Rise of the Animals Triumph of the Vertebrates
Rise of the Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates
The new frontier for fossil discoveries is China. Here Scientist are able to take evidence for evolutionary theories. The fossil record contains many well-documented examples of the transition from one species into another, as well as the origin of new physical features. Evidence from the fossil record is unique, because it provides a time perspective for understanding the evolution of life on Earth. David Attenborough embarks on an epic 500-million-year journey to unravel the incredible rise of the vertebrates. The evolution of animals with backbones is one of the greatest stories in natural history. To tell this story, David presents explosive new fossil evidence from China, a region he has long dreamt of exploring and the frontier of modern paleontological research. In the Time period known as the Cambrian, in which the land was still bare and lifeless but under water it was exploding into a multitude of forms. The first known vertebrate fossils, found at the Chengjiang locality in China, date back to the early Cambrian. Vertebrates appear to have radiated in the late Ordovician, about 450 million years ago. The major animal groups we know today were appearing on the planet for the very first time. They build their bodies of soft tissues and some even have a hard outhercase to protect their selves, but none had anything that resembled a backbone, and so they were called the invertebrands. But there is an exception, the Myllokunmingia, the first known common ancestor of all vertebrates. Using its early back-bone to move around in a totally new way, this animal diversified over millions of years to create the spectacular variety of backboned creatures we see on our planet today. A species was found as well in China that had a newly identified ‘missing link’; older fish have front fins but this one has another pair of back fins, or pelvic fins, granting much more swimming stability to the owner. Along with the jaw,
The new frontier for fossil discoveries is China. Here Scientist are able to take evidence for evolutionary theories. The fossil record contains many well-documented examples of the transition from one species into another, as well as the origin of new physical features. Evidence from the fossil record is unique, because it provides a time perspective for understanding the evolution of life on Earth. David Attenborough embarks on an epic 500-million-year journey to unravel the incredible rise of the vertebrates. The evolution of animals with backbones is one of the greatest stories in natural history. To tell this story, David presents explosive new fossil evidence from China, a region he has long dreamt of exploring and the frontier of modern paleontological research. In the Time period known as the Cambrian, in which the land was still bare and lifeless but under water it was exploding into a multitude of forms. The first known vertebrate fossils, found at the Chengjiang locality in China, date back to the early Cambrian. Vertebrates appear to have radiated in the late Ordovician, about 450 million years ago. The major animal groups we know today were appearing on the planet for the very first time. They build their bodies of soft tissues and some even have a hard outhercase to protect their selves, but none had anything that resembled a backbone, and so they were called the invertebrands. But there is an exception, the Myllokunmingia, the first known common ancestor of all vertebrates. Using its early back-bone to move around in a totally new way, this animal diversified over millions of years to create the spectacular variety of backboned creatures we see on our planet today. A species was found as well in China that had a newly identified ‘missing link’; older fish have front fins but this one has another pair of back fins, or pelvic fins, granting much more swimming stability to the owner. Along with the jaw,