years ago. That is when dinosaurs roamed Earth.

Today we know of about a thousand kinds of dinosaurs. There was the fierce Allosaurus, with its huge jaws. There was the tall Brachiosaurus, which ate leaves. And, of course, the lightning-fast Dilophosaurus. 

We can read book after book about incredible creatures that lived long ago. 

But no one knew any of that when Mary discovered her fossil. No one had heard of dinosaurs. The word dinosaur did not even exist. 

People had found fossils before the 1800s, of course. But no one knew what they were.

Today we know of about a thousand kinds of dinosaurs. There was the fierce Allosaurus. It had huge jaws. There was the tall Brachiosaurus. It ate leaves. There was also the lightning-fast Dilophosaurus. We can read books about the creatures that lived long ago.

Mary discovered her fossil before people knew about dinosaurs. The word dinosaur did not even exist.

People had found fossils before the 1800s. But no one knew what they were.

Today we know of about a thousand kinds of dinosaurs. There was the fierce Allosaurus, with its huge jaws, and the tall Brachiosaurus, which ate leaves. And, of course, the lightning-fast Dilophosaurus. We can read book after book about the incredible creatures that lived long ago.

But no one knew any of that when Mary discovered her fossil, and no one had heard of dinosaurs. In fact, the word dinosaur did not even exist.

People had found fossils before the 1800s, of course, but no one knew what they were.

Mary’s discovery helped create a new field of science. It is called paleontology. That is the study of fossils. 

After Mary found her ichthyosaur, she continued to hunt for fossils. She would carefully excavate them. That means dig them out. She studied them too. She filled notebooks with drawings and observations. 

As the years went by, Mary made other important fossil discoveries. She found a flying reptile called a Dimorphodon. She was the first to find a complete skeleton of a sea reptile called a Plesiosaurus. 

She also studied coprolites. Those are pieces of fossilized poop!

Mary’s discovery helped create a new field of science. It is the study of fossils. It is called paleontology.

Mary continued to hunt for fossils. She would carefully dig them out, or excavate them. She studied them too. She filled notebooks with drawings. She wrote her observations.

Mary made other important fossil discoveries. She found a flying reptile. It was called a Dimorphodon. She was the first person to find a complete skeleton of a sea reptile. It was called a Plesiosaurus.

She also studied coprolites. Those are pieces of fossilized poop!

Mary’s discovery helped create a new field of science called paleontology, the study of fossils.

After Mary found the ichthyosaur, she continued to hunt for fossils. She would carefully excavate and study them. She filled notebooks with drawings and observations.

As the years went by, Mary made other important fossil discoveries. She found a flying reptile called a Dimorphodon. She was the first to find a complete skeleton of a sea reptile called a Plesiosaurus.

She also studied coprolites—pieces of fossilized poop!

Every year, people learn more about these long-ago creatures.

Plus, people find new fossils all the time. Anyone could find a fossil. You could find one!

Just think. Perhaps at this very moment, there is a kid walking on a beach somewhere, about to make a discovery that will change our ideas yet again. Just like Mary Anning.

Every year, people learn more about dinosaurs.

Plus, people find new fossils all the time. Anyone could find a fossil. You could find one!

Just think. Perhaps at this very moment, there is a kid walking on a beach somewhere. Maybe that kid is about to make a discovery that will change our ideas. Just like Mary Anning did.

Every year, people learn more about these long-ago creatures.

Plus, people find new fossils all the time. Anyone could find a fossil—even you could find one!

Just think. Perhaps at this very moment, there is a kid walking on a beach somewhere, about to make a discovery that will change our ideas yet again. Just like Mary Anning.