Between 580 and 540 million years ago, toward the end of the so-called Ediacaran Period, the first complex animals emerged in Earth's shallow oceans. Now, scientists from the University of California, ...

Aug. 21 (UPI) --New fossil analysis suggests the planet's earliest known animals emerged at least 571 million years ago. The new study -- published this month in the journal Paleontology-- proves ...

May 19 (UPI) --The Garden of the Ediacaran was livelier than previously thought, study suggests. Researchers believe several Precambrian species used currents to move and eat. Until recently, ...

Paleontologists have revealed the fossilized remains of a curious creature that is not only one of Earth's oldest animals, but may even be the first to have ever been mobile. Dubbed Quaestio ...

Unlike the Earth’s “Big Five” great mass extinctions, scientists now think the first mass extinction, during the Ediacaran Period, may be like the “Sixth Extinction” happening today. Evolution was the ...

Even without body parts that allowed for movement, new research shows -- for the first time -- that some of Earth's earliest animals managed to be picky about where they lived. Even without body parts ...

An international team of researchers is claiming to have discovered the world’s oldest footprints. Dating back a whopping 550 million years and found in a limestone bed in China, the prints were made ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. In 1947, geologist Reginald C. Sprigg announced the discovery of ...

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Paleontologists like us are used to working with ...

Fossil hunting isn't quite as cut-and-dry as you might think it is. Finding the leftovers of a creature that lived a hundred million years ago is exciting, and while dinosaurs and many plants are ...