Posted on 08/06/2025 5:39:12 AM PDT by Red Badger
Newly discovered Grand Canyon fossils capture a rare moment in Earth’s history when early animals flourished in a perfect evolutionary setting. Credit: Stock
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Exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils uncovered in the Grand Canyon show how evolution accelerated in resource-rich waters.
An extraordinary cache of remarkably well-preserved ancient animals, dating back over 500 million years, has been unearthed in the Grand Canyon, one of the most renowned geological landmarks in the world.
This groundbreaking discovery, the first of its kind in the Grand Canyon, features microscopic fossils of rock-grazing mollusks, filter-feeding crustaceans, worm-like creatures with spiked teeth, and even remnants of their presumed diets.
To analyze these organisms, a research team from the University of Cambridge dissolved the fossil-bearing rocks and studied the residue with high-powered microscopes, revealing a vivid glimpse into a pivotal stage in the early evolution of animal life.
Preserved Cambrian Microfossils From the Grand Canyon
A treasure trove of exceptionally preserved early animals from more than half a billion years ago has been discovered in the Grand Canyon, one of the natural world’s most iconic sites. The rich fossil discovery – the first such find in the Grand Canyon – includes tiny rock-scraping mollusks, filter-feeding crustaceans, spiky-toothed worms, and even fragments of the food they likely ate. Credit: Mussini et al.
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An evolutionary arms race in rich waters
The fossils date to between 507 and 502 million years ago, placing them within the Cambrian explosion—a pivotal era of rapid evolutionary change when most major animal groups first emerged in the fossil record.
During this time, certain regions with nutrient-rich waters saw intense evolutionary activity, with animals developing diverse and specialized traits for feeding, locomotion, and reproduction.
View of the Grand Canyon from the Colorado River. Credit: Jason Muhlbauer
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Although Cambrian fossils typically consist of hard-shelled organisms, a few exceptional sites—such as the Burgess Shale in Canada and the Maotianshan Shales in China—preserved soft-bodied creatures before decomposition could occur.
Until now, however, soft-bodied Cambrian fossils were primarily found in low-oxygen, nutrient-poor environments, which were unlikely to foster the more advanced evolutionary innovations seen in early animals.
First soft-bodied Cambrian fossils from a resource-rich zone
Now, the Grand Canyon has revealed the first soft-bodied, or non-mineralized, Cambrian fossils from an evolutionary ‘Goldilocks zone’ that would have provided rich resources for the evolution of early animals to accelerate. The results are reported in the journal Science Advances.
“These rare fossils give us a fuller picture of what life was like during the Cambrian period,” said first author Giovanni Mussini, a PhD student in Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences. “By combining these fossils with traces of their burrowing, walking, and feeding – which are found all over the Grand Canyon – we’re able to piece together at an entire ancient ecosystem.”
Mussini and colleagues from the US located the fossils during a 2023 expedition along the Colorado River, which began carving the Grand Canyon in what is now Arizona between five and six million years ago.
Illustration of Kraytdraco Spectatus - A new species of priapulids, also known as penis or cactus worms, which were widespread during the Cambrian but are nearly extinct today. The Grand Canyon priapulid had hundreds of complex branching teeth, which helped it sweep food particles into its extensible mouth. Due to the size of the fossil and its exotic rows of teeth, the researchers named this new animal Kraytdraco spectatus, after the krayt dragon, a fictional creature from the Star Wars universe. Credit: Rhydian Evans
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“Surprisingly, we haven’t had much of a Cambrian fossil record of this kind from the Grand Canyon before – there have been finds of things like trilobites and biomineralized fragments, but not much in the way of soft-bodied creatures,” said Mussini. “But the geology of the Grand Canyon, which contains lots of fine-grained and easily split mud rocks, suggested to us that it might be just the sort of place where we might be able to find some of these fossils.”
The team gathered several rock samples and brought them back to Cambridge for analysis. These fist-sized rocks were dissolved using hydrofluoric acid, and the resulting sediment was filtered through a series of sieves, revealing thousands of miniature fossils. Although no complete animals were recovered, numerous identifiable anatomical features allowed the researchers to determine the taxonomic groups the specimens represented.
Feeding adaptations of ancient crustaceans and mollusks
Further examination of the fossils revealed some of the most complex ways animals were evolving during the Cambrian to capture and eat their food. “These were cutting-edge ‘technologies’ for their time, integrating multiple anatomical parts into high-powered feeding systems,” said Mussini.
Many of these fossils are of crustaceans, likely belonging to the group that includes brine shrimp, recognizable by their molar teeth. These tiny creatures had hair-like extensions on triangular grooves around their mouths, and used their hairy limbs to sweep up passing food particles like a conveyor belt. Tiny grooves on their teeth could then grind up their food. The detail on the fossils is such that several plankton-like particles can be seen near the crustaceans’ mouths.
Cambrian Fossil Site in Grand Canyon Rockface - A treasure trove of exceptionally preserved early animals from more than half a billion years ago has been discovered in the Grand Canyon, one of the natural world’s most iconic sites. Credit: Joe Clevenger
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Other modern-looking animals from the Cambrian of the Grand Canyon include slug-like mollusks. These animals already had belts or chains of teeth not dissimilar to modern garden snails, which likely helped them scrape algae or bacteria from rocks.
A Star Wars–inspired priapulid and diverse feeding strategies
The most unusual creature identified by the researchers is a new species of priapulids, also known as penis or cactus worms, which were widespread during the Cambrian but are nearly extinct today. The Grand Canyon priapulid had hundreds of complex branching teeth, which helped it sweep food particles into its extensible mouth. Due to the size of the fossil and its exotic rows of teeth, the researchers named this new animal Kraytdraco spectatus, after the krayt dragon, a fictional creature from the Star Wars universe.
“We can see from these fossils that Cambrian animals had a wide variety of feeding styles used to process their food, some which have modern counterparts, and some that are more exotic,” said Mussini.
During the Cambrian, the Grand Canyon was much closer to the equator than it is today, and conditions were perfect for supporting a wide range of life. The depth of the oxygen-rich water, neither too deep or too shallow, allowed a balance between maximizing nutrients or oxygen and reducing wave damage and exposure to UV radiation from the Sun.
This optimum environment made it a great place for evolutionary experimentation. Since food was abundant, animals could afford to take more evolutionary risks to stay ahead of the competition, accelerating the overall pace of evolution and driving the assembly of ecological innovations that still shape the modern biosphere.
Evolution thrives in resource-rich environments
“Animals needed to keep ahead of the competition through complex, costly innovations, but the environment allowed them to do that,” said Mussini. “In a more resource-starved environment, animals can’t afford to make that sort of physiological investment. It’s got certain parallels with economics: invest and take risks in times of abundance; save and be conservative in times of scarcity. There’s a lot we can learn from tiny animals burrowing in the sea floor 500 million years ago.”
Reference:
“Evolutionary escalation in an exceptionally preserved Cambrian biota from the Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA)”
by Giovanni Mussini, James W. Hagadorn, Anne E. Miller, Karl E. Karlstrom, Rhydian Evans, Carol E. Dehler, Salvador Bastien and Nicholas J. Butterfield, 23 July 2025, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adv6383
The research was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation and the UK Natural and Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Giovanni Mussini is a Bye-Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
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Star Wars????????
DUNE!!!!!...........The SPICE MUST FLOW!......................
Ping-a-Rama!..............
Colorado River, which began carving the Grand Canyon in what is now Arizona between five and six million years ago.
Bravo Sierra. It was a single cataclysmic event, resulting from the breach of a natural dam north east of that area. The science and geology are irrefutable.
I’ve always thought that as well, but for different reasons.
I assumed that the ‘mile thick’ ice sheet that covered North America melted in places forming huge lakes that suddenly merged and burst through in a glacial torrent that carved out the sandstone.....................
I’ve always thought that as well, but for different reasons.
I assumed that the ‘mile thick’ ice sheet that covered North America melted in places forming huge lakes that suddenly merged and burst through in a glacial torrent that carved out the sandstone.....................
I’m surprised that climate change isn’t involved in this new discovery.
It’s not like the NPS needs to worry about people destroying these fossil layers, as they’ve been doing their very best to functionally shutdown any support for visitors below the rim.
Wow! I wonder if there is an APP that can tell you what kind of rock, how old it is and material its made of by snapping a picture like they have apps to identify plants and planets
Thanks Red Badger.
The personnel of the NPS are largely environmentalists that don’t want any people anywhere in ‘their’ parks.
I know some of them. That is their attitude. It’s THEIR PARK, not yours. You are an intruder. If it was up to them they would lock the gates and not allow anybody in at all................
wow!
Went to Alaska and tried to visit Mt. McKinley. At 15 miles away, one can travel no further unless you pay for and board a bus. We didn’t go. The money wasn’t the issue. Driving to Mr. McKinley is a waste of your day. View it from somewhere else and call it a day.
Go watch LindsayNikole YouTube videos on the progress of life. Only 40 minutes each, entertaining. She covers each epoch/period in easy to understand verbiage.
Was the GCanyon part of the NAmerican inland sea at this time/ Or, was that later, like in the Jurassic? Can’t recall.
From what I have read, the theory is that there was a massive lake, referred to as “grand lake“ that was formed as a result of the great flood, which eventually washed out one of its natural dams and flooded downhill, creating the Grand Canyon. There’s some good resource material to support the theory.
B-but the world is only 6,000 years old. 7,000 tops.
Just looking at the walls of the canyon, it looks like a sudden even, not a million years of slow formation.
Steep, no vegetation or remains of vegetation, and it’s so wide. A wide river flows slowly...........
🥰
Biblical, even.
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