Page 43 - The Cambrian Evidence that Darwin Failed to Comprehend

HARUN YAHYA

quired a history of previous populations for all these creatures to have
descended from. Scientists hatched a brood of suggestions; all fossil-
bearing rocks from the critical interval of animal evolution had been
eroded or metamorphosed, or animals arose in freshwater lakes and
only later entered the oceans. None proved satisfactory, and the
wealth of animal fossils that defined the beginning of the Cambrian
age remained an enigma. 16
Logically enough, “the Pre-Cambrian Era” is the name given to
the vast stretch of time between the formation of the Earth up to the
Cambrian Period.
The Earth itself is estimated to be around 4.6 billion years old.
Direct evidence of the oldest organisms from this period date back
around 3.5 billion years. In certain strata, colonies of bacteria are laid
out like carpets. Known as cyanobacteria, these prokaryotic single-
celled microorganisms lived in the seas and were capable of photo-
synthesis.
Eukaryotic organisms appear in the fossil record some 2 billion
years ago. These organisms consisted of a single cell with a distinct
nucleus and other organelles with a membrane, with DNA packed
inside the nucleus—characteristics that are absent from prokaryotic
cells. Between 3.5 billion and 600 million years ago, the Earth was
populated only by prokaryotic and eukaryotic single-celled organ-
isms. Therefore, these single-celled organisms constitute more than
85% of the life forms that have ever existed in the history of the plan-
et.
Multi-celled organisms first appear in 600-million-year-old
rock beds. The majority of these fossilized traces of organisms are
poorly preserved and difficult to interpret, and often their existence
can be deduced only from imprints and partial remains in mud. In
structure they are generally flattened and appear to lack organs.
They have no eyes or appendages permitting them to walk or

Adnan Oktar

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