Multicellular organisms appeared much earlier than anticipated

Until now it was thought that most of the time the Earth was populated with fixed single-celled organisms and multicellular creatures appeared on it only 600-650 million years ago. The new discovery scientists completely refuted this theory - now it is believed that the first "animal" began to move across the surface of the planet much earlier, billions of years ago. This is evidenced by the fossils found in the territory of the African country of Gabon.

Multicellular organisms appeared much earlier than anticipated

The discovery was made by a group of paleontologists from the Danish Center for the Study of the evolution of the Earth. Using geometric and chemical methods of archaeological dating, they found out the approximate time of formation of traces and tiny holes in the fossil record. Their age was about 2, 1 billion years - it turns out that it is the oldest currently traces of multicellular organisms.

Multicellular organisms appeared much earlier than anticipated

found traces are tiny "mink" a few millimeters in diameter. After studying them, paleontologists have concluded that they were made by the body, like a slug, who lived in the waters with oxygen. Scientists have suggested that the body is composed of a set of single-celled creatures, which merged to form "colony", similar to the mucus. Most likely, they moved in search of food - this hint the other notches on the fossils. Whatever it was, it's more a discovery that can help close the gaps in the history of the development of living organisms. It is noteworthy that the first assumption of the earlier emergence of complex life appeared in 2017 - more on this can be found in our special material.

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