New evidence has emerged which could prove that animal life on Earth first appeared 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought.
Up until now, most scientists have believed that animal life first appeared on Earth about 635 million years ago. However, new evidence has emerged in Gabon which shows that animal life may have first appeared as long ago as 2.1 billion years ago.
Scientists have found rocks which could be fossils of slime mould, which would prove that conditions for animal life existed long before what was previously thought.
According to the BBC, Cardiff University professor, Ernest Chi Fru, who was part of the team which discovered the rocks, said: “We’re saying, look, there’s fossils here, there’s oxygen, it’s stimulated the appearance of the first complex living organisms. We see the same process as in the Cambrian period, 635 million years ago – it helps back that up. It helps us understand ultimately where we have all come from.”
However, not all scientists agree that the rocks could be fossils. Said Professor Graham Shields of University College London: “I’m not against the idea that there were higher nutrients 2.1 billion years ago, but I’m not convinced that this could lead to diversification to form complex life.”
[Image: Aryok Mateus from Pixabay]