By Mark Prigg A sea creature that looked like a stack of tiny ice cream cones has given researchers new insight into the dawn of animal life on Earth. Scottish researchers said they have found fossils of the oldest-known animal-made reef in Namibia. It was built by a small, filter-feeding seabed creature called Cloudina 548 million years ago. A section of reef that was built 550 years ago by tiny animals known as Cloudina. The oldest-known animal-made reef was found in Namibia Cloudina, one of Earth's earliest-known animals, was the first one with a hard skeleton, in this case an outer shell.
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Built by a small seabed creature called Cloudina 548 million years ago
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One of Earth's earliest-known animals and the first with a hard skeleton,
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Shows reef building began 18 million years earlier than previously thought
'@placeholder's key innovation was the skeleton – it is the first animal known to have produced any kind of biomineralized skeleton.