Icthyosaur

'These specimens kick-started many debates over the nature of past life and ecosystems, and fuelled important discussions about deep time and the origins of major animal groups.'
Prof Paul Barrett, vertebrate palaeontologist

Mary Anning was the world's first professional fossil hunter. She discovered many of the most spectacular specimens of Mesozoic reptiles, fish and invertebrates in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England.

The huge reptile fossils she presented were unlike anything academics of the time had ever seen. They were the world's first glimpse into a Mesozoic age (225 to 65 million years ago) of giant reptiles on land and under the sea.

Many of the icthyosaurs and plesiosaurs that now line the Museum's Fossil Marine Reptiles gallery were collected by Anning herself.

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