Keychain ornament with steel keychain loop remove; shown with leaflet and a UK pound coin for scale

Detailed view of the arms

Ammonite keychain

Some time ago artist Chris Taylor asked me about ammonite soft body morphology. To be fair, most of what we know about ammonites is with regard to their shells, and notions of what their heads and arms looked like remains conjectural at best. But I expressed my opinion that ammonites probably looked a bit more like octopuses than nautiluses in these regards, a viewpoint broadly, but certainly not universally, held by the palaeontologists who study these interesting fossils.

Even so, Chris has managed to create a really beautiful little ammonite sculpture for his A-to-Zoo line of natural history keepsakes. Among the things for students of palaeontology to look out for are the loop-and-buckle ornamentation of the shell; the aptychus-as-operculum structure above the head; and the octopus-like eyes.

This lovely little ammonite keychain is part of his Palaeontology line of products, and is priced at $10.95.

Side view, showing shell detail

Detailed view of the siphuncle and eye