Mary Anning

Question 1

Where was Mary Anning born?

Answer 1

Anning was born in 1779, before she was born her father (Richard Anning) relocated to Lynne Regis (town), in Dorset, south coast of England, her dad and a part-time career in selling fossils

Question 2

Describe the cliffs:

Answer 2

The steep cliffs were made of clay and limestone which eroded. The cliffs were very dangerous when wet. They eroded very easily.

Question 3

How did her father injure himself?

Answer 3

Her father went fossil hunting and lost his footing, afterwards his health slowly declined and he died 2yrs later

Question 4

What did the Annings call fossils and why?

Answer 4

Curiosities, because they didn’t know what they were

Question 5

What did her mother, brother (Joseph Anning) and herself have to rely on when her father died?

Answer 5

They had to rely on Parish support (similar to welfare) and they were also £120 in debt

Question 6

Where did Joseph Anning have to go when he was 15

Answer 6

Joseph (15) was apprenticed to make furniture in town and he could no longer do any fossil hunting

Question 7

What did Joseph come across befor he started his apprenticeship?

Answer 7

He came across what looked like a massive alligators head and he asked his sister (12) to have a look

Question 8

How did Mary find the body?

Answer 8

After a storm and the clay was eroded a part of the body was revealed

Question 9

What and how did she excavate?

Answer 9

She excavated for months (with help from locals) and discovered a 5.2m (17 foot) long fossil with an elongated neck, flipper and vertebrae more in common with modern lizards than fish.
It was an Icthyosauras

Question 10

At the time, where did people unrecognisable creatures came from

Answer 10

From far off lands, scientists though it belonged to a crocodile

Question 11

Icthyosauras

Answer 11

Fish-lizard

Question 12

Back then, when did scientist and most people believe Earth was created?

Answer 12

By God, less than 6000 yrs ago, no one would have allowed for extinction

Question 13

What was Annings Icthyosauras the start of evidence for

Answer 13

The theory of evolution

Question 14

The theory of evolution

Answer 14

That organisms have evolved to be better adapted for their environment and some had become extinct

Question 15

Over the next 2 decades what did Annings discover?

Answer 15

She excavated several extinct organisms from the cliffs, including a species of Pterosaur and a never discovered species named a plesiosaur. She also discovered different specimens of extinct fish and several invertebrate fossils

Question 16

Describe a Plesiosaur

Answer 16

Long neck with a small skull

Question 17

Could Annings publish her work?

Answer 17

As a woman in the 19th century, she was never allowed to publish on her own

Question 18

Did the scientists that published her discoveries give her credit?

Answer 18

Scientists that published her work almost never credited them in their papers or speeches

Question 19

What was she used as in her hometown.

Answer 19

She became well-known in her home-town, although some people only valued her as bait for tourists and distinguished guests

Question 20

Why and when did she die?

Answer 20

In her mid-40s she got breast cancer and died at 47

Question 21

Why wasn’t she taken seriously?

Answer 21

Because she was a woman, she is know greatly respected

Question 22

Theory of evolution scientists

Answer 22

Pixaby, Baron Georges, Charles Darwin and John and Charles Watkins