Scientists have discovered 567-million-year-old fossils in Canada that could rewrite the history of animal evolution, reports infohub.kz.
Paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History and Dartmouth College have found a unique Ediacaran biota site in the Mackenzie Mountains of Canada's Northwest Territories. Some fossil specimens are about 567 million years old, making them older than previously known examples. The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
The researchers identified more than 100 fossils belonging to six groups of organisms never before seen in North America. Among them are Dickinsonia, which crawled along the seafloor and absorbed bacteria; Funisia, representing the earliest evidence of sexual reproduction; and Kimberella, considered an ancestor of mollusks.
Study leader Scott Evans noted that the site was in a deep-water zone. This supports the hypothesis that evolutionary innovations and the emergence of complex life forms began in the stable conditions of the deep ocean, not in shallow waters.