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The earliest evidence for life on Earth includes: 3.8 billion-year-old biogenic hematite in a banded iron formation of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in Canada; [30] graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks in western Greenland; [31] and microbial mat fossils in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia.
The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as Ga, for gigaannum) and evidence suggests that life emerged prior to 3.7 Ga. [1] [2] [3] The similarities among all known present-day species indicate that they have diverged through the ...
The evolution of grass also brought primates down from the trees, and started human evolution. The first big cats evolved during this time as well. [189] The Tethys Sea was closed off by the collision of Africa and Europe. [190] The formation of Panama was perhaps the most important geological event to occur in the last 60 million years.
Evolutionary theory predicted that since amphibians evolved from fish, an intermediate form should be found in rock dated between 365 and 385 million years ago. Such an intermediate form should have many fish-like characteristics, conserved from 385 million years ago or more, but also have many amphibian characteristics as well.
Earth is the only place in the universe known to harbor life, where it exists in myriad environments. [8] [9] The origin of life on Earth was at least 3.5 billion years ago, possibly as early as 3.8-4.1 billion years ago. [2] [3] [4] Since its emergence, life has persisted in
[1] [50] [51] [52] It is the first tree founded exclusively on molecular phylogenetics, and which includes the evolution of microorganisms. It has been called a "universal phylogenetic tree in rooted form". [1] This tree and its rooting became the subject of debate. [50] [b]
Like rabbits, eggs represented new life and fertility in pagan times, which is probably how the Easter fable of a warm-blooded, floppy-eared mammal laying eggs evolved. Then again, eggs also ...
Humans determine which animal or plant will reproduce and which of the offspring will survive; thus, they determine which genes will be passed on to future generations. The process of artificial selection has had a significant impact on the evolution of domestic animals. For example, people have produced different types of dogs by controlled ...