Today, May 21, is the 221st anniversary of Mary Anning’s birth. She is not a household name, by any means—though she is believed to be the inspiration behind the well-known tongue-twister “she sells sea shells by the sea shore”.

However, it wasn’t shells she was selling, but fossils of long extinct creatures of a bygone era. She was ‘the greatest fossilist the world ever knew’. Though, the sad truth is much of the world never knew, and still does not.

221 years after Mary Anning's birth, a young girl from the very town where Mary lived her entire life is fighting to rectify a historical injustice in recognizing Anning in bronze—a fitting honor for a woman who spent her life uncovering creatures lost to time.

Towards the end, I butcher the pronunciation of Saiorse Ronan. We’re all human, right? Don’t make my mistake and learn how to say her name the right way in this video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kbv6_rpC7jw

If you would like to support Mary Anning Rocks, you can do so by visiting http://www.maryanningrocks.co.uk. I strongly encourage you to pledge your support and purchase one of their stellar t-shirts. Friends, family, and strangers alike will want to know just who this Mary Anning is, and now you can tell them.

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Read this at https://thewildlife.blog/2019/05/22/women-in-science-meet-mary-anning-fossil-hunter-and-the-11-year-old-fighting-for-her-recognition/

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Elaphrosaur paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1342937X20301234