Animals of the Cambrian period went through one of the greatest evolutionary surges in history, known as the Cambrian Explosion. Animals of the Cambrian period likely began as worms or worm-like ...

The Cambrian Explosion is a landmark moment in the history of life on Earth when many of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record. New research, however, suggests that many of ...

An international research team has made a notable discovery of fossil embryos belonging to Ecdysozoa, a diverse group of animals including roundworms, velvet worms, insects, and crabs. These fossils, ...

Palaeontologists are helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period. Fossils reveal Odaraia had mandibles. Palaeontologists are ...

Animal life is extraordinarily diverse and complex, having colonised almost all environments on Earth – from hostile hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to the skies across our continents. But all this ...

Evolution is responsible for Earth’s stunningly diverse spectrum of life, but that wasn’t always the case. In fact, the earliest eras of living organisms were comparatively bo ...

Learn more about a time period marked by an intense burst of evolution. 3 min read The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era, produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known. The Cambrian ...

Early vertebrates such as myllokunmingids were small and lacked effective defense mechanisms compared to the large predators ...

A new exhibit at Butterfly Pavilion offers insight into the evolution of its invertebrate residents, as well as humans and other vertebrates. For millions of years, Earth was home to single-celled ...

A treasure trove of exceptionally preserved early animals from more than half a billion years ago has been discovered in the Grand Canyon, one of the natural world’s most iconic sites. The rich fossil ...

Imagine being transported 500 million years into Earth’s past, landing in a world that feels both alien and dangerously unfamiliar. You have just arrived in the Cambrian Period, a time when life on ...