Sedimentary geologist Elizabeth Turner has discovered the oldest animal that ever existed on Earth.
Life on Earth (symbol)
A Canadian scientist has claimed that he has discovered the most important form of animal life on Earth. Scientists have discovered evidence of the existence of an animal on Earth in the form of a sponge (Sponges Life Form) about 89 million years ago or about 350 million years ago compared to the present situation. Sedimentary geologist Elizabeth Turner, a professor at the Herquel School of Earth Sciences at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, published these results. Their peer-reviewed paper was published by the journal Nature.
In the research paper, Elizabeth said that if the ‘Little Dull’ objects are really sponge body fossils, then they are older than the sponge body fossils (Cambrian) which are 350 million years old. ‘Little Dull’ refers to an area containing rocks containing sponge fossils. They were discovered in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Cambrian dates to a period of approximately 54 million years ago, which according to fossil records is associated with the first animal appearances on the planet. According to an article in the journal Nature accompanying this paper, these animals may have included arthropods, mollusks and insects.
What did Elizabeth Turner say about the discovery?
In an emailed reply to Hindustan Times, Turner said, “If I am correct in my interpretation of the material, then it is said that animals were present on Earth 890 million years ago.” In this way, these fossils will be more than 350 million years old sponge fossils. This can seem like a big difference. Turner said that this is not really surprising. We already knew that animals must have had a long evolutionary history even before the presence of mineralized animal body fossils (such as shales and exoskeletons) in rocks less than 54 million years old.
Collected samples as a student
Elizabeth Turner said that sponges are the most basic animals in the animal tree. Therefore it should not be surprising that the earliest animals may have been sponge-like. Turner collected samples from ancient rocks as a student and argued that they showed complex structures, unlike cyanobacteria and algae. “I accidentally discovered the material several decades ago while working on my unrelated PhD thesis,” he said.
Also read: Einstein was 100 years ahead of the world, now the theory of relativity has been proved, scientists have discovered the light behind the black hole
.