Recently scientists say animal life first appeared on Earth 635 million years ago. A novel technique used to date fossils buried in rock sediment in Oman found sponges, among the most primitive of animal organism. The new dating answers a puzzle that beset naturalist Charles Darwin. I recent years, various pieces have come forward that have indeed pushed back the rise of animalia by some millions of years.
But the new find dates their emergence even earlier, into the final stages of a massive ice age at the end the Neoproterozoic Era.
The Oman sponges are part of the Demospongiae class, which accounts for more that 90 percent of all sponges in existence today, notes the study ,published in the London based science journal , Nature.
Source:5 Feb 2009, mxNews
But the new find dates their emergence even earlier, into the final stages of a massive ice age at the end the Neoproterozoic Era.
The Oman sponges are part of the Demospongiae class, which accounts for more that 90 percent of all sponges in existence today, notes the study ,published in the London based science journal , Nature.
Source:5 Feb 2009, mxNews
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