Early animal life, called Ediacaran biota, evolved from protists; it was previously believed early animal life included only tiny, sessile, soft-bodied sea creatures, but scientific evidence suggests more complex animals lived during this time.

Did the first animals evolve from protists?

The earliest animals evolved from colonial protists more than 600 million years ago. Many important animal adaptations evolved in invertebrates, including tissues and a brain. The first animals to live on land were invertebrates. Amphibians were the first vertebrates to live on land.

What did animals evolve from?

Compared to prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria, plants and animals have a relatively recent evolutionary origin. DNA evidence suggests that the first eukaryotes evolved from prokaryotes, between 2500 and 1000 million years ago.