GUTSY GIRLS
Go for Science
KAREN BUSH GIBSON Illustrated by Shululu
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A
nning
The extraordinary thing in this young woman is that she has made herself so thoroughly acquainted with the science that the moment she finds any bones she knows to what tribe they belong.
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—Lady Harriet Silvester, 1824
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Date of Birth: May 21, 1799
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Place of Birth: Lyme Regis, England
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Date of Death: March 9, 1847 (age 47)
Famous for: Discovered Great Britain’s earliest specimens of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and pterosaurs
n C o l l e c to r
IN 1811, 12-YEAR-OLD MARY ANNING AND HER OLDER BROTHER, JOSEPH, WERE WALKING NEXT TO THE SEA. They lived in Lyme Regis, on England’s southern coast, and spent long hours at the shore. The two weren’t looking toward the water though—they were both fascinated with the rocks and cliffs. And there, they found something they had never seen before. Something nobody had ever seen before!
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What did they find? The head of a strange-looking creature embedded in the rocks. With great excitement, Mary began clearing the dirt away from the skeleton. It was 17 feet long and looked like a giant fish lizard! Mary and her brother had discovered the first ichthyosaur. This creature had been extinct for about 90 million years. How did two children come to make such an important discovery? Well, that was part of their business—their business of fossils. TIMELINE
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Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
1799
1799–1815
Mary Anning is born.
The Napoleonic Wars take place between France and other European countries, including Great Britain.
Mary Anning
1811
1821
1842
1847
French naturalist Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) is one of the first to suggest that fossils are the remains of extinct species that lived long ago.
Mary Anning and her brother discover the first fossilized ichthyosaur skeleton.
Henry De La Beche (1796–1855) and William Conybeare (1787–1857) publish the first scientific description of an ichthyosaur.
Richard Owen (1804–1892) of Great Britain proposes using the term Dinosauria, meaning “terrible lizards” to classify the fossils of large, extinct reptiles.
Mary Anning passes away after a lifetime of collecting fossils and aiding other researchers.
th e pri ncess of paleontology
1800
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Welcome to Lyme Regis The Anning family lived in a town called Lyme Regis, which is along the English Channel. When Mary was growing up, Lyme Regis grew into a tourist town, a place where people with money came to vacation on the coast.
TONGUE TWISTER She sells seashells by the seashore. Most people have heard of this tongue twister. And many people have claimed that it describes Mary Anning. However, there is no evidence that this is true, and some evidence to the contrary! Why do you think people might continue to believe in a story that isn’t real?
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Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
The Anning family lived in a rented house next door to the town jail. The front of the house looked out over the town square while the back looked out over the sea.
Mary’s mother agreed. Not only was Mary alive, but she seemed to be a different child. No longer sickly, Mary grew and became a healthy, lively girl, in both mind and body.
th e pri ncess of paleontology
Lightning struck the tree! The woman holding Mary was killed instantly. Mary lay in the dead woman’s arms, breathing, but only faintly. When Mary’s parents dunked her in a tub of water, her color and breathing returned to normal. The doctor declared it was a miracle.
Mary Anning
Mary was born in 1799. She was a small, sickly baby, often crying and coughing. When she was 15 months old, a friend took the baby out for some fresh air. A storm erupted in the town, and the woman and Mary huddled under an elm tree for protection.
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A Fossil Family As a child, Mary scampered after her father in search of specimens along the beach and cliffs of Lyme Regis. They found shells and fossils, what people referred to as “curiosities.” They sold the fossils to tourists from a table outside their home. People especially loved the unique shape of ammonites, which look like coiled snakes.
The location of Mary’s town is often referred to as the Jurassic Coast. Millions of years ago, during the Jurassic period, this coast supported a large variety of life. Check out some of the fossils found here.
onnect . . . . . . . . . . . . Jurassic Coast
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Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
In 1810, Mary’s father passed away from a disease called tuberculosis. Everyone was devastated—they were also poorer than ever. Mary’s brother went to work at an upholstery shop and Mary helped the family by continuing to sell fossils to tourists.
th e pri ncess of paleontology
In October 2017, a six-yearold girl named Naomi was at her sister’s soccer game in Oregon. Bored, she wandered over to some sagebrush and poked around in the dirt. She found an interesting rock with a swirling pattern. A few months later, she and her family learned that Naomi had found a 65-million-yearold ammonite!
Mary Anning
FOSSIL FINDER
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Early Discoveries A year after she started selling fossils to tourists, Mary and her brother found the ichthyosaur in the cliffs. She sold it to a local collector for 23 pounds. That was more money than the Annings had ever had at one time!
Pound sterling is the money that people in Great Britain, where Mary lived, use. The value of the pound compared to the value of the U.S. dollar changes.
MEET ELLEN CURRANO Even today, women work to be recognized for their work in the field of paleontology. Just ask Ellen Currano, PhD. Dr. Currano is an associate professor of paleobotany at the University of Wyoming. She is not only a paleobotanist (a paleontologist who studies plants), but also a paleoecologist who studies ancient environments. A strong advocate for women in paleontology, Dr. Currano cofounded The Bearded Lady Project: Challenging the Face of Science. This film investigates our stereotypes of what a field scientist looks like. Take a look at this trailer.
onnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vimeo Bearded Lady mid-project
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Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
th e pri ncess of paleontology
At this time, curiosity about science was exploding in Europe and America. Science became a profession and hobby for many gentlemen, and they learned a lot from Mary Anning’s discoveries.
Mary Anning
Mary also found another ichthyosaur. It was smaller, but very well preserved. Artist and fossil collector George Cumberland (1754–1848) described it as “the very finest specimen of a fossil Ichthyosaurus ever found in Europe.” Later that month, Mary discovered a much larger one. At 20 feet long, it was later determined to be the first flat-toothed Ichthyosaurus platydon ever found. In one year, she discovered four ichthyosaurs!
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Mary learned from the scientists she met, too. She devoured scientific papers and books. Eventually, not only did she find fossils, she could also identify the prehistoric families and groups that the fossils belonged to. Mary loved her work, despite the fact she was never recognized for it. She could often be seen walking along the limestone cliffs in her tattered skirts and high bonnet. Her little black-and-white dog, Tray, was her constant companion. The cliffs could be unstable, though, as Mary learned in 1833, when her beloved dog was killed in an avalanche.
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Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
Twelve years after discovering her first ichthyosaur, Mary discovered the fossil of another marine reptile, stretching about 9 feet long. She counted 14 ribs and 35 neck vertebrae. Its four legs looked more like paddles. Some people described it as a serpent in the body of a turtle!
Mary drew the odd creature she had discovered and sent it to scientists in London. Excitement shot through the scientific community. Georges Cuvier, considered the authority on fossils, stated that such an animal couldn’t exist. Perhaps Mary had combined multiple animals?
th e pri ncess of paleontology
Mary was horrified that people might think she would submit a fraud. She shipped the skeleton to London. Scientists, including Georges Cuvier, examined the longnecked reptile that obviously had lived in water. It was declared a legitimate find and Georges apologized to Mary. She had discovered the world’s first complete specimen of a plesiosaur!
Mary Anning
Oceans to Skies
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In 1828, Mary discovered a specimen that looked like a dragon with a huge wing span. It was the first pterosaur discovered in Great Britain! Mary found more pterosaurs in 1829 and 1830. Many were small, but one had an almost 40-foot wing span. Although Mary never received credit for her finds, scientists arrived from all around the world to examine her fossils and talk with her. Sometimes, she took these gentlemen bounding across cliffs. Often, they struggled to keep up!
Why does it matter that all people receive recognition for the work they do and the things they accomplish?
W
onder hy
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?
Men of learning have sucked her brains and made a great deal by publishing works, of which she furnished the contents, while she derived none of the advantages.
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—Anna Pinney,
about her friend, Mary Anning
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Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
The Royal Society is a prestigious community of scientists that was founded in Great Britain in 1660. Women were denied membership in the Royal Society until 1945. In 2010, on its 350th anniversary, the Royal Society named the top 10 female British scientists—one of them was Mary Anning. She finally received the recognition she didn’t get during her lifetime.
th e pri ncess of paleontology
RECOGNITION AT LAST
Mary Anning
Mary passed away at 47 years old from cancer. The Natural History Museum in London has an exhibit celebrating her accomplishments. It refers to her as the “greatest fossil hunter ever known.”
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! e d i W e l i Sm
View this video about fossil teeth PBS fossil teeth
GEORGES CUVIER GAVE MARY ANNING SOME TROUBLE ABOUT HER DISCOVERY OF A PLESIOSAUR. TEETH CAN GIVE US CLUES TO AN ANIMAL’S DIET AND BEHAVIOR. The animal kingdom has a wide variety of shapes and sizes in teeth. There were differences in prehistoric times, too. Take a look at the pictures of the teeth below. Describe the teeth. What is a food that you think these teeth ate?
credit: Mike Beauregard
Carnivores are meat eaters. They need sharp teeth to tear at the meat.
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Herbivores are plant eaters. Their flat teeth are useful for grinding up plants.
Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists
✓ STAPLE REMOVER
✓ SMALL FLAT ROCKS
✓ COTTON BALLS
✓ LEAVES
Let’s look at a way to put this in practice. Have an adult help with the sharp staple remover!
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Think of the staple remover as the sharp teeth of a carnivore. The cotton balls represent meat.
2 3
Pick up the rocks. Think of them as the flat, grinding teeth of an herbivore as the rocks rub against each other.
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Use your sharp teeth (staple remover) to eat the meat (cotton balls). What happens?
The leaves are plants that your flat teeth (rocks) grind up. What happens when your teeth “eat” the plants?
Answer these questions. – Which set of “teeth” worked best to “eat” its food? – What kind of teeth do you have? – What do your teeth say about you?
FOSSIL COLLECTING RULES
Field Assignment
YOUR FIELD KIT CHECKLIST
The Paleontological Society has a Code of Fossil Collecting. It states that the sole purpose of fossil collecting is to advance the science of paleontology. Unlike some rules of nature, leaving a fossil undisturbed isn’t recommended. Erosion can damage fossils, so it’s important to carefully remove them in a way not to damage them. If you need help, contact a professional. Some towns have fossil clubs you can join to hunt for fossils with others. lways get permission 1 Afrom the landowner before removing fossils.
o not remove items from 2 DNative American or federal lands. They are federally protected.
f you’re not sure of the 3 Ivalue of what you have
discovered, contact a university or a natural history museum and allow the fossil to be studied.
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G lossary ADVOCATE: a person who speaks out in support of someone or something. AMMONITE: a flat, spiral fossil of an
BACTERIA: microorganisms found in soil, water, plants, and animals. Some bacteria are harmful and others are helpful.
extinct cephalopod mollusk.
BIOLOGY: the study of living things.
AMPHIBIAN: an animal with moist skin that is born in water but lives on land. Frogs, toads, newts, efts, and salamanders are amphibians.
BODY FOSSIL: a fossil that is formed from the hard parts of an animal or plant, such as bones, teeth, shells, or tree trunks.
AMYGDALA: a structure in the brain that
BOTANY: the study of plants.
has an important role in processing fear response and emotion.
ANCESTOR: a person from your family or
culture who lived before you.
ANTHROPOLOGY: the study of human culture and human development.
APPENDAGE: a small part of the body, such as a hand or foot.
APPRENTICESHIP: the time served as
BURLAP: coarse canvas. CARNIVORE: an animal that eats meat. CEREBRAL CORTEX: the outer, wrinkled part of the brain.
CHARISMATIC: having a charming nature that inspires devotion in others.
CLASSIFY: to put things in groups based on what they have in common.
an apprentice helping and learning from masters.
CLIMATE: the weather patterns in an area during a long period of time.
ARCHAEOLOGY: the study of the remains of past human life and activities.
COLLABORATION: to work together, a
ARTIFACT: an object made by a human in AUTHORITY: an expert.
COLLABORATOR: a person who works with others. During war, it means a person who works with the enemy.
AVALANCHE: a fall of a large mass of rock
CONCENTRATION CAMP: large camps
an earlier time.
or snow down a mountainside.
AWL: a small, pointed tool to make holes.
group effort.
where Jews and members of other groups were imprisoned by the Nazis and forced to perform hard labor or exterminated.
CONTRARY: opposite.
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GLOSSARY
COPROLITE: fossilized poop. CRANIUM: the skull. CRINOID: a marine animal common during the Paleozoic era.
CULTURE: the beliefs and way of life of a
group of people.
CURATOR: a keeper or creator of a
EVIDENCE: signs or indications of
something.
EVOLUTION: how organisms change and adapt through time.
EXCAVATE: to carefully remove earth from a location to find buried remains. EXCURSION: a short journey or trip.
collection, such as in a museum.
EXECUTE: to put to death.
DECAY: the breaking down of plant or
EXHIBITION: a public show of art or other
DECOMPOSE: to break down, or rot, into
EXTINCT: when a group of plants or
animal matter by natural causes.
simpler parts.
DESCENDANT: an organism related to an organism that lived in the past.
DIATOM: single-celled plants found
interesting things.
animals dies out and there are no more left in the world.
FOSSIL: the remains or traces of ancient plants or animals.
preserved in sedimentary rock.
FRAUD: deception.
DISSERTATION: a long essay or paper
GEOGRAPHY: the features of a place,
written as a requirement of higher learning, particularly for PhD or doctorate programs.
EMIGRATE: to leave one’s own country in order to settle in another country.
such as mountains and rivers.
GEOLOGIC TIMESCALE: the way time is divided up into large blocks to describe the 4.6-billion-year history of the earth.
ENDOCAST: model of a hollow object.
GEOLOGY: the study of the history and physical nature of the earth.
ENVIRONMENT: everything in nature,
GEOSCIENCE: the earth sciences.
living and nonliving, including plants, animals, soil, rocks, and water.
EON: a very long period of time. EROSION: the gradual wearing away of rock or soil by water and wind.
GHETTO: a section of a city inhabited by
one minority group.
GREGARIOUS: enjoys social interaction with others.
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G lossary HERBIVORE: an animal that eats only
MICROORGANISM: a living thing so small
HOLOCAUST: the killing of millions of Jews and other groups of people by the Nazis during World War II.
MICROPALEONTOLOGY: the study of
plants.
HOMINID: a human, or an ancient
creature from which humans developed.
INVERTEBRATE: an animal that does not have a backbone.
JEWISH: describes a person who practices
the religion of Judaism.
KRISTALLNACHT: the wave of anti-Jewish violence that took place on November 9 and 10, 1938, in Germany.
LEGITIMATE: real and true. LETHAL: capable of causing death. LIBERATE: to set someone free, especially
from slavery or imprisonment.
very small fossils.
MILLENNIUM: a period of 1,000 years. MINERALS: naturally occurring solids
found in rocks and in the ground. Rocks are made of minerals.
MOLAR: a flattened, square-shaped tooth at the back of the jaw in mammals, used for chewing or grinding. MULTITUBERCULATE: a small, extinct mammal with two or three rows of teeth. NAZI: a member of the political party led by Adolf Hitler that ruled Germany from 1933 until 1945.
NEUROLOGIST: a medical doctor who diagnoses and treats disorders of the brain and nervous system.
LIMESTONE: rock that forms from the skeletons and shells of sea creatures.
NURTURE: to care for and encourage the development of something.
LOGICAL: in a way that is orderly and makes sense.
ORGANISM: any living thing, such as a
MAMMAL: a type of animal, such as a
PALEOBOTANY: the study of fossil plants.
human, dog, or cat. Mammals are born live, feed milk to their young, and have hair or fur covering most of their skin.
MARINE: found in the ocean or having to do with the ocean.
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you can see it only with a microscope.
GLOSSARY
plant or animal.
PALEOECOLOGY: the study of the relationship between ancient plants, animals, and their environments. PALEOMAMMALOGY: the study of
ancient mammals.
Juvenile Nonfiction • Biography Ages: 8–11 • Guided Reading Level: R
WHAT KIND OF LIFE EXISTED MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO? HOW HAVE ORGANISMS CHANGED THROUGH THE EONS? THESE ARE THE KINDS OF QUESTIONS PALEONTOLOGISTS TRY TO ANSWER. In Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists, readers 8 to 11 meet five female paleontologists who made breakthrough discoveries of ancient life from millions of years ago, including Mary Anning, Mignon Talbot, Tilly Edinger, Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, and Mary Leakey. These women all led fascinating lives while working in the field and in the lab, often facing challenges because of their gender and race. Try these hands-on STEM projects! * Compare different types of ancient teeth * Investigate dinosaur names
* Play an evolution matching game * Create a paleontology diorama
Paleontologists is part of a set of four Gutsy Girls Go for Science books that explore career connections for young scientists. Check out the other titles in this series!
PRAISE FOR GUTSY GIRLS GO FOR SCIENCE: PALEONTOLOGISTS “ This book serves as a great introduction to some of the amazing women who make up the history of paleontology itself, both past and present. Combined with the activities, field tips, illustrations, and fun facts and quotes, this book is a must-read for budding paleontologists!”
—Suzanne Pilaar Birch, PhD, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, cofounder of TrowelBlazers
$14.95 US