These bizarre fossils represent some of the earliest moving, sexually-reproducing life ever discovered

New trove of fossils reveals that ancestral animals likely emerged in the deep sea By Jack Tamisiea edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier A paleoartist’s interpretation of what a newfound fossil site’s deep-sea ecosystem looked like during the Ediacaran period around 567 million years ago. Alex Boersma Today a stretch of Canada’s remote Northwest Territories is covered in snow-covered peaks. But more than half a billion years ago this wilderness was an ancient seafloor home to the wrinkled pancakes, fleshy fronds and spiral-shaped critters that were among Earth’s earliest complex life-forms . Researchers recently unearthed a trove of fossils that reset what we know about when these curious creatures scuttled onto the evolutionary scene.

These bizarre fossils represent some of the earliest moving, sexually-reproducing life ever discovered. New trove of fossils reveals that ancestral animals likely emerged in the deep sea By Jack Tamisiea edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier A paleoartist’s interpretation of what a newfound fossil site’s deep-sea ecosystem looked like during the Ediacaran period around 567 million years ago. Alex Boersma Today a stretch of Canada’s remote Northwest Territories is covered in snow-covered peaks. But more than half a billion years ago this wilderness was an ancient seafloor home to the wrinkled pancakes, fleshy fronds and spiral-shaped critters that were among Earth’s earliest complex life-forms . Researchers recently unearthed a trove of fossils that reset what we know about when these curious creatures scuttled onto the evolutionary scene. The new...