Researchers are studying the issue of the appearance of the first animals on earth through the analysis of sedimentary rocks.
Research results
Determining when animals appeared on earth is one of the most difficult questions. Scientists' estimates differ by hundreds of millions of years.
Most likely, the first animals on earth are small, soft-bodied and marine. Some researchers suggest that animals could have appeared at least 800 million years ago.
A new study published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution provides an analysis of sediments from different parts of the world that have similar clay compositions. These are sites dating back 789 million years ago in Canada, Russia and Norway.
However, no animal fossils have been found in these parts, which means that they had not yet evolved by that time.
However, this estimate needs to be verified and refined by subsequent studies.
