(ENGLISH SUBTITLES) Mary Anning was the first paleontologist in history, and a key figure in understanding the evolution of species. In this video documentary with English subtitles I tell you the biography of Mary Anning, on whom the film Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet, is based. #maryanning #ammonite #biographies

Mary Anning was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, a town located in the middle of the Jurassic Coast. His father, Richard Anning, was a cabinetmaker, and he also made extra money from the sale of fossils that he collected in the deposits on the beach. He was an expert seeker, and taught Mary the trade since she was a child. Every time there was a storm, landslides used to occur on the cliffs, which could bring to light new fossils; but then the tide, when it rose, could drag them out to sea, so it was convenient to go to the beaches to look for fossils after each storm.

Furthermore, her family was quite poor, and Mary did not have the opportunity to receive a formal education. He learned to read and write in Sunday school. And her father, yes, transmitted to her all her knowledge about fossils and her passion for them from a very young age. Unfortunately, one rainy night, while looking for fossils, Mary's father slipped and fell from the top of the cliffs. He survived the coup, but his health was damaged and he soon died, in November 1810, probably from tuberculosis. Mary was only 11 years old.

At that time, Charles Darwin was a baby, and religious beliefs about how the world was created and how different species were still dominated scientific thought. For many Christians, the idea that God had allowed a species of his creation to go extinct went against their beliefs. Thus, suggesting that the fossils were the remains of extinct species was extremely controversial.

Shortly after the death of Richard Anning, Mary's brother, three years her senior, discovered on the beach a strange skull 1.2 meters long, and she, some time later, managed to find the rest of his body, which it was 5.2 meters long. It was very very strange: it looked like a mixture of fish and bird. It was the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton ever discovered. It was a great discovery, and its sale allowed them to attract the attention of many British biologists and geologists, who began to buy fossils regularly.

Her brother decided to abandon the search for fossils to become an apprentice upholsterer, but Mary continued to engage in the dangerous activity. In 1823, at the age of 22, he made another great discovery: the complete skeleton of a plesiosaur, with more than ninety bones in its spine alone and a total size of almost three meters. Five years later, he found the first pterosaur ever found outside of Germany, a flying reptile that, in the British Museum, they called a "flying dragon" the first time it was exposed.

Another of Mary's findings were some curious fossils that she found in the ichthyosaur's abdomen: they were coprolites, that is, fossil feces. Because of the morals in force at the time, Mary never showed them if there were women in front of them.

However, despite his numerous and important contributions to paleontology and research that was key to laying the foundations of the theory of the extinction of species, he did not achieve recognition for his findings.

Thank you for visiting my channel. I am Raquel de la Morena, a writer of historical romances ('The heart of the banshee' and 'Who the hell are you?', Winner of the V Titania Prize) and juveniles (such as the mirror-novel 'The Curse of Trefoil House') . I am also a journalist: I work in the popular science magazine 'Muy Interesante'. In this channel I will tell you stories aimed especially at curious minds. Legends, mysteries, historical and literary curiosities ... If you want to hear and see them, you are welcome!

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Screenplay: Pedro Estrada and Raquel de la Morena
Image, sound and video editing: Pedro Estrada
Music: 'Waiting', by Andrew Langdon