As a part of our ‘Darwin’s Delights’ topic, Year 6 had the opportunity to have a live session with a paleontologist from Charmouth Heritage Centre.

The paleontologist showed the class a range of different fossils to identify. These included:

• belemnite
• ammonite
• coprolite (which we learnt was fossilised poo!)
• echinoderm

Year 6 were then shown the fossils of the Scelidosaurus – the best preserved and most complete dinosaur found so far in Britain! The children asked questions such as:

What did the scelidosaurus eat?

Why does it have spikes?

Did it live on land or in the sea?

What was the scelidosaurus’ cause of death?

They then used their observational skills of the fossil to try and answer their own questions. They could see that the scelidosaurus had short, blunt teeth which would have been good for eating and tearing plants. They also noticed that the feet of the scelidosaurus were long and thin, that were more suited to living on land. The paleontologist showed the children that there was in fact fossilised vomit in the throat of the dinosaur, and that it is believed that the scelidosaurus drowned.

After spending some time being fossil detectives, Year 6 then impressed the paleontologist with their knowledge on Mary Anning, and how she discovered the first ichthyosaur in Lyme Regis.

What a fantastic morning!