Thursday, February 19, 2009

Episode 24 - What was the first animal?

Ben sent me a great question, actually it was three questions, and it fits in nicely with the fact that it was just the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin (happy birthday Chuck!)

Ben wanted to know, what was the first animal, when did it arrive and he wanted to know how it showed up. Excellent questions all.

Well the oldest animal is something called a comb jelly, which looks sort of like a jelly fish (but it is not one). These things showed up about 525 million years ago, give or take. They are the first organisms with nervous systems.

How does evolution work? You know what it is VERY easy to understand, I have heard it said that it is so easy that anyone can misunderstand it. I am not going to go through it right now, heck I want you to listen to episode 24.