Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite Locality takes trekkers 72 million years into the past

Sky-Hi Daily News ^ | Sunday, August 10, 2008 | Will Bublitz

[SunkenCiv]

The conventional theory advanced by most paleontologists is that a "catastrophic event" took place 72 million years ago at the Kremmling site. A major hurricane or tidal surge drove the thousands of ammonites onto a sandbar where they died, became buried under sediment and eventually became fossilized.

Dr. Evanoff rejects that theory, arguing that there is no evidence of the "stacking" of the animals and other debris that would have been caused by a violent catastrophic storm. Instead, he points out that the fossils are found more spread out along the site.

Evanoff's alternate theory is that the KCAL is was an ammonite "brooding ground" where the adult females came to lay their eggs and then died.

"That 13 to 1, female-to-male ratio suggests this was not a catastrophic event," he said. "When we were digging up some of the ammonites, the lower sides are complete while the upper sides of the shells have been chipped away by marine scavengers. What this suggests to me is that this was a brooding ground where the ammonites, who probably mated only once in their lives and then died like modern squids and octopus, came here to lay their eggs in the sandy bottom. The females probably guarded their egg clutches until they fell over on their sides and died."

[SunkenCiv]

...and then were covered up by a catastrophe and fossilized. :'P

[SunkenCiv]

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[TigersEye]

...The females probably guarded their egg clutches until they fell over on their sides and died.”

The more things change the more things stay the same. heh heh heh

[arthurus]

In life, the creature had several tentacles like an octopus or squid which it could use to grasp its prey, but these fleshy parts did not survive the fossilization process.

Okay. So how is it known that there were tentacles?

[SunkenCiv]

I think there have been a handful of specimens in which the tentacles were fossilized. If not, then it’s an assumption. And perhaps sometimes a tautology. :’)