It swam through shallow seas about 505 million years ago during the Cambrian period, hunting small organisms.

Learn more about a time period marked by an intense burst of evolution. 3 min read The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era, produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known.

This animation created for Evolution: "Great Transformations" depicts creatures whose fossils were found at the Burgess Shale. As alien as these creatures seem, they are also surprisingly familiar.

FROM 508 MILLION YEARS AGO TO TODAYPreserved in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, the worm Canadia spinosa was part of an explosion in biodiversity during the Cambrian period that gave birth ...

High in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, the animals of an ancient ecosystem can be seen battling for life. The fossils of the Burgess Shale offer a glimpse at the incredible diversity of early life on ...

A region in China’s Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium - or “life oasis”- for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian ...

The first eyes appeared about 541 million years ago – at the very beginning of the Cambrian period when complex multicellular life really took off – in a group of now extinct animals called ...

This animation created for Evolution: "Great Transformations" depicts creatures whose fossils were found at the Burgess Shale. As alien as these creatures seem, they are also surprisingly familiar.