The Cambrian explosion, which occurred around 542 million years ago, was one of the most «productive» for want of a better word, in the history of life on this planet. This period was the «Wild West» of speciation where everything and anything went.
Of course, many deadends evolved, but a very selected few made it through the period to lay the genetic foundations for many modern phyla. Some of the creatures that we’ve found from this part of Earth’s history are so strange that you’d be forgiven for thinking they might be the work of some insane surrealist artist.
Marking the beginning of the Palaeozoic Era (542 to 250 million years ago), this is one of the most interesting and least understood periods in natural history. While many different body forms were put through the wringer during this time, the most successful modern phyla (such as the chordates, which include vertebrates) were actually rare at the time.
