ദിനോസറുകളുടെ കൂടെ അപ്രത്യക്ഷമായ അമൊനൈറ്റുകളുടെ കഥ

Ammonites were ancient marine creatures that lived in Earth’s oceans millions of years before humans existed. They belonged to the mollusk family, making them distant relatives of today’s squids and octopuses. What makes ammonites instantly recognizable is their beautiful coiled shell, which looks like a tightly wound spiral. Inside this shell were several chambers, and the ammonite lived only in the last, outer chamber. The empty chambers helped the animal float or sink in the water, working almost like a natural submarine.

These creatures swam through the oceans using tentacles to catch prey such as small fish and tiny marine organisms. They were successful and widespread, living for more than 300 million years. Because they evolved rapidly into many different species and spread all over the world, their fossils are extremely useful to scientists. When geologists find an ammonite fossil in a rock layer, they can estimate the age of the rock very accurately.