Rotting Fish Spoil Ideas about Early Life-Forms' Simplicity
Sunday, January 31, 2010 - 13:28
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Five hundred million years ago, spineless chordates slunk through Earth's Cambrian oceans. These unassuming creatures would eventually give rise to more complex vertebrates such as fish, dinosaurs and even us, so they are crucial evidence for scientists trying to trace animal evolution's early steps . But because these organisms lacked bones or shells, the soft-tissue features that managed to survive the fossilization process have made the specimens look very primitive, possibly excessively so. [More]