We Just Got Closer to Truly Determining Who Were The World’s First Animals – ScienceAlert

The tree of animal life had to begin somewhere. Finding that original branch amongst such a tangled canopy is harder than it sounds, though.
A new analysis of genomic data suggests that one phylum in the running for the oldest branch has been deceiving us all along.
Since the 19th century, many scientists have presented the sponge – one of the simplest creatures in existence – as the world’s first animal. 
Modern genomic studies, however, have pitted this muscle-less, nerve-less and organ-less blob…

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