Oldest animal fossils ever may be ancient sponges discovered in Canada
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Oldest fossil ever discovered may have been found in Canada
If these findings are accurate, it means these creatures lived 350-million-years earlier than previously thought.
Buzz60, Buzz60
A geologist in Canada may have discovered fossils of ancient sponges dating back 890 million years, 350 million years older than the oldest undisputed sponge fossils.
The fossilized structures found in rock samples potentially show sponges that existed in underwater reefs millions of years ago. The findings may represent the oldest animal fossils discovered, Laurentian University professor Elizabeth Turner said in an article published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Scientists have estimated that sponges existed before more complicated creatures more than 540 million years ago; however, there’s a lack of fossilized sponges discovered by scientists that would prove the timeline for the early creatures.
The fossils discovered by Turner resemble skeletons found in some modern sponges known as keratose demosponges. The skeletons are made up of segments that look like connected branches of a tree.
The geologist told USA TODAY that her discovery is intriguing for scientists and non-scientists alike, who all may learn about the history of how animals – and humans – came to be.
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“We are animals,” Turner said. “And we have a big brain, and we’re capable of wondering about stuff, and we wonder how we came to be.
“What happened before, and what was it like? How did it begin?” she said. “This is really digging into that. I’m shaking up the apple cart.”
If the age of the fossils discovered by Turner proves true, the organisms would have lived on Earth before there was enough oxygen to support animal life and before widespread ice ages, according to scientists.
The fossils were found in a remote area of northwestern Canada accessible only by helicopter.
Turner told USA TODAY that some critics may question her findings on the basis of Earth’s oxygen levels and the conditions the sponges could have faced.
“Here I am saying, ‘Uh-oh, the first animals appeared before that.’ So they didn’t require that oxygen. So people may be not so comfortable with it,” Turner said.
“This is not the holy grail,” she noted. “It’s just a step toward a better view on animal evolution.”
The sponge-like creatures would have lived in reefs made from bacteria that could have created enough oxygen for the sponges to survive, according to reports.
“We know there has to have been a time, an episode or an interval of hidden evolution in animals prior to 540 million years ago,” Turner said. “The question is – how far back did it go, and what was it like? That’s the big hole.”