A new Oxford-led study suggests animal life may have begun 700 to 800 million years ago, up to 200 million years earlier than the clearest fossil record and possibly before Snowball Earth

• The oldest definitive animal fossils date to around 574 million years ago, just before the dramatic diversification associated with the Cambrian Period.
• The animal kingdom may have started its journey on a much earlier Earth than scientists once thought.
• Long before recognisable creatures appeared in the fossil record, and perhaps before the planet was plunged into some of its most severe ice ages, primitive animals may already have been quietly evolving in ancient seas.