Animal Interaction Behind Cambrian Explosion? 'Missing' Ancestors Of Today's Animals May Not Be Missing After All
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - 12:14
in Paleontology & Archaeology
An event as simple as the world's first bite may have sparked an ancient "explosion" of life 500 million years ago that led to the rise of the broad groups of animals that are still alive today. A Harvard professor suggests that it was an increase in interactions between species, such as predation, that drove an escalating evolutionary process that led to the development of teeth and claws and the wide variety of characteristics that we see among Earth's animals today.