A new creature was found in the Grand Canyon, and it belongs to an era when the tourism spot was a big ocean. When dinosaurs were still on Earth during the Paleozoic era, the Grand Canyon was filled with water. Marine environments have changed over millions of years, and the oceans and seas have covered a large part of the planet. As the climate changed and several extinction events occurred, the water evaporated or moved from one spot to another. But even millions of years of evolution couldn’t wipe out the evidence from species of the past.
Exclusive animals everywhere: Millions of years of evolution allowed this to happen
This is one of the reasons why whale skeletons are commonly found in areas nowhere near the ocean. For example, the Sahara Desert was once covered by water, and nowadays, researchers can find multiple fossils from Mosasaurs, sea snakes, plesiosaurs, and other species that once swam in the region – and died there. This is the case for this spike-toothed creature found in the Grand Canyon.
Millions of years before the first mammals started to appear on Earth and eventually gained the ability to walk on land, there were ancient forms of life that scientists do not know how to classify due to the lack of evidence of their existence. Now, they have found something that went through most extinction events, survived at the same time as dinosaurs, and “saw” them dying.
A new creature has been found in the Grand Canyon: Multiple species confirmed
In the greenish shales of the Bright Angel Formation, paleontologists uncovered a remarkably well-preserved group of fossils. These rocks sit above the Colorado River today, but they first formed nearly half a billion years ago, in the Cambrian Period.
The discovery included multiple mollusks and crustaceans, as well as other animals that show traits still present in modern life. Scientists noticed that these creatures were already developing complex structures millions of years ago, pointing out how early ecosystems were making species compete and adapt to the challenges that they would face in the future.
According to Giovanni Mussini, a paleontologist at the University of Cambridge, only certain environments create the right conditions for major leaps in evolution, and the Grand Canyon appears to have been one of those hotspots during the Cambrian – but some environments stand the test of time.
The time was suitable for life to develop: Animals today are direct descendants
This period is also famous for what is called the Cambrian Explosion, when a surge of biodiversity gave rise to most animal groups that we know today. Many classic Cambrian fossils, like those from the Burgess Shale in Canada, came from deeper, oxygen-poor waters where preservation was easier. The Bright Angel Formation shows a different story.
Its seabed was shallow, only a few dozen meters deep, where sunlight could reach and plants could grow. That made it a more active environment. The fossils also show animals with traits more advanced than those found in other Cambrian sites. The conditions in the canyon seem to have helped them develop stronger defenses and special features before they moved.
The importance of the fossils: Scientists know what they ate
What makes these fossils stand out is that they kept the softer body parts, not just the shells or bones. Usually, remains from the Cambrian are of creatures with hard shells, so finding this level of preservation in the canyon is unusual. Some of the animals even kept traces of what they had eaten. Small plankton-like pieces were found close to the mouths of certain crustaceans, showing their last meals frozen in time – a luck that other discoverers didn’t have because some animals only leave behind their teeth.