The transition to a multicellular form of life occurred many times, leading once to animals, once to plants, on other occasions to fungi, various seaweeds, and less conspicuous organisms. Most likely, the origin of animals did not stem from a meeting between lone cells who drifted together. Rather, animals arose from a cell whose daughters did not separate properly during cell division. Usually, when a single-celled organism divides into two, the daughters go their separate ways, but not always. Imagine a ball of cells that forms when one cell divides and the results stay together—and the
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