Mary Anning, Fossil Hunter

Science · Dinosaurs & Paleontology · ages 7-9

Name ______________________ Date ____________

When did Mary Anning live and hunt for fossils?
- In the early 1800s
- Last year
- In the year 3000
Where did Mary Anning search for fossils?
- In a desert
- Along the coast in England
- In a rainforest
Mary Anning found the bones of ancient sea reptiles, like the ichthyosaur.
Circle one: True False
Why did Mary Anning's fossil finds matter to scientists?
- They proved that creatures like the ichthyosaur used to live on Earth but don't anymore
- They were made of pure gold
- They were the very first rocks ever found
Which of these did Mary Anning discover?
- A dinosaur egg nest
- An ichthyosaur skeleton
- A woolly mammoth tusk
Mary Anning hunted for fossils in a big city far from any coast.
Circle one: True False
Someone finds a strange bone shaped like a giant flipper along a beach today. What would Mary Anning likely want to do?
- Ignore it because only new things matter
- Throw it away since it is just an old rock
- Carefully dig it out and study what ancient creature it came from
A classmate says, "Mary Anning's fossils were just interesting rocks. They didn't teach us anything new." What is wrong with that statement?
- Nothing is wrong, fossils are just rocks
- Her fossils showed real ancient animals once lived on Earth, which changed how scientists understood the past
- Her fossils were fake and not important

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

In the early 1800s · Mary Anning lived about two hundred years ago, in the early 1800s.
Along the coast in England · Mary Anning walked the cliffs and beach near Lyme Regis, a coastal town in England.
True · She found ichthyosaur and plesiosaur skeletons, which were sea reptiles from long ago.
They proved that creatures like the ichthyosaur used to live on Earth but don't anymore · Her fossils showed scientists that strange animals once lived on Earth and later disappeared.
An ichthyosaur skeleton · Mary Anning is famous for finding the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton, not dinosaur eggs or mammoth tusks.
False · She hunted along the coast at Lyme Regis, not in a big inland city.
Carefully dig it out and study what ancient creature it came from · Mary Anning carefully collected and studied bones to figure out what ancient animal they belonged to.
Her fossils showed real ancient animals once lived on Earth, which changed how scientists understood the past · Fossils are more than rocks. Mary's finds gave real proof that extinct creatures once existed.