Newfound Fossil 'Flexes' its Fame: Earliest Evidence of an Animal with Muscles

First Posted: Aug 27, 2014 12:12 PM EDT
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Scientists have discovered a fossil in Newfoundland that may provide the earliest evidence of an animal with muscles.

"The evolution of muscular animals, in possession of muscle tissues that enabled them to precisely control their movements, paved the way for the exploration of a vast range of feeding strategies, environments, and ecological niches, allowing animals to become the dominant force in global ecosystems," said lead study author Dr. Alex Liu, of Cambridge University's department of Earth Sciences, via the Daily Mail.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, extensively worked with paleontologists from the University of Oxford and the Memorial University of Newfoundland to unearth this 560-million-year-old fossil. Scientists believe that it shows just how many complex animals were exploring the world a lot sooner than we may have thought.

"The problem is that although animals are now widely expected to have been present before the Cambrian Explosion, very few of the fossils found in older rocks possess features that can be used to convincingly identify them as animals," added Dr. Liu. "Instead, we study aspects of their ecology, feeding or reproduction, in order to understand what they might have been."

The newly discovered fossil, which has been dubbed Haootia quadriforms, dates back to the Ediacaran Period--scanning from anywhere between 635 to 541 million years ago.

This makes it the only rare example of an Ediacaran animal as well as one of the oldest fossils to show evidence of muscle anywhere throughout the world.

Could we say that this fossil is ‘flexing' it's fame?

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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