Learn more about a time period marked by ... of evolution ever known. The Cambrian Explosion saw an incredible diversity of life emerge, including many major animal groups alive today.

dramatically. It was the time of the Cambrian Explosion, an eruption of life when Earth’s very first animals began appearing in the fossil record — the ancestors of all major animal groups ...

In order to be available to us, the remains of ancient plants and animals have to be preserved first ... research suggests that the period prior to the Cambrian explosion saw the gradual evolution ...

“This is the first time that life got big ... Arthropods were the most diverse animal group in the Cambrian period and the Ordovician period that followed. The 452-million-year-old limestone ...

Patches of photosensitive cells were probably common long before the Cambrian, allowing early animals to detect light and sense what direction it was coming from. Such rudimentary visual organs ...

Then, at the beginning of the Cambrian Period, life opened its eyes ... Anomalocaris is another early arthropod relative with surprising optics. The marine animal had giant compound eyes, about the ...

The Cambrian period is famous for what scientists call ... that predation played a pivotal role in the proliferation of early animal ecosystems,” Bicknell said. “It shows the rapid speed ...

Helmetia expansa belongs to a rare group of early arthropods called concilitergans ... and the Royal Ontario Museum, from the Cambrian Period of the Burgess Shale of Canada.

Earth’s history is filled with incredible milestones, and the emergence of the first animals is one of the most captivating.

In order to be available to us, the remains of ancient plants and animals have to be preserved first ... research suggests that the period prior to the Cambrian explosion saw the gradual evolution ...