The Burgess Shale. After Norman: De Fantastische wereld van de prehistorie (1994)

After Gould: Wonderlijk leven (1991)

The most famous site for animal fossils must be the Burgess Shale in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada. The strata date from the Middle Cambrian, about 520 million year ago. Thus they are only 'slightly' younger than the oldest-known fossils. From 543 million years ago on, at the beginning of the Cambrian, fossils are frequent. The Burgess Shale is very special because the fossils from that place are exceptionally well preserved. Even the soft parts are preserved. In by far most places only hard parts like shells and bones are fossilized. In the layers of the Burgess Shale numerous very strange animal have been found, which are often unknown from other places. Only in China (Chengjiang) comparable finds have recently been made, which are even somewhat older. It appears from the fossils that in the beginning of the Cambrian many life forms were existing which later on have apparently died out. The huge radiation of life forms in this period is often called the Cambrian explosion. Know more? The Burgess Shale Fossils of Chemgjiang China

Here you can see a couple of these very peculiar animals. Like the Anomalocaris, a predator sized up to 2 m, with eyes on short stalks, a mouth with the shape of a pineapple ring and a pair of dangerous claws. This was by far the biggest animal in the Burgess Shale. The Sidneyia was an arthropodal predator with a length of about 10 cm which could be the ancestor of the spiders, the trilobites and the scorpions. The Leanchoilia was a blind arthropod with long appendages on the head each ending in three whip-like tentacles. These are only three of the more than 120 species of animals found in the Burgess Shale. Know more? Anomalocaris Leanchoilia

Evolution 35

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