What is an Ammonite?
Ammonites are nautiloids, meaning they are invertebrate shelled creatures.
Ammonites came from the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs dominated vertebrate life. Ammonites are organisms that lived in the oceans at the same time as the dinosaurs roamed on Earth. Some ammonite fossils were preserved so well that an inner iridescent coating, which covered the inner layer of the animal’s shell during life, is preserved. When polished, some of these fossils become gem-quality, a mineral which has been dubbed ammolite .
Ammonite fossils were to be specifically targeted, because of their stated global significance as index fossils for evolutionary bio stratigraphic age determinations of these strata as lower Cretaceous. Over time, ammonite fossils were pushed up to the surface or washed out into rivers. This makes ammonite fossils extremely important for geologists and paleontologists.
Ammonite fossils in general are common and widespread but individual species or sub-species often survived for periods of 2 million years or less. Ammonite fossils are very common because their free-floating life mode meant they often lived among very oxygen poor sea floor, so when they died and sank, there were few organisms to degrade the remains. Ammonite fossils are found throughout the world, but the most brilliantly coloured ammonites that we have ever seen are exclusive to southern Alberta, Canada from the bear paw sea.
Ammonites
Ammonite fossils are the remaining shells of the prehistoric sea creatures of the same name that thrived during the latter ages of the dinosaurs and have become some of the most intriguing ammonite fossils objects of archeology.
Ammonite was once thought to be the petrified remains of snakes! Modern science, however, tells us that these fascinating fossils are actually the remains of an ancient aquatic mollusk.
Ammonites were cool sea creatures indeed.
