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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Health & Science

Fossil of Charnia, one of the oldest animals, discovered after 560 million years

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News From a news agency Context piece
  • Researchers discovered a remarkably well-preserved fossil of Charnia, an Ediacaran animal that lived about 560 million years ago, in an Arctic Norwegian sheep field.
  • The fossil’s preservation revealed subtle ridges, or “keels,” on each branch, a feature not seen in flatter specimens.
  • The Finnmark site suggests early animals may have been more widespread than previously thought and that unexplored areas could contain more discoveries.

A small creature swept away by an ancient underwater avalanche 560 million years ago has emerged as an unusually well-preserved fossil in an Arctic Norwegian sheep field. The specimen belongs to Charnia, one of the oldest known animals, and comes from the Ediacaran period, when complex life first appeared on Earth.

The discovery in Finnmark marks the first major site of its kind in Europe in decades. Its exceptional preservation exposed subtle ridges, known as “keels,” along each of the creature’s branches. Researchers had not detected the feature in other, flatter Charnia fossils.

When you see the same species preserved in a different way, you start to notice properties you had not seen before.

· Yorick VeenmaThe lead author explained how the fossil’s unusual preservation revealed the ridges on Charnia’s branches.

“When you see the same species preserved in a different way, you start to notice properties you had not seen before,” said lead author Yorick Veenma of Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences.

As a fossil record, the Ediacaran has several factors working against it, mainly that most organisms had soft bodies and skeletons had not yet evolved, so they are more difficult to preserve.

· Neil DaviesThe Cambridge co-author described why Ediacaran fossils are difficult to find and preserve.

Ediacaran fossils have been found in several parts of the world, but the new Norwegian site suggests these early animals may have occupied a much broader area than scientists previously believed. The region lies near an outcrop where researchers had already observed signs of Ediacaran life, including strange anchoring structures created when organisms attached themselves to the ancient seabed.

The period remains difficult to study because most Ediacaran organisms had soft bodies and had not yet evolved skeletons, making preservation less likely. Its geological record is also limited because fossils must be embedded in sedimentary rock. Neil Davies, a Cambridge co-author, said the scarcity of suitable rocks makes new sites especially valuable. Veenma described the Norwegian material as containing umbrella-shaped formations and a wide variety of species not previously known.

Strange umbrella-shaped formations, things that do not match what is known from other places. There is a great variety of species unknown until now.

· Yorick VeenmaVeenma described the unusual formations and possible species diversity at the Norwegian site.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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