found in Canada. Reported in
New Scientist Mag the worm like creature lived on the ocean floor and by all accounts was previously a fern. These pre-Cambrian ferns called Ediacarans swayed in shallow salt waters secured by a root or foot of some type. Evolution, ever the joker then developed this ability to move around hence the fossil trail pictured above. So far, this is the earliest evidence of mobility of any kind, anywhere on earth. The trail suggests that in the move from one place to another the creature was acting purposefully. Now then, there's no evidence a brain was involved but something lit up a ganglia of sorts in that tiny example of things yet to come, and off it went. There were no predators to chase the old thing because evolution was yet to develop fish and crustaceans. Maybe another Ediacaran also out for a wander got too close or the neighbourhood became too uncertain. Or maybe it was just that time of the day when a group of special cells decided to saddle up and light out for the territory.
It is fascinating that the modern scientific eye can gaze on evidence that is 550 million years old and make some sense of it. Equally astonishing is that 550 million years ago a creature evolved that could move under its own volition and thereby gain a distinct advantage over the other fronds who just hung about.
