New Scientist
Image: wanderflechten
LIFE appeared on our planet more than 3.5 billion years ago and consisted exclusively of microbes for the next 3 billion years. Then, about 539 million years ago, everything changed.
In the geological blink of an eye, the seas were filled with large and complex animals, including worms with legs and fearsome spikes, creatures with a trunk-like nose and five eyes, and giant shrimp-like predators with mouths like pineapple rings.
This evolutionary starburst is known as the Newly discovered fossils and careful analysis of ones found decades ago suggest that animals were thriving in the period before the Cambrian. As a result, some people are now arguing that the explosion of animal life started about 12 million years earlier. Others are questioning whether it is possible to define a distinct explosion at all. Read more on newscientist.com…
