This undated photo provided by Elizabeth Turner, Laurentian University, shows a field location in Northwest Territories, Canada. WASHINGTON: A Canadian geologist may have found the earliest fossil record of animal life on Earth, according to a report published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The dating of adjacent rock layers indicates the samples are about 890 million years old, which would make them about 350 million years older than the oldest undisputed sponge fossils previously found.“What’s most stunning is the timing,” said Paco Cardenas, an expert on sponges at Sweden's Uppsala University, who was not involved in the research. “To have discovered sponge fossils from close to 900 million years ago will greatly improve our understanding of early animal evolution.
“I think she’s got a pretty strong case. I think this is very worthy of publishing - it puts the evidence out there for other people to consider,” said David Bottjer, a paleobiologist at University of Southern California, who was not involved in the research.Scientists believe life on Earth emerged around 3.7 billion years ago. The earliest animals appeared much later, but exactly when is still debated.
This undated photo provided by Elizabeth Turner, Laurentian University, shows a field location in Northwest Territories, Canada. )
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