Charles Darwin himself worried about the sudden appearance of complex animals in the fossil record, what we now call the Cambrian explosion (~538 million years ago). He had no easy answer, and it took over a century before pre-Cambrian discoveries started filling in the gap.
Charles Darwin's dilemma and the Cambrian explosion
Key facts
- Darwin identified the sudden appearance of complex species in the lowest known fossiliferous rocks as a major challenge to his theory of natural selection
- The phenomenon is known as the Cambrian explosion, dated to approximately 538 million years ago
- Darwin's dilemma was eventually addressed by the 1957 discovery of pre-Cambrian fossils (as discussed later in the video)
Sources
The Fossils Still Say No: The Cambrian Explosionicr.org
In the Cambrian Explosion, numerous forms of highly complex animal life appeared suddenly in the rock record with absolutely no evolutionary ...
Was the Cambrian Explosion Too Fast For Evolution?ncse.ngo
The single greatest problem which the fossil record poses for Darwinism is the 'Cambrian Explosion' of around 600 million years ago. Nearly all ...
Cambrian explosionen.wikipedia.org
"The Cambrian "explosion" of metazoans and molecular biology: would Darwin be satisfied? ... "Darwin's dilemma: the realities of the Cambrian 'explosion'" (PDF).
Darwin's dilemma: the realities of the Cambrian 'explosion'pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
by SC Morris · 2006 · Cited by 218 — The Cambrian 'explosion' is widely regarded as one of the fulcrum points in the history of life, yet its origins and causes remain deeply controversial.
Darwin's Dilemma | The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Recorddarwinsdilemma.org
Darwin's Dilemma explores one of the great mysteries in the history of life: The geologically-sudden appearance of dozens of major complex animal types in the ...
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