Fossil Of Dickinsonia - The Earliest Animal Life Found At Bhimbetka

• 17 Feb 2021

• Dickinsonia, one of the world’s rarest fossils, has been discovered on the roof of Auditorium Cave in Bhimbetka rock shelter, Madhya Pradesh which dates back 570 million years.
• Dickinsonia is an extinct genus of a basal animal, which as per the records, lived during the late Ediacaran period (also called Vendian Period, uppermost division of the Proterozoic Eon of Precambrian time and latest of the three periods of the Neoproterozoic Era, extending from approximately 635 million to 541 million years ago).
• These fossils are known only in the form of casts and imprints in sandstone beds.
• Dickinsonia is among the earliest animal life yet found—predating the Cambrian explosion of life, which took place 541 million years ago and marked the rise of most major animal groups still around today.
• These are the only Dickinsonia fossils available in India, and the first such were found in South Australia.
• This is further proof of the similar paleo-environments and confirms the assembly of Gondwanaland by the 550 Ma (Mega Annum), but not reconstructions adjusted for true polar wander.