New Study Suggests Animals May Have Appeared 200 Million Years Earlier Than Fossils Indicate
A new study is challenging one of the deepest assumptions in evolutionary science: that animals first emerged around the time their oldest fossils appear in the rock record. Researchers now suggest the animal lineage may have originated as much as 200 million years earlier, long before clear fossil evidence preserved their presence. The finding could reshape how scientists interpret Earth’s ancient climate, oxygen levels, and the biological foundations of today’s living world.
