According to scientists from The Australian National University, the contents of the last meal eaten by the earliest animals has unearthed new clues about their health.
The oldest large organisms are the Ediacara biota. The animals atebacteria andalgae that came from the ocean floor. The findings show how these strange creatures were able to eat and digest food.
The scientists looked at fossils that were from the last meal of the animals. The researchers were able to confirm that the creature had a mouth and a gut and that it was similar to modern animals. The researchers think it was one of the most advanced creatures in the area.
An animal with a rib-like design on its body was found to be less complex and had no eyes, mouth or gut by the ANU team. Dickinsonia absorbed food through its body as it traveled through the ocean.
The animals of the Ediacara biota, which lived on Earth prior to the "Cambrian Explosion" of modern animal life, were a mix of weird and advanced animals.
A major event that changed the course of evolution of all life on Earth was the Ediacara biota family that lived on Earth about 20 million years ago.
The oldest fossils that can be seen with the naked eye are thediacara biota. Dr. Bobrovskiy said that these creatures are our deepest visible roots.
Professor Jochen Brocks from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences is one of the study's authors.
The organisms of the Ediacara biota were large due to the energy rich food. Professor Brocks said that most of the fossils that came before the Ediacara biota were single celled and small.
The sterol molecule contained in the fossil tissue was analyzed by the ANU scientists using advanced chemical analysis techniques. The ANU team was able to confirm that Ediacara biota are our earliest known ancestors due to their high levels of cholesterol.
The researchers were able to decipher what the animals ate in the lead up to their deaths with the help of the molecule. Professor Brocks said it was difficult to distinguish between the fat molecule of the creatures, the algal andbacterial remains in their guts, and the decaying algal molecule from the ocean floor.
It was already known that the animal had a gut and that it had left feeding marks on the ocean floor. Professor Brocks said that it was only after analyzing the molecule of Kimberella's gut that they were able to figure out what it was eating.
Kimberella had an advanced fine-tuned gut and knew which sterols were good for her and which were bad.
By using preserved chemical in the fossils, we can now see the gut contents of animals even if they've been dead for a long time. Dickinsonia did not have a gut, but we used this same technique to figure it out.
The fossils of Dickinsonia and Kimberella were found near the White Sea in Russia.
Guts, gut contents, and feeding strategies of Ediacaran animals are more information. www.cell.com/ current-biology/f...
Journal information: Current Biology
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