New 600-Million-Year-Old Fossil is the World’s Oldest Sponge

Plants and Animals





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A scanning electronic microscope image of the 600 million-year-old sponge-like animal fossil / Zongjun Yin

We shared a common ancestor with SpongeBob SquarePants hundreds of millions of years ago, though exactly how long ago has been up for debate. Now, analyses of a newly discovered 600-million-year-old fossil suggests that sponge-like animals predate the Cambrian by 60 million years. And if an advanced sponge-like form was already around during the Precambian period, that means that similarly advanced fossils of our (very early) ancestors from that long ago are also waiting to be found.