DESMOCERAS OF MAHAJANGA

This lovely dark rust chunky monkey is the ammonite Desmoceras (Pseudouhligella) latidorsatum from the Lower Cretaceous, Lower Albian, Douvilliceras inequinodum Zone, Ambarimaninga, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar.

Ammonites were predatory, squid-like creatures that lived inside coil-shaped shells. Like other cephalopods, ammonites had sharp, beak-like jaws inside a ring of squid-like tentacles. 

They used their tentacles to snare prey, — plankton, vegetation, fish and crustaceans — similar to the way a squid or octopus hunt today.