University of Oxford Study Suggests Animals Evolved Hundreds of Millions of Years Earlier Than Previously Thought
A new study led by the University of Oxford, published in Science Advances, indicates that animals may have evolved much earlier than suggested by the fossil record. Researchers propose that the origin of animals could date back to the Neoproterozoic Era, potentially between 800 and 700 million years ago, which is hundreds of millions of years before the first unmistakable animal fossils appear. The study challenges previous assumptions based on deposits like the Weng'an Biota in China, which, despite exceptional preservation, showed no definitive animal fossils. The Oxford team, including members from the University of California, Berkeley, ETH Zürich, and Yale University, re-evaluated molecular clock analyses using older geological constraints from deposits in Norway, Australia, and Arizona. This approach shifted the estimated origin of animals backward by approximately 200 million years. The findings are supported by chemical fossils, or biomarkers, found in ancient rocks, which are consistent with spon...
