Fun Fact #293 The Lightning Fossils
Fun Fact #293
The Lightning Fossils
On August 19th, 1800, three women were talking outside when lightning struck a nearby tree and killed the women, but not the baby one of them was holding. Thus would begin the public image of Mary Anninng, one of the most important paleontologists of all time. She would tirelessly scour the sea shore in the winter and would sell them in her shop Anning’s Fossil Depot.
Through this business whe would discover some of the first Pterosaur fossils (Pterodactyls), discovering what coperlite is (fossilized poop), and gained fame for her ability to recognize the taxonomy (family tree) any fossil belonged to just on a handful of bones. Yet despite all this today most people only know her from the children’s rhyme “She sells seashells by the seashore.”
Image by Kathrine Tromans Behance.net
