These fossils can be interpreted as a single community, enabling researchers to look at aspects of their lifestyles including competition, feeding and reproduction.
- Alex Liu, Department of Earth Sciences
Casts of a group of fossils that have puzzled palaeontologists for at least 60 years went on display at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Cambridge yesterday (Monday). The temporary exhibition – ‘Ediacaran Enigmas: Resolving the Fossil Record of Early Animals’ – showcases current research into life on Earth between 560 and 580 million years ago.
The casts have been taken from impressions of fossils from the Ediacaran, a geological period formally ratified by the world’s scientists only ten years ago. The fossils – which some researchers suggest could be some of the earliest examples of animals – predate those from the Cambrian by around 40 million years.
The 15 examples of Ediacaran fossils on display in the exhibition date from a period when scientists believe that multicellular life on Earth was in the process of diverging into the major groups, or Kingdoms (such as fungi and animals) that we are familiar with today. Many of the fossils have not been shown in the UK before, and the display is the first research-based exhibition of Ediacaran material to be staged in the UK.
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Image: Casts of fossils such as this beautiful Fractofusus specimen from Newfoundland are on display
Credit: Alex Liu
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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