One of the world’s most laid-back animals, the tuatara, is the
fastest-known evolving creature on Earth.
The lizard-like reptile's DNA changes naturally at a rate faster than in any other animal: 1.56 changes per nucleotide (DNA subunit) every million years.
The 2008 finding is surprising, since the tuatara hasn't changed much physically since its ancestors hung out with dinosaurs 225 million years ago. Almost everything about the foot-long reptile, a New Zealand native, is slow and easy, according to co-author David Lambert of the Allan Wilson Center for Molecular Ecology and Evolution.
He told Discovery News that "they grow slowly, reproduce slowly and have a very slow metabolism" when "in fact, at the DNA level, they evolve extremely quickly."
Lambert now believes the rate of an organism's molecular evolution and the way it changes, or doesn't, over time are not necessarily connected.
4. Common Ancestor for All Animals a Sperm-Like Critter
In early 2009, every animal on Earth, including all humans, received a new addition to their family tree. This sperm-looking creature, called monosiga, is the closest living representative of the ancestor for all animals.
Monosiga is a one-celled organism that belongs to a group called the choanoflagellates.
Rob DeSalle, an American Museum of Natural History curator, and his colleagues compiled data from multiple gene sequences from many sources
to find many thousands of shared traits that help biologists draw lines between species on the tree of life.
"It is clear that the choanoflagellates -- living representative is monosiga -- are the best candidate for the nearest relative of animals," DeSalle told Discovery News. "So a choanoflagellate-like organism could be looked at as a probable common ancestor for animals."
3. Earliest Evidence for Animal Life Discovered
In February 2009, the oldest evidence for life in the fossil record was found: sponges that likely lived over 600 million years ago.
“Our findings suggest that the evolution of multicellular animals began earlier than has been thought,” said study co-author Gordon Love from MIT, when the discovery was announced. “Moreover, sponges live on the seafloor, growing initially in shallow waters and spreading, over time, into deeper waters, implying the existence of oceanic environments which contained dissolved oxygen near the shallow seafloor around 635 million years ago."
He and his colleagues believe that glacial activity during the Neoproterozoic era (1000-542 million years ago) probably caused a major reorganization of marine ecosystems, perhaps by altering ocean chemistry. This restructuring, in turn, “paved the way for the evolution of animal feeders living on the seafloor,” Love said.
It was some 100 million years after the sponges’ existence when the fossil record exploded with animal life, resulting in a period known as the Cambrian explosion.
2. 'Lost World' of New Animals Found

A number of countries offered up new species this decade. In 2007, Bruce Beehler of Conservation International hit the animal jackpot in Indonesia with at least 20 new species of frogs, a new bird called the wattled smoky honeyeater, and at least two new mammals.
The mammals could have made headlines in their own right, as they included one of the world’s smallest marsupials, a Cercartetus pygmy possum, and a Mallomys giant rat.
"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. “With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip.”
Beehler and his team expect to find more frogs and mammals, along with
new butterflies and plants, in Indonesia over the years to come.
1. All Fish Species Predicted to 'Collapse' by 2048

Dire predictions about the fate of many animals were made in the past 10 years and continue to challenge conservationists. One headline, which ran in 2006, garnered particular attention: “By 2048, all current fish, seafood species projected to collapse.”
Boris Worm of Dalhousie University and his team came to that conclusion after compiling global fisheries catch data from 64 large marine ecosystems.
"At this point," Worm said, "29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed -- that is their catch has declined by 90 percent. It is a very clear trend, and it is accelerating. We don't have to use models to understand this trend; it is based on all the available data."
"The good news is that it is not too late to turn things around," Worm added. Studies of 48 protected areas worldwide reveal improved marine biodiversity. "We see that diversity of species recovered dramatically, and with it the ecosystem's productivity and stability."
source: http://news.discovery.com