Australia preserves one of the longest and most extraordinary fossil records on Earth, spanning more than 500 million years ...

Tracks left by some of the earliest complex animals are giving new insights into how they experienced the world. New research ...

A tiny fossil, Saccorhytus coronarius, once thought to be a human ancestor from China's Cambrian era, has been reclassified.

A newly described species from the Burgess Shale had three eyes, clawed limbs, and a tail full of gills—plus internal organs preserved in stunning detail. Reading time 3 minutes A newly described ...

A team of scientists digging up some of the Earth’s oldest rocks has uncovered new chemical evidence that Earth’s first animals were likely ancestors of the modern sea sponge. The discovery relies on ...

Cambrian Period creatures known as sea moths seemed alien because of their additional eye, but a study finds anatomical features more in line with modern animals. An artist’s impression of Mosura ...

Long before the first dinosaur hatched, Earth's ancient life was already thriving. There were bizarre sea creatures and lumbering plant-eaters that ruled prehistoric landscapes for hundreds of ...

Animal life is extraordinarily diverse and complex, having colonised almost all environments on Earth – from hostile hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to the skies across our continents. But all this ...