microrobert
02-12-2012, 04:11 PM
Oldest Animal Discovered—Earliest Ancestor of Us All?
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/484/cache/oldest-animal-possibly-found-fossilized-sponge_48407_600x450.jpg
Microscopic, sponge-like African fossils could be the earliest known animals—and possibly our earliest evolutionary ancestors, scientists say.
The creature, Otavia antiqua, was found in 760-million-year-old rock in Namibia and was as tiny as it may be important.
"The fossils are small, about the size of a grain of sand, and we have found many hundreds of them," said study leader Anthony Prave, a geologist at the University of St. Andrews in the U.K.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/120207-oldest-animals-sponges-earliest-science-evolution/
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/484/cache/oldest-animal-possibly-found-fossilized-sponge_48407_600x450.jpg
Microscopic, sponge-like African fossils could be the earliest known animals—and possibly our earliest evolutionary ancestors, scientists say.
The creature, Otavia antiqua, was found in 760-million-year-old rock in Namibia and was as tiny as it may be important.
"The fossils are small, about the size of a grain of sand, and we have found many hundreds of them," said study leader Anthony Prave, a geologist at the University of St. Andrews in the U.K.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/120207-oldest-animals-sponges-earliest-science-evolution/