New study suggests animals evolved hundreds of millions of years before first fossils
A University of Oxford team published research in Science Advances suggesting animals originated deep in the Neoproterozoic Era.
Old fossil assumptions challenged by new data
Scientists previously assumed the first animals appeared after a roughly 590-million-year-old fossil deposit in China. That site, known as the Weng'an Biota, preserves microscopic organisms but none identified definitively as animals. Researchers now argue this deposit does not prove when life began.
Evidence points to earlier evolutionary origins
The new findings indicate animals may have evolved before some of Earth's most extreme ice ages. This timeline pushes the origin of animals back into the Neoproterozoic Era. The results could explain why animals seem to appear suddenly in the fossil record.
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