A strange Cambrian fossil named Salterella may hold the key to understanding how early animals first built skeletons. As the ...

Aug. 21 (UPI) --New fossil analysis suggests the planet's earliest known animals emerged at least 571 million years ago. The new study -- published this month in the journal Paleontology-- proves ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Around 540 million years ago, Earth’s life underwent a burst of ...

Skeleton season may be just around the corner, but the skeleton age dawned with the early Cambrian Period, about 538 million ...

Learn more about a time period marked by an intense burst of evolution. 3 min read The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era, produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known. The Cambrian ...

A team of scientists digging up some of the Earth’s oldest rocks has uncovered new chemical evidence that Earth’s first animals were likely ancestors of the modern sea sponge. The discovery relies on ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A newfound fossil site in China is teeming with bizarre, primitive species that have never before ...

The most recent 12 percent of time on Earth is a striking anomaly when compared with the great bulk of our planet’s evolution. After 3 billion years or more of Earth as a microbial world, cells found ...

Researchers have found the oldest clue yet of animal life, dating back at least 100 million years before the famous Cambrian explosion of animal fossils. Researchers at the University of California, ...

Beginning about 541 million years ago, life on Earth exploded. Over a 53-million-year period, gigantic sea creatures, armored worms and bizarre-looking filter feeders filled the primordial seas.

The first signs of complex animal life begin in the Ediacaran Period, which started more than 600 million years ago. But it's difficult to understand how those organisms relate to the life we see ...