Thursday, October 23, 2003
Oldest Vertebrate Fossil
Discovery reports the discovery of the oldest vertebrate fossil in South Australia's Flinders Ranges. The fossil's been dated at 560 million years, pre-dating by 30 million years the previous oldest fossil find.
Our very most distant relative looks like a long tadpole, about 26 inches long, with muscles, a head, a fin on its back, but most importantly, a backbone, PM's Nance Haxton said.
South Australian Museum Director, Tim Flannery, said the discovery is of enormous significance. "Well, it's not so much humans, it's really the origin of all other things, humans, dogs, birds, fish, everything with a backbone and what it's suggesting is that perhaps this lineage goes back a lot further in time than any of us imagined," he told PM. Nilpena station owner Ross Fargher stumbled across the fossil five years ago while driving around his 540 square mile cattle property.
Our very most distant relative looks like a long tadpole, about 26 inches long, with muscles, a head, a fin on its back, but most importantly, a backbone, PM's Nance Haxton said.
South Australian Museum Director, Tim Flannery, said the discovery is of enormous significance. "Well, it's not so much humans, it's really the origin of all other things, humans, dogs, birds, fish, everything with a backbone and what it's suggesting is that perhaps this lineage goes back a lot further in time than any of us imagined," he told PM. Nilpena station owner Ross Fargher stumbled across the fossil five years ago while driving around his 540 square mile cattle property.
