动物进化时间比预期早2亿年

牛津大学领导的研究团队发表最新发现，推翻了长期以来对动物起源时间的认知。1根据该研究，动物可能在8亿到7亿年前就已进化，这比之前的科学估计早了约2亿年。1研究团队通过分析蒙古可塞恩生物群的微化石和分子钟分析数据，挑战了以往基于文安生物群缺失动物化石就断定动物未出现的假设。1

可塞恩生物群的年代比文安生物群晚4000多万年，但其中发现的动物迹象表明，最早的动物可能在雪球地球冰河期之前或期间就已存在。1文安生物群的年代约为5.9亿年前，属于埃迪卡拉纪，而新元古代冷冻期则开始于约7.2亿年前。1

研究论文已于2026年10月2日发表在《科学进展》期刊上。1该研究得到了来自加州大学伯克利分校、苏黎世联邦理工学院和耶鲁大学的科学家参与，研究团队检验了超过140份样本。1

A research team led by Oxford University has determined that animals likely emerged between 800 and 700 million years ago, approximately 200 million years earlier than previously estimated 1. The findings, published on October 2, 2026, in Science Advances, challenge earlier assumptions about the timing of animal evolution based on fossil records 1.

The research was conducted through analysis of microfossils from the Kheseen Biota in Mongolia and molecular clock analysis 1. Scientists from the University of California Berkeley, ETH Zurich, and Yale University collaborated on the study, examining more than 140 samples 1. The Kheseen Biota is dated to more than 40 million years after the Wengannian Biota of the Ediacaran period (approximately 590 million years ago), providing evidence that contradicted previous interpretations 1. The earlier hypothesis had assumed that the absence of animal fossils in the Wengannian Biota indicated animals had not yet appeared 1.

This revised timeline suggests that the earliest animals may have existed before or during the Cryogenian Period, a global glaciation that began approximately 720 million years ago 1.