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Scientists have discovered an ancient fossil of the oldest animal on the basis of geological data – Dickinsonia – a strange oval creature with rib-shaped segments running along its body and living on Earth 558 million years ago.
The animal, which reached 1.4 meters long, was part of the Ediacara biota that lived on Earth 20 million years before the "Cambrian explosion" of animal life modern.
The Cambrian explosion
The phrase "Cambrian explosion" refers to the period of history when complex animals and other macroscopic organisms, such as molluscs, worms, arthropods, and sponges, began to dominate the fossil record.
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How the Dickinsonia fossil was found
Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) found that the Dickinsonia fossil was so well preserved in a remote area near the White Sea in northwestern Russia that the tissue still contained cholesterol molecules. life.
Palaeontologists normally study the structure of fossils, but Ilya Bobrovskiy – a PhD researcher at ANU – has extracted and analyzed molecules inside the oldest fossil of animal found in rocks in Russia to make a decisive discovery.
Bobrovskiy analyzes the fossils of Dickinsonia. (Image: ANU)
"I took a helicopter to reach this very remote area of the world – where bears and mosquitoes live – where I could find Dickinsonia fossils whose organic matter was still intact."Said Bobrovskiy, as reported by the release of the university.
"These fossils were located in the middle of the cliffs of the White Sea, which are between 60 and 100 meters high. I had to hang the edge of a cliff on ropes and dig huge blocks of sandstone, throw them to the ground, wash the sandstone and repeat this process until I found the fossils I was looking for."said the researcher who discovered the first animal fossils.
Study the fossils of Disckinsonia
The team has developed a new approach to study the Dickinsonia fossils, which hold the key between the ancient world dominated by bacteria and the world of large animals, appeared 540 million years ago. during the Cambrian explosion.
"The problem we had to overcome was to find Dickinsonia fossils that kept organic matter", said Bobrovskiy.
Jochen Brocks, associate professor at ANU, said the opportunity to study molecules from these ancient organisms was changing the game.
"When Ilya showed me the results, I just could not believe it," he said.
Ilya Bobrovskiy with Jochen Brocks, studying the fossils of Dickinsonia. (Image: ANU)
What the Dickinsonia fossil proves
"The fossil fat molecules we found prove that animals were large and abundant 558 million years ago, millions of years earlier than expected"said Jochen Brocks.
Why the Dickinsonia fossil relieves scientists
"Scientists have been fighting for more than 75 years on what are Dickinsonia and other bizarre fossils of the Ediacaran biota (first animal group) – unicellular giant amoebae, lichens, failed chess experiments or the first animals on Earth."said Brocks.
"Most of the rocks containing these fossils, like those in the Ediacara Hills in Australia, have been subjected to a lot of heat, a lot of pressure, and have been altered – these are the rocks that paleontologists have studied for decades, which is why they were stuck on the issue of Dickinsonia's true identity, "said Bobrovskiy.
The fossil fat found in the first animal now confirms it as the oldest known animal fossil, solving a decades-old mystery that has been the "Holy Grail of paleontology& # 39;said Brocks (sought as ardently as the Christ's Supper platter).
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