Paleontologists have encountered traces of unknown creatures that lived in China's Hunan province 500 million years ago, CBS News reports. Researchers collected nearly 50,000 fossil specimens and identified a total of 153 species as a result of analysis. Of these, 91 are said to be completely new species for science.
What amazed scientists most was that the soft tissues in the finds remained almost intact. We are talking about such delicate organs as the eyes, gills, intestines, and even the nervous system. Usually, over millions of years, only bone or hard shells are preserved, but the conditions in this area allowed even delicate structures to be "preserved."
It is estimated that these creatures lived approximately 513 million years ago, after the first major extinction in Earth's history. The findings help us understand how nature recovered after the drastic decline in the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. Excavations have found relatives of ancient worms, jellyfish, sea sponges, and many arthropods, some of which were previously known only through findings in Canada, indicating their widespread presence.
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