ARE AMMONITES SNAILS?

Mom – I found a snail! Almost every child who has been lucky enough to discover a piece of a round ammonite on a walk with their parents has probably shouted this question with great enthusiasm. But can the parents give the right answer? In fact, very few adults know why an ammonite is not a snail.

  • The ammonite is an octopus and swims freely in the water – snails generally live on the ground!
  • To enable the ammonite to swim, its shell is divided into many chambers that it can fill with gas. As snails do not swim, they do not need such air chambers.
  • The “snail shell” spirals upwards, while the ammonite is usually rolled up in a planar shape.