Oldest known animal fossil discovered in Russian cliffs

[sglowrider]

Discovery solves 'decades-old mystery that has been the Holy Grail of palaeontology'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ussia-fat-cholesterol-ediacaran-a8547626.html

Debate has raged in the research community for decades over the identity of Dickinsonia, which roamed the Earth 558 million years ago during the Ediacaran period.
Life forms from this period are thought to be the first ever large, multicellular creatures, but they are so different to anything alive today that their exact identity has remained a mystery.
The fossil was so well preserved that when researchers drilled into it they found traces of cholesterol, a type of fat that is a clear indicator of animal life.

“The fossil fat molecules that we’ve found prove that animals were large and abundant 558 million years ago, millions of years earlier than previously thought,” said Professor Jochen Brocks from the Australian National University.
The current received wisdom in palaeontology is that large animals began to dominate around the time of the Cambrian explosion around 541 million years ago.

 

[Jeb MT Mater]

Putin is a direct descendant.