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Dinosaurs of the Jurassic Period |
Chengjiang, Yunnan, is a small mountainous area that was not particularly famous. Over 2 billion years ago, this area was an expansive ocean, quiet and undisturbed. Today, Chengjiang, with its unremarkable landscape, is regarded by paleontologists as a sanctuary for various animal species. In Kunming, among the treasures found by children, one can easily find dinosaurs from the Jurassic period, fish from the Devonian period, and corals from the Cambrian period. Schoolchildren in western Kunming seem to have fossils of marine animals from the Cambrian period in their hands, as their school is built on the seabed of the Cambrian, which existed 500 million years ago.
Here, the strange secrets of the history of life on Earth are gradually being unveiled. About 5.3 billion years ago, a significant evolutionary event took place in this shallow sea. Life underwent a large-scale revolutionary evolution. The vast majority of species belonged to the largest group of organisms, and a class of animals suddenly appeared on Earth. The sudden emergence of these animals added vibrant colors to our blue planet.
Paleontologists have even used the term “explosion” to describe this sudden occurrence, as the forms of these animals varied greatly, ranging from microorganisms just a few millimeters to monsters towering 2 meters high. These monsters possessed 
large eyes and terrifying claws. It seemed they dominated all other animal species. It could be said that all ancestors of flying, terrestrial, and aquatic animals appeared around this time. Many animal cells, including those of humans, likely originated from this period, opening a history of evolutionary development. This discovery has excited the world of paleobiology. A prominent paleobiologist from Germany referred to this significant finding as “like news falling from the sky.”
The exhibition hall of the Early Life Research Center in China showcases fossils of various forms. The Naro organisms are found curled, lying sideways, or standing upright. The soft-bodied structure of the Naro organisms is perfectly preserved, and we can even see their last meal still intact in their guts. Thus, before they died, the Naro organisms had a regular meal; among them were organisms with a fibrous structure resembling leafy veins, which remained upright even in death, astonishing viewers. Jellyfish with delicate tentacles, smooth bodies, and ring-like grass; various creatures, such as the celestial and marine organisms, were buried in groups, indicating they gathered and perished together in a sudden disaster. These soft-bodied fossils have yet to be discovered anywhere else in the world outside Kunming, China.
In 1985, a Chinese paleobiologist stated: “The Naro organisms excavated in the Miao Tian Chengjiang have opened an important chapter in the history of studying biological populations in Chengjiang.” In 1995, an international conference on “The Great Cambrian Explosion” took place in China, gathering scientists from around the globe.
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Dinosaur Footprints |
Since 1990, scientists have conducted numerous excavations at the fossil site of Miao Tian Mountain. The total number of fossils obtained has reached tens of thousands. It appears they have discovered the footprints of the ancestors of today’s animals in that orange lava layer. Additionally, they found many extinct species. Today, Earth’s biodiversity, which numbers in the millions, can be classified into just 35 phyla, whereas the fossils found in Chengjiang reveal a system ranking of over 20 phyla. This demonstrates that during the Cambrian period, the fundamental diversity of animal life was established.
Among these ancient fossils, one specimen has pink spots, which is the fossil of a marine bean sprout. The marine bean sprout we see in today’s seas looks exactly the same. It can be said that from ancient times to the present, it has undergone no change. However, there are also animals that evolved astonishingly quickly. For instance, the ancestors of vertebrates—Yunnan organisms—evolved in different directions into fish, amphibians, reptiles (including the dinosaurs that later went extinct), birds, and mammals (including humans).
Confronted with the thousands of forms of ancient life, one might ask: Did the Great Cambrian Explosion actually occur? What happened on Earth before this explosion? What led to this vigorous evolution? These are a series of mysteries of evolutionary history waiting for archaeologists and biologists to explore and illuminate.
