13th February 2012
First animal on earth

Like all other animals and plants on earth we have evolved from earlier life forms and so share our ancestors.  Research suggests that 5.4 million years ago we began to evolve from chimpanzees into the powerful and intelligent humans we are today ₁.  So, if everything evolved from one life form, what did this first animal, our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother look like?

In Namibia, Africa, researchers have found fossils of tiny sponge-like animals within rocks that date back 700 million - 800 million years ₂.  These spongey creatures were the size of a speck of dust and covered in lots of tiny holes that allowed fluids to pass in and out of their bodies.  The breakthrough discovery of these tiny sponges meant that animal life was beginning to evolve 100 million - 150 million years earlier than scientists previously had thought.

The rocks that held these special fossils were in Namibia's Etosha National Park surrounded by lions, giraffes and elephants!  These animals also evolved from this simple and tiny life form over millions of years.  But it's not these tiny sponges that we should thank for life on earth - it's our environment.  Without the right environment and climate these sponges would not have survived and thrived to grow and evolve into the amazing diversity of life all over our planet today.  Over time, planet Earth has undergone some dramatic changes, such as ice ages and droughts as conditions on its surface, underground and in its atmosphere have varied and interacted with each other.  It is sometimes useful to remember that on a planet that is estimated to be billions of years old humans have been alive for just a tiny fraction of Earth's existence.  Looking at how much we have already changed the look of our planet and the effect we are having on the environment, you would think we had been here forever.


1. BBC News
2. Discovery Animal News

Photograph - Enrico Donelli CC BY-ND 2.0

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