Ancient animal history is extremely difficult to reconstruct, for a number of reasons. Some of the earliest creatures in existence were soft-bodied and microscopic, leaving behind very little evidence ...

Simple animal life may have existed in Earth’s oceans 890 million years ago, according to new research. Recently discovered fossils belonging to ancient sponges might be the earliest known remnants of ...

For decades, scientists have debated which animals first appeared on Earth and set the stage for the evolution of complex life. A recent study by MIT geochemists offers compelling evidence that the ...

A Canadian geologist may have found the earliest fossil record of animal life on Earth, according to a report published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get ...

In the world of phylogenetics, there’s team sponge and team comb jelly. Which creature roots the animal tree of life — the simple sponge or the more complex comb jelly — has stirred fierce debate ...

It’s easy to forget that all humans roaming Earth’s surface are walking above an endless number of animal fossils. There’s a good chance, for example, that you’ve walked over your fair share of ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Canadian geologist may have found the earliest fossil record of animal life on Earth, according to a report published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Around a billion years ago, a ...