• Question: do you know about animites

    Asked by boar532data62 to Liam H, jonathanmound on 22 Oct 2025.
    • Photo: Jonathan Mound

      Jonathan Mound answered on 22 Oct 2025:

      I don’t know a lot about ammonites as I didn’t take many palaeontology (the study of fossils) classes. I know that they are related to modern octopus, squid, and cuttlefish; and that they went extinct about the same time as the last of the non-avian dinosaurs. Lyme Regis is a good place to look for ammonite fossils.

    • Photo: Liam Herringshaw

      Liam Herringshaw answered on 6 Nov 2025:

      I know a fair bit about ammonites, as I spend a lot of time on the Yorkshire Coast, where ammonite fossils can be very common. My favourite ammonite is probably Hildoceras, found in the Early Jurassic rocks at Whitby, Its name honours St Hilda, the first abbess of Whitby Abbey, who is said to have turned all the local snakes into stone and cast them down on the beach below the abbey!

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