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News Release 10-143
Discovery of Possible Earliest Animal Life Pushes Back Fossil Record
Primitive sponge-like creatures lived in ocean reefs 650 million years ago
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![Photo of stromatolite column of bacterial mats with sponge fossils between stromatolites.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite1_f.jpg)
Stromatolite column of bacterial mats in Australia; sponge fossils are between stromatolites.
Credit: Adam Maloof
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![Photo looking east from a low-flying plane over the Little Bunkers Ranges in South Australia.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite2_f.jpg)
Looking east from a low-flying plane over the Little Bunkers Ranges in South Australia.
Credit: Catherine Rose
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![Photo showing a reddish bed of stromatolite bioherms with fossil sponges.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite3_f.jpg)
Below a cliff, a reddish bed is one of many stromatolite bioherms containing fossil sponges.
Credit: Adam Maloof
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![Photo showing Laura Poppick and Blake Dyer hiking down a stromatolite reef in South Australia.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite4_f.jpg)
Researchers Laura Poppick and Blake Dyer hike down a stromatolite reef in South Australia.
Credit: Adam Maloof
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![a polished limestone rock highlighted in blue using automated image tracing software.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite5_f.jpg)
Image of limestone rock containing fossils; fossil of interest is highlighted in blue using automated image tracing software. The serial grinding process created nearly 500 such images that the scientists stacked and autotraced to create a 3-D model.
Credit: Maloof Lab/Situ Studio
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![red autotraced forms from 15 slices through rock.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite6_f.jpg)
Red autotraced forms from 15 slices through rock; the shape of a single fossil changes.
Credit: Situ Studio
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![Image composed of stacked autotraced rock sections showing the ellipical fossil.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite7_f.jpg)
Stacking autotraced rock sections results in this image; the elliptical fossil is clearly visible.
Credit: Situ Studio
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![Photo showing the stratigraphic section where the fossil sponges were discovered.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite8_f.jpg)
The stratigraphic section where the fossil sponges were discovered may be seen in this image.
Credit: Adam Maloof
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![Photo of the Trezona Formation in the West Central Flinders Ranges, South Australia.](/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite9_f3.jpg)
View of the Trezona Formation in the West Central Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
Credit: Adam Maloof
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