My name is Mary Anning. When I was young, my father died of tuberculosis. Because of this, my brother Joseph and I had jobs to support the family. I sold fossils I found on the beach.

My first big discovery was the complete skeleton of an Ichthyosaur in 1810. My brother had found the skull of what appeared to be a large crocodile a year earlier. The rest of the skeleton was found when a storm broke away part of a cliff containing it. This was not the first fossil of an Ichthyosaur, however, it was the first complete skeleton found. I was only twelve years old when I made this important discovery. I went on to discover two other distinct species of the Ichthyosaur.

My next discovery, in 1821, was the first-ever skeleton or fossil found of a Plesiosaur. In 1828, I found an important fossil of a Pterosaur. It was the first found outside of Germany, and the first complete skeleton.

In my late thirties, I received a financial contract from British Association for the Advancement of Science. I was made an honorary member of the Geological Society of London, despite the fact that I was ineligible because of the fact that women had few rights at the time. Although these were the discoveries that made my mark in history, I continued collecting fossils for the rest of my life.

Until my time, no one believed that animals could go extinct. Animal disappearances were thought to be living in an unexplored region of the Earth. The bizarre fossils I found struck a strong blow to this argument.

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