🌊 I, Tully Monster: Mystery of the Carboniferous Seas 🌀✨

Let’s unroll the Timeline of Life together… ⏳

Do you remember at the beginning—with a swirling, bubbling sea full of possibilities. Life started tiny—as a single, jelly-like blob. Then something incredible happened: life began to invent. 🌊⚙️ Some early creatures used the minerals in the water to build shells—a clever invention to protect their soft bodies. Soon, others grew spines, eyes, and even armor like shields.

But not every invention lasted. The early sea was full of experiments—creatures that tried new things, but didn’t survive long. Great changes came—explosions of life, disasters, extinctions, and second chances. With each change, new ideas appeared: animals with backbones, flexible shapes, and clever tools for survival. 🧬💥

By the time you reach the Carboniferous Period—also called the Age of Amphibians—the land is steamy and green. Giant dragonflies flap above, and forests full of ferns and mosses stretch across the swamps. 🐸🌿 But in the shallow, shadowy seas, something very strange is swimming…

That’s where you’ll find me. 👀🌀

I am the Tully Monster—Tull 👏 y 👏 Mon 👏 ster 👏—and I am one of Earth’s strangest mysteries. My body was soft and ribbon-like, with a long tail for swimming and a snout that stretched out like a straw… but ended in a claw! I used this weird tool to grab my food—little creatures drifting by in the murky water. 🍴✨

I wasn’t big—about the length of a school ruler—but I was fast and flexible. And here’s something really odd: my eyes sat on stalks sticking out from the sides of my body! 👀📡 Like built-in telescopes!

Even today, no one is sure what kind of creature I was. Am I a fish? An invertebrate? A totally new idea from nature’s imagination? My fossil doesn’t quite match anything else… and that makes me one of the great mysteries of the fossil record. 🧩💡

Scientists found my fossils in Illinois, in rocks from 300 million years ago. They called me Tullimonstrum gregarium, after the man who found me—Francis Tully. But even my name doesn’t answer the biggest question: where do I belong on the tree of life? 🌳🌀

Some think I stirred up the muddy bottom with my snout, searching for prey. Others think I floated near the surface, using my eyes and claw to catch whatever I could find. Nobody knows! And maybe that’s the best part of my story.

💭 I wonder… In which kingdom would you place me if I still existed today? 👑🐾Could I be part of a brand new animal group that hasn’t been named yet? 🧬✨ Are there other creatures like me with soft bodies but claws for catching prey? 🐙🤏 What kinds of sea creatures were my neighbors in the Carboniferous swamps? 🌿🐟Maybe you can find the answer to these questions—ones that even scientists still puzzle over today! 🧠💡

I-narrative stories are best told aloud, allowing children to fully engage their imagination and connect deeply with the subject. Sometimes, we use charts or visual aids to spark even more curiosity and understanding. I tailor these stories because of my passion for storytelling and my desire to connect children with the world around them. Through stories, children can explore nature, history, art, biology, music, geometry, language, geography and the wonders of the universe in a way that feels memorable and alive.

With Montessori joy,
Vanina 😊