Fossils William Whiskerson

# William Whiskerson Mouse explorer

# Finds adventure round every corner

# Where will he go?

# Who will he meet?

# His amazing adventures Will make you squeak!

# William Whiskerson Mouse explorer. #

Here comes William Whiskerson

in his amazing travelling globe.

Greetings, adventurers.

I am William Whiskerson, the famous mouse explorer.

William is on a beach.

But which part of the United Kingdom is he in today?

Cheesephone, reveal my location!

The Cheesephone shows William, where he is on a map of the world.

Hello, William. Today, you're in the south of England.

In a town called Lyme Regis.

The cliffs and beaches of Lyme Regis

are part of an area known as the Jurassic Coast.

The area is full of important clues that tell us

how the Earth has changed over 185 million years.

Oh, I've got a message coming through on my Cheesephone!

Hello, William. This is Cameron and I'm Kedisha.

Welcome to Lyme Regis.

Would you like to come on a fossil hunt with us?

That sounds amazing!

Lock the location, Cheesephone.

The map shows William

where to meet Kedisha and Cameron.

Explorers away!

Pleased to squeak you, Kedisha and Cameron.

BOTH: Pleased to squeak you, William.

What are all these people doing here?

Swimming and playing.

And building castles and sunbathing.

Lyme Regis has lovely beaches,

which is why lots of people like to go there on holiday.

Whilst looking around the town,

William notices a funny shape that keeps appearing.

It appears on buildings,

in the walls,

even on the streetlights!

Hey, you two,

look at that strange shape!

I've never seen anything like that.

It looks like a snail.

That isn't a snail, that's an ammonite.

An ammonite?

-Yes.

-What's an ammonite?

A type of a fossil.

Oh, a fossil.

A fossil is a special rock that holds a secret.

The explorers decide to ask the Cheesephone more about them.

Cheesephone,

can you tell us about fossils?

Certainly, William.

Here's the story of how a fossil is made.

This is an ammonite.

Ammonites were once sea creatures with squid-like tentacles

and a curly shell like a snail.

They lived at the same time as dinosaurs.

When an ammonite died, its shell would lie at the bottom of the sea.

Layers of mud covered the shell.

This protected it and stopped it from crumbling away.

Over time, the mud and shell hardened and turned into rock.

As this happened, the shell became a fossil.

Fossils can be found all around the coast of Lyme Regis.

Thank you, Cheesephone.

ALL: Explorers away!

The explorers decide to find out more about fossils

and travel to anther part of the beach

where they meet Chris, the fossil expert.

Oh! Pleased to squeak you, Chris.

Pleased to squeak you, William.

What we're going to do

is look to see if we can find

fossils on the beach.

And fossils are the remains

of creatures that lived in Lyme

about 200 million years ago.

We have to look carefully

in among the small rocks.

Aw, that sounds really exciting.

Explorers away!

Right! Let's have a look to see what we can find.

The explorers set off to hunt for fossils.

You know the sparkly bits, they're crystals.

They search the beach for clues

to see if they can find any strange patterns or shapes

on the surface of the rocks.

I've got one.

These could be fossils.

-This...

-Yeah, if you want...

Can't find any here.

Where should we put this one for our collection?

-I'll tell you what, shall we put them right there?

-OK.

Kedisha and Cameron find another fossil.

Can you see the shape in the rock?

Aaa! Ha! Ha!

Found one! He-he.

I think it's an ammonite, he-he.

Can you show us some fossils you've found on this beach?

Certainly, William.

One of the most well-known fossils from Lyme

are these coiled shells.

I know you found some of those.

-Can you remember their name?

-CHILDREN: Ammonites.

Ammonites.

But when people see a coily shell,

they think they were a type of snail.

But they are not snails. They're way more exciting.

They're related to squids and octopuses

and cuttlefish and things like that.

They've got tentacles for catching their food.

And they've got a beak in the middle to bite food

and very well-developed eyes and this coily shell.

And when they die, all the flesh rots away

and all we find are the shells of them.

And lots of different types.

-Just like those ones.

-Just like those ones.

We don't just find ammonites,

we find bigger things as well.

But less commonly, we find parts of this creature.

It's a creature that's not alive today - an ichthyosaur.

And we find not the soft parts, but we find the hard bones from inside.

And one of the nicest bits to find are the jaws at the front.

The most common bits that we find of ichthyosaurs are the backbone,

-the spine.

-The backbone, down there, like we have one.

Yeah. Goes all the way down the body

and an ichthyosaur would have had about 180 bones like that.

Hunting for fossils along the beach can be lots of fun.

But it's important that you always have a grown-up with you.

Rocks from the cliffs that run along the beach can become loose,

so you mustn't get too close.

Fancy going to the museum to see some bigger fossils?

CHILDREN: Yes, please.

That sounds amazing.

Explorers away!

Inside the museum, the explorers get to have a closer look

at some big fossils.

You found small fossils on the beach

and I've told you a bit about them

and I said we'd see bigger fossils here.

This is a big skeleton of an ichthyosaurus.

What, an itchysaur?

Not an itchysaur. An Ichthyosaur.

Ichthyosaur means fish lizard.

Can you guess at all what this is?

What do you think? Here's a clue.

It's something a dinosaur would leave behind

after it had gone to the toilet.

-Poo.

-BOTH: Poo.

Dinosaur poo!

There you go. That's real fossil poo.

It's about 200 million years old

and it doesn't smell at all now.

Yes, explorers! Even poo can be fossilised.

It can reveal what dinosaurs ate millions of years ago.

After the museum, the explorers have a treat on the beach.

This fossil hunting has made me hungry!

Me too.

Yeah, and me.

I've had a great time hunting for fossils with you two.

So have we.

I have a present for you.

Oh, what is it?

-It's an ammonite.

-Ah!

Thank you! My very own ammonite.

Goodbye, explorers.

BOTH: Goodbye, William.

ALL: Explorers away!

Can you remember where William went today?

William visited his friends Kedisha and Cameron in Lyme Regis.

They learned all about fossils.

And went on the beach to meet Chris, a fossil expert.

Can you remember what they did?

They went hunting for fossils.

They then went to the museum and saw something very special.

Can you remember what it was?

Some dinosaur poo!

At the end of his adventure, he was given a fossil

and even had a yummy ice cream on the beach.

Time to fly, explorers. We're off on another adventure!

See you soon, William!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd