Anjana Khatwa explains why the Jurassic Coast is a Mecca for fossil hunters <\/p>
The rocks of the the Jurassic Coast<\/a> (Britain’s best fossil hunting location<\/a>) record an incredible 185 million years of Earth\u2019s history, charting ancient environments from arid deserts and deep murky seas to dinosaur-infested swamps.<\/strong><\/p> Locked inside the cliffs are fossils that provide valuable insights into these lost worlds. The richness and diversity of life in these ecosystems,<\/a> combined with exceptional preservation, makes this coastline one of the best places in the world for fossil hunting.<\/p> The abundance of fossils<\/a><\/strong> found on the beaches is also due to coastal erosion, where incoming waves batter the cliffs, releasing all manner of geological treasures to be discovered.<\/p> Mary Anning<\/a> <\/strong>was a Victorian palaeontologist who lived in Lyme Regis and spent her life fossil hunting along these beaches. Her discoveries, such as a partial skeleton of a Dimorphodon (flying reptile) and marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, would transform our understanding of ancient life on Earth.<\/p> Main image \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Anjana Khatwa explains why the Jurassic Coast is a Mecca for fossil hunters <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":41304,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/why-are-the-cliffs-of-the-jurassic-coast-filled-with-dinosaur-fossils.jpg",2125,1410,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/why-are-the-cliffs-of-the-jurassic-coast-filled-with-dinosaur-fossils-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/why-are-the-cliffs-of-the-jurassic-coast-filled-with-dinosaur-fossils-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/why-are-the-cliffs-of-the-jurassic-coast-filled-with-dinosaur-fossils-768x510.jpg",768,510,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/why-are-the-cliffs-of-the-jurassic-coast-filled-with-dinosaur-fossils-1024x679.jpg",800,530,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/why-are-the-cliffs-of-the-jurassic-coast-filled-with-dinosaur-fossils-1536x1019.jpg",1536,1019,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/why-are-the-cliffs-of-the-jurassic-coast-filled-with-dinosaur-fossils-2048x1359.jpg",2048,1359,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Anjana Khatwa explains why the Jurassic Coast is a Mecca for fossil hunters","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/41303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"