{"id":26016,"date":"2021-01-25T10:16:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T14:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=26016"},"modified":"2021-02-06T15:45:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-06T19:45:38","slug":"ammonites-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ammonites-extinction\/","title":{"rendered":"What Caused the Ammonites’ Extinction?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are ammonites? When did they become extinct? What are the suggested causes behind ammonites’ extinction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ammonites are a group of coil-shelled mollusk animals that went extinct 66 million years ago. Scientists don’t know the exact cause of ammonites’ extinction, but it is theorized that they died as a result of ocean changes due to the asteroid strike<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn about ammonites’ extinction causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Extinction of Ammonites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scientists don\u2019t know what specific effect\u2014for instance, whether heat, cold or a change in ocean chemistry\u2014caused ammonites’ extinction but not their cousins’, the nautiluses.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ammonites lived in the world\u2019s oceans for more than 300 million years\u2014their fossilized shells have been found worldwide. They built spiral shells with multiple chambers that ranged from palm-size to wagon-wheel size. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one is sure what the soft-bodied animals looked like because only their shells were fossilized, but they may have looked something like octopuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s theorized that ammonites may have died from ocean changes due to the asteroid strike, because their hatchlings floated near the surface of the water. In contrast, nautilus hatchlings may have survived because they hatch in deep water and stay there as they develop for at least a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything that\u2019s alive today descended from an organism that survived the asteroid\u2019s impact. But it was luck, including distance from impact, heat, tsunamis, and so on\u2014not adaptation\u2014that allowed some species to survive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a sudden mass extinction<\/a>, there\u2019s no time to adapt and pass on survival traits to offspring. Also, traits that have been beneficial for millions of years\u2014like floating near the surface of the ocean as ammonites did\u2014can suddenly become deadly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are ammonites? When did they become extinct? What are the suggested causes behind ammonites’ extinction? Ammonites are a group of coil-shelled mollusk animals that went extinct 66 million years ago. Scientists don’t know the exact cause of ammonites’ extinction, but it is theorized that they died as a result of ocean changes due to the asteroid strike. Keep reading to learn about ammonites’ extinction causes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,160],"tags":[201],"class_list":["post-26016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-science","tag-the-sixth-extinction","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Caused the Ammonites' Extinction? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The exact cause of the extinction of ammonites is unknown. 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