Mary's Comet: Mary Anning

0:10 oh, hey, there, oh, hello there. I'm kate and I'm bradley and this is history buffoons. Welcome to history, buffoons. How are you, kate? I'm warm. I know it's warm day outside, so yeah, my house is 72, so hopefully that will change wow, it's old well, no so you're saying it's 72 degrees? Okay I mean that's you gotta get specific fahrenheit, not celsius yeah, I um, I turned down, or I turned off the AC last week because it was a cool week, and then my husband gets home and he turns it back on, which I'm thankful for, because it needs it.

0:56 But it's really high at 72 right now. Cat infiltration. They're like ooh, cords yeah yeah, they know it's almost dinner time anyway, so we do not have beers with us today we do not we have a cocktail cocktail yeah I decided that, hey, we've been doing a lot of beers, why don't we do a cocktail? are you okay? I'm really irritated at oliver right now yeah, well, we might have to take care of him short, or do that? It didn't work, oliver I like how you threw a mouse at a cat computer mouse folks yeah.

1:46 Yeah, not a real mouse, cause she'd be like eek, um no. So my husband, nathan has been gone a little bit more um recently, and Oliver is definitely a daddy's boy and he is just wreaking havoc. He's missing some pop time. Yes, he very much is, which is understandable. okay, that's how my kitty sway was so yeah, okay. So tell me about the cocktail, because it's beautiful and we're gonna put a picture up on our on our website yeah, and maybe other places yeah maybe just the website okay, what is it? What is it? so it's just your traditional gin and tonic Love, which I know you're a fan of, I'm a fan of With some strawberry puree Garnished with a lime, strawberry and some mint.

2:38 That's awesome. Yeah, it turned out like the look of it turned out exactly what I was hoping for. Yeah, it's really really pretty. I don't know if we should mix the puree together. I don't know if I use too much puree. I don't know. You just made this up yourself. Yeah, I just. It's really not that in depth, it's just I just like let's add some fruit to a gin and tonic is what my head said, and like, ooh, strawberry would be good and tonic is what my head said and like ooh strawberry would be good. Well, it smells really good with that mint I know. That's why I went with the mint plus. It's also a good garnish yeah, so you said that you went to your parents to make this, so I'm curious about that I just I'd never made a puree before, so I said you asked mom I said hey, ma, do you help me make a strawberry puree?

3:22 Sure, that's awesome, all right so I stopped over there. She helped me make a strawberry puree Sure. That's awesome, all right, so I stopped over there. She helped me make it, and here's to trying it. So are we supposed to put the lime in it? I mean, I want to because I like the lime flavor. But you know, okay, squeeze some in there. So I'll do my very best to squeeze the. Yeah, the glasses are rather full. I apologize. Okay, no, it's good. I suppose you could just probably eat the strawberry. Okay, so we fixed a setting, so if we sound a little different that's why I was sounding a little echoey before and now I feel like I don't Okay, so the gin and tonic tastes like gin and tonic, so maybe we have to. Okay, oh, I almost lost the strawberry.

4:05 Not the strawberry I stirred it up, so I'll taste it with the puree like mixed in. Yeah, that's tasty. You like it? Yeah, I do. Awesome. It's really quite basic. Again, it's just a gin and tonic with one extra ingredient. technically, I wonder if we add just a touch of sweetener of some kind. We could. I mean the puree does have sugar in it. Yeah, oh does it. But I didn't want to over-sugar it. No, that's for sure. Yeah, because otherwise it's too sweet, kind of thing. It's delicious, I like it.

4:46 Yeah, good job. Cheers to that, cheers to you. Okay. So I have a question for you. What's your question? What is your favorite nursery rhyme? Oh man, chutes and Ladders by Korn. It doesn't really count, because they incorporate a lot of nursery rhymes in there. Yeah. Have you ever heard that song? No. Oh man, we're going to have to change that. But why don't you tell me about an actual nursery rhyme? I mean, we've talked about Ring Around the Rosie. Yeah, we have. Do you have any other nursery rhymes that you like? There's like. Three. Little Pigs, and oh do you remember Baa Baa Black Sheep.

5:26 Yeah, and the Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Yeah, I do enjoy that one. Do you remember the old man Hubbard and the dog, or something In the cupboard or whatever? Yeah, something like that, yeah. I don't remember the words to it, I remember the. I do remember the. I guess it's a nursery rhyme, right? I guess I would think so um, I don't know, I guess I don't know if I really have a favorite per se. Yeah, um, the baba black sheep is like the first one that came to mind, so maybe I guess, yeah, I. I think I'm more in favor of the Goldilocks than the Three Bears. Yeah, I'd agree with that. So do you have a favorite one?

6:08 Is that what you would pick then? Yeah, there was a song that my mom used to sing. It was oh gosh, three bears in the bed and the little one said roll over, I'm tired. So they all rolled over and one fell out. Two bears in the bed and the little one said, roll over, I'm tired. So they all rolled over and one fell out. One bear in the bed and the little one said I'm lonely wow I'm not sure if that's like legit how it goes, but that's how I remember it, I mean mommy, you'll have to let me know.

6:51 Hey, let us know I have. I can honestly say I've never heard that before. Yeah, well, I asked because there's actually it's not like nursery rhyme, but it's more of a tongue twister. Okay, um, there's actually. It's not like nursery rhyme, but it's more of a tongue twister. Okay, um the sea she sells she sells by the seashore. Yes, that tongue twister, yeah. So my story is kind of based on that. Well, vice versa, selling she sells she, she sells by the se shore. That rhyme supposedly came from the story, although there's no like definitive documentation on it. Gotcha, but it's the story of Mary Anning.

7:34 Mary Anning. Mm-hmm, I am not familiar, do tell. Well, there is a movie based on Mary Anning, although it is so loose I don't even think we can compare it. Okay, it's called Ammonite, with Kate Winslet and Sershi oh, I don't know Saoirse Ronan. Yes, yes, yes, yes yes, she's what Irish right Scottish. Scottish Scottish. I don't know she's one of those two. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm 50% right on one of them, sorry. Saoirse, ronan Saoirse yeah, I believe that's how you say her name. Yeah. Because I remember watching. Probably got to tell everybody how to pronounce it.

8:16 Yeah, she's quite a lovely lady. Yeah, I really liked the movie, but it's very, very, very loosely based on when did that movie come out? Oh, probably within the last 10 years, maybe even shorter then. That would make sense, because I don't think she's very old yeah. Maybe like five years, six years. Okay yeah, just curious. Okay, so we're going to talk about mary anning um. She was born in 1799. Yeah into my wheelhouse here you're old, what? what? Well, that's not what you meant not even close. You meant the time period you enjoyed sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. But hey, I'm old sure wow, she had to get that jab in early today, good lord he's not even 45 no, he's not old, I just I'm not even 45, and the reason why she says that is because I turned 45 very soon very soon.

9:12 Yeah, okay, so she was born in lime regisis. Lime. Regis, it's not spelled like, but it's like the flavor that we have in our drink right now. So is it L-Y-M-E. Yes, lime Regis, and it is a Southwest English country of Dorset which is-. Oh, I know, dorset, yeah. It's right off the coast of the English Channel Right. So Lime Regis is now known as, or in that whole, like, strip of beach. Yeah, is known as jurassic coast. I thought you're gonna say park I was gonna say jurassic coat and I was like that's not the word and I had to like look down at my notes coast hold on, I forgot the s jurassic coast have?

9:58 They found a lot of dinosaur bones there miss anning was the first, was a discoverer of many is this the one who found the full t-rex? no, oh, because you had brought that up not too long ago to me, right yes, so that was sue oh yeah, that yes and I think that was in South or North Dakota. That sounds right North. I don't know Either way. I don't know. Stay tuned to a few traps. Yes, Hope you enjoy Al. But this coast is where Mary Anning discovered her love of fossils. So the Anning family was very, very poor.

10:39 Um her parents, richard and molly, had nine or ten children. Like they didn't even know how many, because, because, they had so many so many passed away. Oh really, only mary and her older brother, joseph, survived to adulthood so out of the potential 10, two lived basically, wow, that's crazy. So her father was a cabinetmaker and he was an amateur fossil collector. Oh, and Mary followed alongside her father by the time she was five, so she would go on outings with him nearly every day. Sure Together they would hunt for, for clean and display fossils in his shop interesting so lime regis is known for their exposed cliffs, and the cliffs are layered, with each layer representing a different time period and environment.

11:33 Right and as sediments settled over millions of years, they were compressed and hardened into rock. The cliffs of Lime Regis are constantly being shaped by the forces of nature, so erosion can be caused by wind, rain and waves, which exposes the underlying rock, revealing the fossils within Sure, the fossils within sure. So they, the annings, would like go out to the cliffs right after a really big storm, because of all that potential erosion, because that's the best time to really see what the the storm could have brought exactly exposed. Yeah, so did they obviously live close, yes, right to these cliffs?

12:14 yes, okay so mary had very, very little education, but she was able to read. So she taught herself geology and anatomy and she would copy poems. She would read a poem and she would just copy it word for word to kind of practice her reading and writing. Sure, so her father, richard, died in 1810 at 44 years old that's how old I am, I'm about to die. He fell off a cliff oh jesus getting a fossil. But he also had tb, so he we're not sure if he died of complications from the fall or from tuberculosis from tv.

12:55 Yeah, gotcha, or maybe he survived the fall with injuries, but the tb yeah yeah, there's probably a lot of factors involved. Yeah so her brother, joseph, took over his father's shop and eventually became an upholsterer and um her mother, molly actually her name is also mary, but they call her molly the mom. So wait, there's two marys, there's, there's actually three what? oh my god, stay tuned one no. So one of the um children that passed away early on was mary the first and this is this, mary the second yeah, they, they named this mary out of off of the uh, the mary who passed, and then molly's name is also mary that's confusing.

13:44 They really need to get more creative so molly's the mother who's also named mary yes, but they call her molly why do they call her molly I? probably to distinguish her from everyone else do you know how else they could have done that? Name them something else something else? yes, and then one of their daughters who died was named mary the first and then the mary anning that we're talking about was named after her sister, who died that's so weird. I mean, that's really strange because, like obviously there's. I mean typically you see juniors in the first and so on on the guy side of men, boys, whatever side of things for names.

14:30 You don't see that a lot with females. Not a lot, but I think it's cool. I mean yeah. And confusing. So we have all the names down. Well, still confused, but yes. So Mary had very little education, like I said, but her mother, molly, encouraged Mary to help the family with the debts by selling the fossils that she had found with her father. Gotcha Okay. So her father died in 1810, right Yep. So in 1811, and because of the way the cliffs are designed in Lyme Regis, a large storm came and dissolved away layers of sediment, exposing fossils.

15:18 So every time that happened she made that to her advantage. Right. So when Mary was 12 in 1811, one of these large storms happened. Joseph, her older brother, ended up finding a strange fossilized skull. Ooh yeah, can you imagine that being the first thing that you find? No, a whole skull that'd be pretty impressive actually so so he asked his younger sister he had to go back to work. He he didn't have time to mess with this right, but mary did. So he asked his younger sister to find more bones to go with the skull. She tried for a year.

15:58 Holy crap yeah and just couldn't she just couldn't find it. Wow, but she did eventually after a year of looking. Oh, so there's a happy ending. But it took another large storm for her to find it oh, I suppose yeah. So basically just the head was revealed yeah on that initial storm and then a second one was needed to find, well, the body, I guess yeah, but I mean she would dig and, dig and dig and just never find it, but for a freaking year. I'm sure she's not going out there every single day of her life, but especially at 12 yeah, I mean that's pretty young, but back then, what are you gonna do? Yeah, isn't that crazy that is crazy so this time mary found a three inch wide vertebrae.

16:43 Oh wow, that's a big vertebrae that is it was stuck in the cliffside several feet above the seaside. Okay, so she knew this was something. So, mary, with the help of towns, folks, she literally like, hey, y'all, I need some help with this yeah grab your shovels. She dug out a 5.2 meter long skeleton 17 feet holy shit, 17 feet that's impressive that's two and a half of you I know actually probably less than more than that a little, a little more. No, yeah, a little more math I, I can't I can't do it. It's almost three of me it's almost three of you yeah yeah, so in all there were 60 vertebrae that's a lot of vertebrae there was a four foot skull with sharp teeth and that is, and that's what the brother initially found yeah, the the skull.

17:35 Yes, there were flippers like a dolphin. Oh, a mouth like a crocodile oh, so this is one of those sea dinosaurs. That's awesome a pointed snout like a swordfish I'm kind of picturing which one it is. Yeah, hopefully I'm right. But yeah, the spine of a fish right and the chest of a lizard. That. That's so weird. Yeah, so scientists actually thought that this was some type of crocodile. Well, yeah, because they didn't know better. Yeah. And the townspeople were like nah, that's a monster dude.

18:19 In the early 1800s people thought that bones that they didn't recognize were just animals from other lands that happened to migrate there. Yeah, yeah, makes sense. Yeah, exactly, I mean so, not necessarily fossils, but like, hey, here's a bone from maybe a I don't know a bear from way back when I don't know, you know and even like they've found. They've found over time, different styles of bears that don't exist anymore today. It's almost kind of like evolved, or whatever you want to say. Right, but they didn't know that. No, because they had different like just I don't want to say facial features, because they couldn't see the face, but just like the structure of their bones was a lot different, their overall makeup of how their body would have went together is a little bit different, but very similar. So, yeah, I mean, I get that.

19:00 Well, they thought about this migration because they were so sure that Genesis happened. Right. That God created Earth in six days. Well, and that's the thing, especially being very religious, you know orientated back then. That's all they knew, because that was before Darwin, right, especially being very religious, you know orientated back then before you know, that's all they knew. Cause that was before Darwin. Right, he was in the 1800s. That brings up my next point, literally. Holy crap. I was going to give you some context. Charles Darwin's work on the origin of species wasn't published for another 48 years. At this point, it's like I knew what you were going to say Exactly Do for another 48 years at this point it's like I knew what you were gonna say exactly? Do you know what I'm gonna say next? Hello, no, shit.

19:42 No, not that either. So close. So the word dinosaur didn't exist yet okay okay, so the year, so this is 1811, right 1841, a scientist named richard owen coen. Richard owen coined there it is the word dinosaur, okay, and it originates from two greek words usually does dinos, which means terrible, powerful yep and wondrous, and sorrows, which means lizard, sure. So Terrible lizard. Yeah. Ultimately what it means so many? years ago. Yeah, okay, so Mary's landlord, who also owned quite a bit of the town, paid her 23 pounds for the skeleton.

20:31 Wow, that probably was a lot at that time $3,000. Wow, I mean, that's for. For today it would be three thousand dollars. That equated to six months of her living expenses and, like I said early on, she's very poor. Their whole family is very, very poor that was a travelist and antiquarian. And he had a private museum called the Natural Curiosities of London, so it was donated to him. Sure, makes sense. So there the fossil was studied and debated for many years about what it could be.

21:15 It was eventually named Ichthyosaurusosaurus ichthyosaurus or fish lizard fish lizard. I like it nice science couldn't understand how this could even be real part lizard, part fish yeah, they probably thought. Some people probably thought it was fake, right, I mean seriously so this lived 190 to 200 million years ago. It's a long time ago, so long ago even older than me, kate by a couple years, maybe a few. Yeah, you're right, you're right dear, so that length of time was inconceivable. I still feel like that is inconceivable. You can't. I mean, you just okay, I'm almost 45.

21:56 you're gonna be 40 next year. Yeah, you think about our time on this planet. Mm-hmm. And that is exponentially multiplied. Yes, ago, ago. I mean, it's hard to like. I mean, especially when you're younger age is a really weird thing, concept even Like I thought people who, when I was you know, 10, 11, 12, who were 40, were fucking ancient. Yes, and now I'm halfway through my 40s. It's like holy. No, I'm not that ancient. I mean I tell you are, but well, and I feel like it you know, ask my knees, but um no, it's just, it's like to perceive that amount of time is like it's inconceivable to me and people thought that the earth was only 6,000 years old.

22:43 Well, and some still do. We won't go into that. Do you want to know what's really weird? Some people think it's flat too. That's fair. So there is a man by the name of Sir Everard Holm, everard Everard Holm. That's a funky name, I like it. He's a renowned scientist. Okay. And he increased the fossil's fame by writing a series of papers about it for the Royal Society of London. Okay, so it is the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge. Damn right it is yes, is that? still a thing today. I don't know. I know you always ask me the questions I don't know the answers to 925.

23:29 So it's one of the oldest continuously operated scientific academies in the world. I just had to keep reading. Fair enough. I wrote this like five days ago. I understand, I know, I know. I forget such things. I forget such things. So, despite any significant contribution to the fossils preparation, home of course failed to acknowledge her involvement. Of course he did. Did she's? a woman, well, and that's what I was going to say because she's some little girl, but yet these guys are going to just take basically the credit for it. Yep, that's bullshit.

24:10 So, between, 1815 and 1819 annie continued to make significant discoveries, unearthing several more ichthyosaur fossils wow, so she's got a couple under her belt. Yes, yes so okay, these included near complete skeletons of various sizes, from just five feet all the way to 20 feet, basically an infant yes, all the way to 20. 20 feet, yeah, jesus Christ. So in 1821, there was a man named William Coney Bear, and this person comes back again Henry de la Biche. Okay. They are both prominent scientists of the Geological Society of London.

24:52 They collaborated together on a paper analyzing Anning's fossils and others that she has found, together on a paper analyzing anning's fossils and others that she has found. Sure, henry de la biche was actually a childhood friend of hers and they would. They would go hunting for fossils together nice yeah, so their research determined that ichthyosaurs were a unique type of marine reptile and identified at least three distinct species based on their tooth structures. Oh, so they literally found three different variations of eels. Yeah, so it would be like this is a bear, but is it a grizzly? Is it a? Kodiak. Is it a black bear? Yeah, I really like Kodiak bears. By the way, did you know that George Washington never knew dinosaurs existed?

25:35 I believe it. Well, because of when he died. That was like. The reason why I find it wild that he never knew dinosaurs even existed is just because, like, obviously in our lifetime there's probably something that's discovered, but it's like we've always known about dinosaurs. Like to know there's a time where someone didn't know dinosaurs existed is just wild yeah because obviously science has evolved, everything's evolved, whatever, but it's like he never knew there was these giant beasts that roamed the planet at one point. Right, that's crazy. He's like I could have used them in that war anyways so along this time frame in 1818 to 1819, mary met lifeguards officer Lieutenant Colonel Thomas James Birch.

26:22 Lifeguard? Yeah, what is that? I don't know. That's probably different than a lifeguard, probably Okay. He purchased many of the items for Mary in this one year Okay, including a near complete ichthyosaur. Can you try that again, so I can understand what you're saying. I'm trying to find the pronunciation. Oh, you didn't have it. Ichthyosaur. I only wrote the pronunciation down once, ichthyosaur. All right, okay. So at one point, after a very long stretch of having no sales, birch came through for the Anning family. Yay, birch, he saw how freaking poor they were. Okay.

27:03 He sold off 102 fossils of his own, including the ichthyosaur. That she found, mm-hmm Wow. For 100 pounds, which equals $14,000 today. That's pretty good. In total, $50,000 was raised, 400 pounds, $50,000. Wow, he gave all of it. To that family, to the Annings. That's pretty impressive. That's very generous. Yes, I mean especially at what? 1815? Or 1819? 1818, 1819,. Yeah, I mean, mean, that's very generous of him to do that. So and if it made the news because he was doing it for a reason he wanted for charity, exactly.

27:49 So it put the annings in a little bit more of a star power sure makes sense, because you know people are talking about them too so yeah I get that. And he knew this is a big deal. Her finding all these fossils is a big deal for science, because I mean, that's a lot of freaking fossils. Yeah, so in 1823, mary's next discovery she was around 24 years old, that's what I was going to say. She discovered the skeleton of a plesiosaur. Ooh, not the plesiosaur, it means near to reptile. It is a long-necked marine reptile with four flippers so I'm assuming that they found a lot of these marine ones because of where they were.

28:33 They're on an island to begin with. Right. So I mean I would assume that's very prominent in that area? Yeah, so okay. So this was a huge moment for her, as it was nearly complete. It was nine feet long, jeez, and six feet wide, holy shit. It's almost as wide as it is long. That's crazy, it's almost as wide as it is long. That's crazy. The mouth was a meter long, sharp teeth and the eye, which is the largest of its kind, looked like a slice of pineapple, a slice of pineapple, mm-hmm. So it's like all those ridges, oh sure Gotcha. And that type of eye was meant to see in the deep depths of the ocean.

29:17 Yeah, that makes sense. And their foreflippers maneuvered like dragonfly wings. Oh eye was meant to see in, like the deep depths of the ocean. Yeah, that makes sense. And their four flippers maneuvered like dragonfly wings, oh yeah, and they were air breathers, so they had to come up to the surface they went that deep but had to come up that's that's wild okay so, despite widespread acknowledgement of her fossil discoveries, mary anning's contributions were again overlooked, of course, with the credit going to others. The people who would purchase from her or the ones who would end up donating her fossils would get the credit the credit. Yeah, that's bullshit. Yeah, and I bet you 100% of them were men. Yes. Weird.

29:58 I mean, it was all due to, like, a lack of documentation. Well, I don't think it was all due to that. Well. But I think that was the majority of it, also her social status and her gender. Well, that's my point. It's like, hey, I just bought this skeleton of this dinosaur, this new fangled dinosaur, off of this chick 24-year-old. Yeah, nobody knows who the hell she is. Yeah, she's got no status. They're going to know who the hell I am right now. Yeah, many scientists found it difficult to believe that someone with such a disadvantaged background could possess something or even know what she's talking about.

30:38 Yeah, and isn't that just sad, like well, she was poor. She can't clearly know what she's talking about she also would sketch all of her findings. Oh, that's awesome yeah, so um can I ask you another question. You don't know the answer to probably do any of these sketches still exist. I believe so and continue. Actually, I believe so Really, yeah, I believe so That'd be pretty cool. So papers were written by scientists Yep, Presentations were given by scientists Yep and they also had Anning's drawings and she was never given credit to any of them.

31:21 So and I'm not trying to jump the gun and I'm hoping you can just tell me I'll get there how did she get notified or not notified? Credited. Basically, I will tell you. Yes, all right. Something you can tell me. So throughout her years of fossil hunting, she would oftentimes encounter a small type of object. Object that is a tough word to say, isn't? it object can you please re-say object object all right they were twisted and rounded like kind of dark gray pebbles. Okay. They were sometimes shaped like cones, spirals and cylinders.

32:04 Is that those? I don't know? Fuck, I just lost the word. Ammonites. Yeah, no, no, no that's not what I was thinking of. She would find these objects within the abdominal cavities of ichthyosaurs. She would find these objects within the abdominal cavities of ichthyosaurs and thinking they were undigested food. They contained fish, bones and scales, okay Okay, but she didn't know for sure, so she called in a favor. So she shared For being someone of poor standing had a lot of favors. People know who she is, Clearly. They just don't give her credit. Which bullshit those bitches. So she shared her observations with an english theologian and paleontologist and geologist, william buckland oh hey, william.

32:51 And he eventually determined that they were actually fossilized feces Poop. So he ate shit. Excrement Crap. Dung Shit, shit. He called these fossilized Poop. Sorry, penny, I said poop, she went running, I gots to go. So he called these cup cup roll lights, cupper lights. Words are hard, I can tell um so cup roll lights, it is literally greek.

33:32 From dung dung, snow stone. Jesus christ, wow dung, stone, dung stone. How, jesus Christ, wow Dung, stone, dung, stone. How did you fuck stone up? I don't know. That was impressive. Well done and continue. Thank you. Anning's discovery of coprolites contributed significantly to the understanding of the diet and behavior of ancient marine creatures, and it became one of the most important techniques available to paleontologists. All right. So in 1828, Mary found yet another impressive fossil she was 29. This one had long tail and wings.

34:17 Is that different than wings Wings? Is that different than wings Wings? This was the first pterosaur oh, also known as the pterodactyl Correct, and this was the first of its kind in this area All right. So this particular pterosaur that's what they kind of called. It was pterosaur back then. Eventually it was pterodactyl, but this type of pterosaur was called the dimorphodon Dimorphodon. It means two forms of teeth. Oh, so it's got two forms of teeth. Massively long ones out front to snatch prey.

34:59 And shorter, sharp ones in the back for chewing. Yeah for grinding them up basically yeah, so um it was it was less than four feet long oh, so a lot smaller than I would have thought, but it had a long tail compared to the body, sure, head claws, a large skull and it looked like a cross between a vampire bat and a reptile what kind of reptile? I don't know. Crickets. I'm going to put some cricket sounds in right here. So the dimorphodon was one of the earliest species, dating from around 200 million years ago Ah, that's it, and it had a projected wingspan of 1.4 meters or four and a half feet.

35:42 Wow. As well as flying. All pterosaurs walked, but they would like fold up their flying wings fingers to like, keep their wings out of the way as they're walking. So if they folded up their flying wings, what did they do with their walking wings Shut up? I had to ask you set it up. So 200 million years ago was almost 70 million years before the first known bird. Really yes. That's crazy. And Penny is playing with a piece of paracord if you can hear her nails in the background. Okay, so Anning was finally credited.

36:23 Oh, for having discovered this fossil so who actually credited her for it? I don't know god damn it. Do you know anything? well, you got to tell me what your questions are before I have to answer. But you're teaching me something, so I don't know what we're talking about I don't know I can tell in 1829 she found another, more perfect plesiosaur oh really, and this one went to the british museum is it still there? For 105 pounds. Six pounds, no Seven pounds. That is equal to $19,000 today. That's pretty good. I mean, that had to keep the family afloat for a little bit, mm-hmm.

37:08 So also in 1829. Okay, after several days of rain, 30 years old. She uncovered a new species of ray like a stingray really yeah, yeah, because I've been around for a long time, correct? it's called the squaloraja squaloraja. It's like the maharaja maharaja yeah it lived approximately 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic era, and it is literally an ancestor to the shark and the ray. Really yes To both, yes. Really yes, but I thought sharks were around back then too.

37:49 But they looked different. Why are you talking like a belly girl? Put that in one. No, you're not. You're from Nebraska, jesus Christ. They have valleys there, between the corn. That's not a valley, that doesn't count, that's just because the fucking combine. They call that a ditch. Exactly, and just because the combine came through the middle of the field that doesn't constitute a valley or whatever. Okay, so this Squaloraja was a foot and a half, that's pretty short. It had two immense sockets for the eyes, probably to see deep Two.

38:32 what? Sockets. You said something before that Immense. Oh, okay, because that word wasn't clear to me. It had a long snout. Snoot. It had a flat long head. It was almost like a flat diamond. Oh really, mm-hmm Crazy. It had very tiny vertebrae. Okay. Had claws. What the? And fins like wings, like a stingray. And it's the whole birthing, the stingray thing, mm-hmm, all right. So I read a book called the Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling. Okay, and she quotes was another extraordinary transitional creature, this time between sharks and rays.

39:20 As such, it provided yet another piece of proof for the chain of being so and I'm sure you don't have the answer, and that's perfectly fine. How? Because, like obviously, sharks and stingrays are vastly different. How is it, like so, associated with both? Only the strong survive that's the worst fucking answer you could have given and go, jesus christ so again down on her luck. And how is she constantly down on? her luck? Does she just piss this fucking money away? Jesus christ mary these. This is like years and years difference, like she'll get the money and that's probably all she gets for a really long time and she's got to use that go get a real job um.

40:08 So, not having found any fossils to sell, the market was drying up as well because of the war of 1812, limiting exports, the reign of king King James IV and his fanatical spending. So all of that like between 1812 and then like All of it just compounded to be really bad for them, basically. So her childhood friend, Henry de la Biche, comes back. Is it de la Bette or de la Biche? Biche B-E-C-H-E. I mean, I got that. You said de la Betteette, it's because I misspoke Jesus. Jesus Christ he. He came to a rescue with a gift. Oh, like a gift of marriage.

40:48 No. A proposal. Although there was a rumor that she was in love with him and he didn't reciprocate, but I don't know if she ever said anything to him. Oh, so it was one of those. I like you yeah, okay, so he painted the duria antiqua, antique or and antique we are. That's probably better I believe, I believe in you duria antiquior. Okay, it means a more ancient dorset. It was painted in 1830 and I'll show you a picture of it here in a second so he painted this. He painted this so he sold prints and lithographs of this painting, which details, in full color and grandeur, the three types of ichthyosaurs plesiosaur and dimorphodon.

41:45 Dimorphodon. All of Mary's findings. That's pretty cool he put in this painting. Okay, it is considered the very first pictorial representation of prehistoric life based on fossil evidence. That's pretty cool actually, mm-hmm. I would assume this painting still exists. Yes, don't know where it is where is it. I don't know where it is. So again described from the book the fossil hunter by shelly emling the focal quote, the focal point of the drawing. A large, toothy ichthyosaur was shown biting on the slender neck of a plesiosaur while another plesiosaur was lunging from the shallow water in a sneak attack on a crocodile basking on the shore.

42:30 What I know, there's a crocodile in here. In the distance there was an elongated neck of a plesiosaur hurling itself into the air trying to take a nip out of a low-flying pterosaur also known as a pterodactyl end quote not my part. So basically, the, the painting was. I mean, obviously it's not a representation of something they found it was uh, yeah, so you have to zoom in on that. Yeah, I'll look at it later. I can't see that far. I mean, obviously it's not a representation of something they found it was yeah, so you have to zoom in on that. Yeah. I'll look at it later. I can't see that far. Okay. I have classes, I'm old, so, basically, his painting, though, is just let's be a little fantastical, because I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but he had no idea if that was accurate.

43:15 Yeah, exactly, and he did all this just to get her out of a financial slump. She got a lot of friends, apparently especially this dude who she was in love with yeah, so between 1830 and 18, potentially 1830 and 1847, mary anning continued her fossil hunting and research 1830 to 1847 okay, um. So despite increasing competition from other fossil hunters, she remained a respected figure in the field. That's crazy. Her discoveries continued to contribute to the understanding of prehistoric life, Wow. So during this period, Anning also faced health challenges to his arduous work and exposure to the elements. Despite these difficulties, she remained dedicated to her passion for fossils.

44:00 On March 9th 1847, Mary died from breast cancer. Oh, that's too bad. She was only 47 years old and still in financial strain, despite a lifetime of extraordinary scientific discoveries and help from friends. That's crazy. She became the first woman memorialized by the geological society of london, although as a woman she had not been allowed to join that's just ridiculous. I get it because of the timing, but yeah you think on it now it's like what the hell? look at what she found and you're like, nah, you can't because you're a woman cool today, the natural history museum in london showcases several of mary anning's spectacular finds, including her ithyosaur, plesiosaur and pterosaur that's pretty cool much like they did two centuries ago.

44:51 Her fossils continued to captivate visitors from around the world well, I mean that's especially with how intact they are. That I mean that's impressive. I'd like to go see them. Yeah, me too, I've never been to London. You said it's in London. Is that right? I would love to go, just honestly just go see her damn frickin' fossils. That's pretty cool. Her house is also a museum now. Oh, is it really so she? has. She has had several things named after her. Okay, so the Anning House, which is a museum in Lime Regis dedicated to her life and work. Makes sense. Anning Street. Ooh, a street in Lime Regis. Thank God, anningia. The what, what? Anningia. I don't know what that is, but okay.

45:35 It is a genus of extinct marine reptiles. It was named after her. Oh, there you go, and Anning Point, which is a geological feature on the Jurassic Coast, which is a 95-mile stretch of coastline, where Lime Ridge just sits. Yeah, so basically they named where she found her fossils after her. Okay, and this place was also declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. What's UNESCO? I don't know oh. Supposedly she was also named after a comet. So Mary's Comet. Because she's a star, what I don't know. She's named after a comet. She's named after her mother.

46:16 A comet is named after her. So it's kind of like Haley's C mary's comment, same thing. Or is it molly's comment? No, that's her mom I don't know but also was her mom too but, that's weird that is the story of mary anning and her fossil discovery. Well, that's kind of cool, because you don't I, I didn't know ever hear about her, probably because, well, I'm not english, I'm american, but uh, that's pretty awesome that she found that many uh fossils like, especially on the coast, like that, with a little help from the mother nature, obviously so I actually have an ammonite here yes, that's, that's what I was trying to.

46:59 I couldn't obviously not articulate that. This is an ammonite, so it is. Piece of poop. No, it is extinct marine creatures that lived during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. And that's what they ate, right. They were closely related to modern day octopuses and squids. Oct right Mm-hmm. They were closely related to modern-day octopuses and squids, octopi, mm-hmm. Cool. So they had coiled shells that were often symmetrical and intricate. The shells were made of calcium carbonate, similar to shells of snails and clams Nice, and the size of ammonite shells varied greatly, ranging from a few centimeters to over a meter in diameter.

47:39 So this one is probably a inch and a half yeah, not a huge one, but it's still pretty good size yeah, so the internal structure of ammonite shells was divided into chambers which were connected by a tube, and the tube allowed ammonites to regulate their buoyancy and maintain their position in in the water column. So it's almost like your eustachian tube it closes off. Sure, so they can raise and lower that kind of thing. Yeah, that makes sense, nice. Ammonites were important predators in the marine environment. Oh, they used their tentacles to capture prey, which they then consumed using their beak-like jaws. Ammonites were also prey for other marine creatures, such as sharks and plesiosaurs, and the fossil record of ammonites is extensive, making them valuable tools for geologists in dating rock formations.

48:27 The different species of ammonites lived at different times, so their presence in a rock layer can provide clues about the age of the rock. Okay, so this is my ammonite. How long have you had that, I don't know. Can provide clues about the age of the rock. Okay, so this is my ammonite. How long have you had that? I don't know. Oh, my God. A couple years. I don't remember who gave it to me, if I bought it myself, I have no idea. I don't remember. That's all right, you don't remember a lot, I don't remember a lot. But I do have an ammonite and I have seen the Ammonite movie with Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. Saoirse Ronan yeah. And, like I said, super, super loosely based. Well, so does Saoirse play Mary Anning then.

49:07 No, Kate Winslet does. Oh, so she's older and they made her look like a really old spinster. Well, you know, that's kind of shitty. And so Saoirse was apparently like a high society woman who was going through about a depression. So she just wanted to buy some fossils and like Well, her husband dropped her off at Mary Ann's and said here, take care of her for me. Essentially like go off and do some activities together. So did they have a lot of room for activities. Well. I mean, the coast is only so big. I know, but they actually did partaking activities in the movie oh yeah together.

49:48 Oh dear. Which is why it's very sleepy. Scandalous. Because there's no mention of that in historical documents. And obviously there probably wouldn't be. Yeah. Especially from that time frame. Yeah. Makes sense. So no, that's interesting. I never knew about Mary Anning. That's kind of cool that she found all those. That, honestly, really is Obviously, I mean especially. I'm not saying little girls aren't, but it always seems like little boys are big fans of dinosaurs. I know my son was a huge fan of dinosaurs. I think he's already kind of evolved a little bit from that, but I remember being huge into dinosaurs too when I was a little too. So it's kind of cool, especially seeing like those different kind of marine ones instead of just, I mean obviously as t-rex is right badass and brontosaurus, blah, blah, blah, whatever.

50:36 But those marine ones are pretty sweet too, which again makes sense that they found them on the coast of of england. Because of what it? is basically so, but yeah, no, that's. That's pretty interesting. I had no idea about her, so that's cool. Yeah, so how's your drink? it's delicious yeah and I want another, even though I'm not even finished with this one. I am so keeping that in there, Holy crap. Well, I'm glad you enjoy it Again. I know it's not very involved. No, it's fantastic. Yeah, I was excited to have you try it, because Strawberry, mint, lime, gin and tonic.

51:22 Who knew? Yeah, it's delicious and I'm excited to keep drinking it while you tell me about it. Well, the nice thing, the nice thing I'm just trying to copy Kate and her mannerisms there. It's super simple. It's literally just making a puree, putting it in a gin and tonic. It's super, super simple garnish with. You know, I just put the strawberry on there for presentation. It was beautiful, it looked pretty good it turned it looked better than I thought. Um, we'll have to take a picture of one. We'll make another round after we're done oh shucks uh, but because the first one was just the layered, if you will how I made it. We'll mix it up, okay, yeah and with the garnish, just so you can see the difference, because definitely better once it's mixed together.

52:08 Yeah, um, I wasn't sure how much the puree would be drawn up. If you will right it just sunk to the bottom, but well, I mean only because I started with that. Yeah, and I and I stirred it and it's been emulsified together. It hasn't like separated at all yeah, which is, which is awesome. Yeah, so, all right. So the idiom I have for you today um, when you pay for something and it costs an arm and a leg, why is that, kate I? Don't know okay, so there's a couple different things that I've found on this and again, any of these idioms I do it's funny, I'm like oh, I thought I found like the actual reason for it or the origin of it yeah, and then like something else randomly, I'll come across the same one and it's like, oh wait, well, is that right?

52:59 Or is the one I said right? I don't know. Yeah. So. So there's a couple of different things I did find on it. One has to do with medical bills, which clearly I'm going to like you know kind of thing. But it said, uh, it may have come from the idea of paying a high price for medical bills after losing an arm and a leg in an accident. I mean, okay, let's see it. The next one was portrait painting. This one I actually found pretty interesting. The idiom may be related to 18th and 19th century portrait painting, where full-bodied portraits cost more than head and shoulder portraits what yeah, so basically the more of your body that was in the portrait that they had to paint cost more so if it's like a bust, basically, which is like what your shoulders and up yeah correct.

53:50 Yeah, it was cheaper oh my gosh I thought that one was interesting. Again, not sure if it's accurate, but I thought that was pretty funny. Um, there's one that says it might be criminal slang, where it may have come from 19th century american criminal slang phrase if it takes a leg, which meant to express desperate determination. I feel like that's a little more of a stretch, but I could be wrong. Okay, um, but basically, other things I found is that, uh, it originated from america after world war ii, where a lot of servicemen lost arms and legs due to the war and it was a pretty much high price to pay right because of that.

54:34 The war cost an arm and a leg. Correct, literally, because right they that makes sense to me, like that makes more sense than the the war cost an arm and a leg. Correct Literally, because they lost an arm and a leg. That makes more sense than the criminal one, for sure that I said I kind of like the painting one. I'm not sure if that's accurate. That's pretty cool too. I thought that was pretty funny. So basically no one knows. Well, and that's what a lot of these idioms like, because I don't know. I find them fascinating because where did the origin of this come from? Yeah. And there's so many variations that I've found who knows if what I said is even fucking right at all Right. All of them could have been right. None of them could have been right. One of them could have been right. I don't know, but I find it funny, especially with our language, the English language, being so diverse within itself because it pulls from a lot of different other languages too.

55:22 You don't really know, or at least I sure as fuck don't know. I'm trying to find out, but I still don't know. So I don't know. I think they're kind of neat, though I like the idioms because we use. So I saw, looking this up and I think I got the number right there is over 25,000 different idioms that we use in our language. 25,000? What? That is a lot of idioms. What Say what? So I mean whether that number is accurate or not, that would be staggering, because you think of some of the just random shit you say you might not even think of right, it just becomes natural because you've said it for most of your life or whatever yeah.

56:10 So I read or I listen to a lot of podcasts and when I hear an idiom I'm like, oh, I'm gonna take this one to bradley. Yeah yeah, pretty much and and that's great. But like you know the different ones, you know it costs an arm and a leg. It's raining cats and dogs yeah when you say, oh my god, I want to buy that tv, but it costs an arm and a leg you know, exactly what like if you said that to me. I know, I know exactly what you're saying. Oh, that's expensive yeah because obviously giving up an arm and a leg is a high price to pay right is ultimately what it's what it is, whether the origin is one of those that I just read or not. Maybe not maybe, but anyways it's uh. Yeah, it's pretty wild all the different uh idioms that we use on a day-to-day basis, and yeah I'm sure there's plenty that I don't realize I use that.

56:59 It's like, oh yeah, and I'm sure a lot of people same thing. They just don't realize. Yeah, if you have a favorite idiom that you like to use, or an idiom that is not super common, we would love to hear it. Yeah, please send us an email through our website historybuffoonspodcastcom there's an email section on there or even on this episode there's a link to send us a text. Say I want to hear about this ADM because. I'd love to look into it more, some random ones that I might not know, or obviously some common ones too, that people like to say or use, or whatever. That would be great. Yeah, and I really appreciate some of the recommendations that are coming in as well.

57:43 Yeah, you've gotten a couple right yeah, so I will be doing some of those in the future and we'll. We'll give a shout out to the, the person who suggested such uh story, and uh, yeah, go from there. But yeah, we appreciate anyone who's listened to us so far. I have to say, al, it's more than you and I'm kind of not sad to say that thanks for being our first fan Al yeah, and thanks to everybody else who have downloaded and followed and yeah, I mean again, we're just, we do this for fun, but we're glad that some, a few people have listened to us is all I'm saying. So, thank you for everyone who has and we hope you've enjoyed the nonsense that we've put out.

58:26 I mean, you were pretty nonsensical. Well, and no one can understand you. so that's because I flip upwards. You flip upwards Flub. Case in point yeah, I'm like good lord, I mean, I'm glad you were on point for that one, but anyways, well, I suppose. all right, buffoons, that's it for today's episode buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you. Next time feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore. Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on Reddit, x, instagram and Facebook.

59:09 You can also email us at historybuffoonspodcast at gmailcom. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop. Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us. Remember, the buffoonery never stops.