Career
Mary Anning is largely known globally for her important finds she made in geology and biology. Her main discoveries were based around the cliffs at Lyme Regis in Dorset. These cliffs are known for being one of the most richest fossil locations in Britain. Mary Anning regularly visited this site and would collect common finds such as "curios" and fossils to sell to tourists to aid her career.
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| Lyme Regis fossils - LymeRegis.org |
However, the risks were high in her profession as the cliffs in Lyme Regis, specifically Blue Lias, were incredibly unstable and dangerous especially during the winter. this was illustrated when Anning was virtually almost killed from a landslide that buried her dog, a close companion to her which Anning took along with her to every fossil site she visited. However, without visiting these dangerous sites Anning would have found the majority of her incredible discoveries.
Notable finds such as the first ichthyosaur (translated as "fish lizard") was the biggest advancement in her career and allowed Anning to be well-known to the most prestigious scientists of the time and they would visit her for advice and to discuss scientific beliefs about fossils.
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| Ichthyosaur- Oxford University Museum |
Unfortunately, during Mary Anning's lifetime, Anning hardly ever got any full recognition she deserved. Because she was a woman she couldn't join the Geological Society of London although she was well known for her intelligent consultations on the anatomical aspect of fossils. Anning would often dissect similar animals to the ones she would as fossils to understand how the jurassic reptile would move, swim or fly. She obtained an astonishing intellect on scientific literature even though she was too poor to have a proper education. Because of Anning's passion for fossil collecting she would borrow second hand papers and hand-copy them adding her own illustrations and understandings to the research.
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