Over 541 mn-year-old sea sponges could be Earth's first animals
According to a new study, primitive sea sponges that existed over 541 million years ago could be Earth's first animals. Chemical fossils called 30-carbon steranes, found in rocks from Oman, India, and Siberia, link these sponges to early animal life. Soft-bodied and simple, they predate complex organisms and likely paved the way for the Cambrian explosion.