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The Earliest Fossils
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The earliest good fossils date from 570 million years ago - the beginning of the Cambrian period in the Earth's history. Before then, animals had no hard parts and so did not fossilise well.
As soon as hard shells evolved, all kinds of different animals appeared. It was as if nature were trying out different shapes and designs to see what would work. Most of these early creatures died out after a few million years, but the rest went on to evolve into the later animals.
Cambrian fossils are found all over the world, but many thousands of different specimens have been collected at one place in the Rocky Mountains in Canada. These are the Burgess Shale fossils, which give us a good idea of what life was like on the Cambrian seafloor.
(A) JOINTED ANIMALS
Many early animals, such as Marrella, had skeletons with joints, like insects.
(B) HUNTERS
Opabinia was a fierce little animal that hunted for food along the seabed.
(C) PUZZLES
Hallucigenia was so odd that scientists cannot agree which way is up.
(D) SOFT BODIES
Animals without hard shells, like Amiskwia, also lived in Cambrian times.
(E) CAMBRIAN GIANT
Anomalocaris was a huge hunting animal unlike any other creature.
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Previous:
Back
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Book:
Prehistoric Life
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Section:
Prehistoric
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Chapter:
The Earliest Fossils
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