'Fainting' at the appearance of ancient Earth creatures, looking like alien monsters

 Some of the creatures found by researchers from this distant period of Earth's history that have survived to this day are said to be so bizarre you'd think they might be the work of an artist. some crazy surrealism.

Ancient creatures with the most distinctive shape

The Cambrian explosion marked the beginning of the Palaeozoic Era (542 to 250 million years ago), which is also one of the most interesting and least understood periods in natural history.

There is no doubt that judging it as a pivotal moment in natural history, it has even been called the "big bang of life", but to this day we are still not really sure. whether it is a single event or not. As it marks the time when organisms began to evolve hard body parts like seashells, and their chances of survival have also been greatly increased compared to their soft ancestors and the fossil record. become much more complete from this point forward.

For now we can only guess what might have happened before, and we can only know what these creatures are if we find evidence that their fossils are exceptionally well-preserved against the sun. Cambrian explosion. The Cambrian–Ordovician mass extinction at the end of the Cambrian (about 488 million years ago) would end this experimental era, with a relatively small number of organisms living to fight another day.

Surely you can't wait to see the strangest creatures that evolved during this period. The following are the species selected by researchers to be included in the list of the most special creatures.

1. Hallucigenia 

This creature is believed to be an early invertebrate.

This is the aptly named species, a strange life form that once roamed our planet. It looks like a "hybrid" between a pair of comb teeth and a long-legged worm, this creature today is really an alien like it must have appeared in its day.

The creature was first discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott over a century ago, who was so confused by the animal's appearance that he thought he was being "hallucinated". And perhaps its name Hallucigenia (meaning hallucination) doesn't seem to make any more sense.

The specimens left behind are only about 0.5cm - 5.5cm in size), this creature lived about 505 million years ago. Believed to be an early invertebrate, it had seven to eight spindly legs with several sharp spines along its back. Specimens of this species have been found in the Burgess Shales of Canada and Cambrian China, some complete or with only spines remaining. Early reconstructions suggest that these creatures used spines as some form of stilts, but paleontologists now believe that the spikes were kept straight from its back.

For decades, naturalists have also considered whether Hallucigenia represents an entirely new species of Cambrian animal, and classified it as the primary taxon "problematica". However, the creature is thought to be a member of the extinct lobopodian phylum or a distant ancestor of onychophorans.

2. Anomalocaris 

This animal was first discovered by Joseph Whiteaves in 1892.

One of the strangest creatures that evolved during this period is the mysterious Anomalocaris. It roughly translates to "unusual or exotic shrimp," the creature being the apex predator in its day more than half a billion years ago. It is classified as a member of the now extinct genus radiodont, which had round or radial teeth, an order closely related to present-day arthropods. This animal was first discovered by Joseph Whiteaves in 1892, has a very strange shape and body design, but still has some features that we can see in modern animals today. . Its segmented body, for example, and its presynaptic limbs were not too different from those of modern arthropods.

At the time of its existence, Anomalocaris was a veritable "giant" measuring 1.83 meters in length. It is considered a very good swimmer and can propel itself by bobbing its flexible wings or wings along the length of its body.

The relatively large forelimbs are thought to have been used for hunting and to deliver prey into the unusual disc-shaped mouth on the underside of its head. Compared with other species of the same period, the eyesight of this creature was extremely outstanding, they used complex compound eyes capable of seeing like a dragonfly today.

Anomalocaris' mouth is made up of 32 overlapping plates that researchers believe can easily crush prey. Some specimens have been found with the fossilized remains of the trilobite crustacean in its stomach, a clear indication of its predation and predation abilities.

3. Kerygmachela  

Kerygmachela lived about 520 million years ago and had a rather terrifying appearance. 

Kerygmachela is considered the "more beautiful" cousin of Anomalocaris. Kerygmachela lived about 520 million years ago and had a rather terrifying appearance. It resembles a gill lobster found in the Buen Formation of Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, in Greenland in 1993. Its distinctive body shape has led scientists to classify it as a relative of other organisms such as Anomalocaris. , and perhaps a distant ancestor of today's true arthropods. 

Its name is related to its rather elegant and exaggerated front section and vehicle. These appendages end in a series of rather nasty-looking spines that are said to be used to capture its prey. It is expected to have a stalkless, or slit-like compound eye located just behind the point where the very large appendages join its "head". The small, forward-facing mouth is located below its head and has a pair of structures resembling an environmental probe.

This creature may also have a swimming style similar to Anomalocaris. A precise feature of this animal is its long tail spine, long thought to be some kind of sensory organ, called the cerci, which is still debated as to whether this organ is actually used. used for what.  

4. Marrella  

Marrella resembles a small animal, about 2 cm long.

Marrella is another monster of nature, it also existed about 520 million years ago, it is a long-extinct genus of arthropod. Marrella is one of the most common creatures found in the Burgess Shale, first discovered in 1909.

Marrella resembles a small beast, about 2 cm long and is one of the more "beautiful" preserved animals from this period. The creature bears a pair of antennae and spines on its head, which point backwards, and about 25 different body segments, each of which also has its own pair of legs. one of the more "beautiful" preserved animals from this period. They are one of the few genera from the Cambrian explosion that survived the great extinction event that marked the end of the Cambrian, which lasted until the Devonian period (about 419 million to 359 million years ago).

5. Opabinia 

Opabinia is thought to be closely related to the species Anomalocaris.

Opabinia looks like a strange organic vacuum cleaner, it has 5 eyes, long slit and segmented body, is considered one of the strangest evolutionary experiments of the Cambrian explosion. It was first discovered in Burgess Shale in 1912, this creature is about 7 cm long and lived about 505 million years ago.

Opabinia is thought to be closely related to the Anomalocaris mentioned above. According to the researchers, the creature will deliver food into its reverse-rotating mouth using its strangely forward water cannon. It is also one of the less common creatures preserved in the Burgess Shale, and to date only about 20 identifiable specimens have survived. Scientists are also uncertain about Opabinia's mode of life, but it is more likely that it roamed the seabed to hunt for smaller creatures, possibly being a "scavenger" in the ocean.

6. Habelia  

 This is a predator that has migrated across the ocean.

Habelia is considered the original ancestor of the mighty sea scorpion, it was first discovered in 1912 with more than 50 specimens collected. This was an oceanic migratory predator that lived about 508 million years ago in what is now the Canadian Rockies. For a long time, Habelia represented one of the most difficult specimens to classify until recently. 

This strange creature is about 2 cm long, it is covered by a sturdy armor and is well equipped for the life of a hunter. Among its distinguishing features are its large jaws, technically known as gnathobases, located beneath its large head shield, and a set of long dorsal spines on its chest and one long spine on its tail. 

Recent studies as well as reconstruction efforts of this creature suggest that it has a set of jaws similar to those of the Swiss Army Knife that can perform the same tasks as the various teeth in the jaws of animals. have breasts. These various tools are an adaptation for a diet of hardy and shellfish. 

Examination of the specimens revealed that it had well-developed thorax limbs, perfectly adapted for rapid movement on the seafloor. These creatures can hunt and kill small or immature prey such as trilobites or other small hard-shelled creatures.

7. Pikaia  

This creature existed about 530 million years ago.

Pikaia is truly the oddest of the creatures listed on this list. It is extremely interesting as it is the most primitive vertebrate known, making it the most distant ancestor of all vertebrates alive today. Pikaia, first discovered in the Burgess Shale in 1911, is one of the least preserved species of fossil rock formations. 

This creature existed about 530 million years ago, one of the best studied of all the preserved fossils from this period. Belonging to the class of chordates, it was similar to today's lancelets and could swim in a very eel-like fashion. It is about 3.8 cm long and has an elongated, fish-like body and poorly defined head structure. 

It also has two long antenna-like tentacles protruding from the front of its "head", and a series of short appendages below that can act as primitive gills. Despite being the most primitive of creatures, Pikaia shows the necessary prerequisites for vertebrates, including a notochord - the flexible "rod" form found in the class of cordids. live and then develop into the backbone of the class of vertebrates. The specimens also show a nervous and vascular system, other important vertebrate structures.

During its lifetime, Pikaia will resemble a compressed leaf-shaped animal with an extended caudal fin. Its flattened body is divided into pairs of segmented muscle masses, which can be thought of as faint vertical lines. The present-day Branchiostoma is thought to be the most similar descendant to Pikaia.

8. Wiwaxia 

 It also looked like a plate armored dome with protruding blades.

Wiwaxia looks like half a coconut with thorns all over it, one of the other peculiarly strange creatures of the period. It also looked like a plate armored dome with sword-like protruding blades. The relatively small specimens are still enough evidence for scientists about the life stages of this animal. There is still controversy about whether it is classified as an ancient worm or a mollusk.  

9. Aysheaia 

Aysheaia is 1 to 6cm long.

Aysheaia looks like a terrible parasite, living from 570 to 500 million years ago, this creature is 1 to 6 cm long. They belong to the class of mollusks and molluscs, having some common features with velvet worms and ladybugs. The entire body has ten pairs of spines and claws, and a ring of finger-like appendages around the mouth, and two on the head. It is thought to have eaten sponges during life or avoided predators by living in sponge colonies. Its appearance also resembled modern lampreys, which were omnivores. 

It can be seen that the Cambrian explosion was one of the strangest periods in Earth's natural history and it was the basis for many of the animals alive today. And surely with the images you see of creatures in this period, to you, they are as alien as aliens.