3 min read The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era ... including many major animal groups alive today. Among them were the chordates, to which vertebrates (animals with backbones) such ...

Some of the best information about early animals comes from fossils dating back to the Cambrian period, which started around 541 million years ago. During this time, Earth experienced a burst of ...

All animal evolution for the last half billion ... Recent research suggests that the period prior to the Cambrian explosion saw the gradual evolution of a "genetic tool kit" of genes that govern ...

Researchers think there are now around 7.7 million animal species living on Earth, with thousands more discovered every year.

Arthropods were the most diverse animal group in the Cambrian period and the Ordovician period that followed. The 452-million-year-old limestone slab shown here captures an Ordovician menagerie ...

Some animals could likely tell the difference between light and dark, but they never knew whether that looming shadow was a friend or foe. Then, at the beginning of the Cambrian Period, life opened ...

Most fossils of bilaterian animals are younger, first appearing in the Cambrian period.’ To find such tiny fossils the team used X-ray microtomography, a special technique that uses X-rays to create a ...

“The emergence of paired nerve cords likely facilitated greater movement coordination, particularly in segmented animals. During the Precambrian-Cambrian transition, changes in the nervous and ...

Dr. María Herranz noted, "The emergence of paired nerve cords likely facilitated greater coordination of movement, particularly in segmented animals. During the Precambrian-Cambrian transition ...