11 Most Prehistoric Living Animals In The World

Here we have a list of organisms whose ancestor fossils are over 100 million years old. These organisms are precisely the same as their ancestors, living fossils. These aren’t of this age; they might be from some another era, a living fossil.

11) Martialis Heureka: 120 Million Years

After a protracted time, a brand new species of subterranean blind predator was discovered within the rainforest of the Amazon. However, the primary two specimens were collected by Manfred Verhaagh in the year 2000, but unfortunately, these specimens were destroyed. But in the year 2003, a student at the University of Texas named Christian Rabeling collected some new specimens. Rabeling and his colleagues named them Martilais, which means “from Mars,” because of their unusual morphology. These ants haven’t only formed a new species but also completely new genes and subfamilies. These ants are quite different from all other ant ancestors; in fact, they’re a completely distinct lineage, adapted to their subterranean home. These blind ants have long yellow bodies with slender forceps-like mandibles that may be used to capture prey. The DNA of these ants suggests that they were the primary ants of the ant tree 120 million years ago, at the beginning of the ant’s evolution.

10) Horseshoe Shrimp: 200 Million Years

These tiny crustacean organisms are horseshoe shrimp, which look exactly like horseshoes. These big-headed invertebrates are only 2 mm to 4 mm long, and they don’t have eyes, maybe because of their muddy environment. The Horse Shoe Shrimp is the oldest species of shrimp, and its ancestors were present on earth about 200 million years ago. Amazingly, there was no effect of evolution on these creatures. The fossils of their ancestors and therefore the shrimp floating today are precisely the same. There’s no influence of evolutionary changes on these organisms; these tiny organisms were present not only at the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth but also during the evolution of dinosaurs. However, this organism continues to avoid the route of evolutionary transition.

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 09) Ginkgo Biloba: 245 Million Years

Ginkgo biloba is a large tree with large, feather-shaped leaves. It’s indigenous to China, Japan, and Korea, but at present, it can be seen in India, Europe, and the United States of America. Ginkgo Biloba is one of the oldest living trees, dating back 245 million years. However, it’s not as old as “Horsetails.” Modern Ginkgo trees don’t seem to be different from the trees to which herbivorous dinosaurs are accustomed depend. Ginkgo trees generally grow very slowly, with late and sluggish reproduction.

08) Horsetails: 300 Million Years

Equisetum, also commonly known as Horsetail, Snake Grass, or Puzzle Grass, is the only remaining member of the Equisetaceae genus. They have diverse and dominated for 100 million years in the Late Paleozoic jungle, growing up to 30 meters (98.4 feet) tall, but today’s horsetails are smaller than their ancestors. However, unlike their ancestors, this ancient scouring rush reproduces through spores instead of seeds. Horsetails are considered living fossils, as they have been present on the earth for 300 million years. Most of the coal around the world, mostly deposits of Carboniferous calamities between 300 and 360 million years old, is the remains of horsetails that are accustomed to being over 100 feet tall.

07) Lamprey: 360 Million Years

A lamprey belongs to the group of jawless fish that resembles an eel. These parasites have an oral disc mouth filled with dozens of tiny sharp teeth and a tongue-like structure in the middle of their disc mouth. These razor-sharp teeth pricked on their host’s body to suck blood. Perhaps you’re getting distracted and wish to go back in time when lampreys didn’t exist. This wish would come true if you could go back to the Paleozoic era. During research on lamprey fossils in 2006, scientists found this fossil remnant was 360 million years old, which exactly matches with today’s lampreys swimming in salt and fresh water. Prof. Dr. Michael Coates of the University of Chicago says, “They are very oriental, very primitive animals.”

 06) Coelacanth: 400 Million Years

Before the discovery of a living coelacanth off the coast of South Africa in 1938, it has been thought that coelacanth have become extinct from the earth in the Late Cretaceous with dinosaurs, around 66 million years ago and for these reasons, coelacanths were considered a “Living Fossils”. Scientists believe these mysterious fish must have been representative of the initial stage in evolutionary change for four-legged terrestrial animals, and that they follow the oldest living lineages of Sarcopterygii, such as lobe-finned fish and tetrapods. They took about 400 million years to develop into their present form. The primeval known coelacanth fossils are over 410 million years old and closely resemble their prehistoric relatives.

05) Horseshoe Crab: 445 Million Years

The Horseshoe Crab is an arthropod that crawls on the surface of marine and salt water and belongs to the Limulidae family. The horseshoe crab is neither a crab nor a crustacean. These alien-looking ancient organisms are among the foremost well-known living fossils. According to a study of their fossil records, they are nearly identical to their forebears. In 2008, researchers found a horseshoe crab fossil 445 million years old, and this one is nearly 100 million years older than any horseshoe crab fossils found yet. Horseshoe crabs are one of the oldest organisms in the world. Their blue colour blood is with unique properties, and it’s utilised to test the safety of blood with vaccines and other injections. Every year, around 500,000 horseshoe crabs are harvested, with 30% of the blood taken and 10% to 15% of the harvested horseshoe crabs killed.

04) Nautilus: 500 Million Years

A Nautilus is a pelagic marine mollusk belonging to the Nautilidae family of cephalopods. Nautilus can be easily recognised by its spiral chambered shells, which are considered living fossils. The modern Nautilus has not evolved much from its ancestors, the Nautiloids. Nautiluses are the sole remaining members of the Nautiloidea, remaining relatively unchanged for over a million years. Nautiluses came 500 million years earlier than modern cephalopods, including ammonoids and coleoids that appeared 100 million years later than early cephalopods. However, fossil records reveal that the Nautilus did not evolve significantly over the previous 500 million years. They have been harvested by humans for their shells. Nautilus is currently at risk of extinction, but now all Nautilus are protected under CITES Appendix II.

03) Ctenophores (Comb Jellies): 520 Million Years

Ctenophores are invertebrates that dwell in marine environments all around the world. These jellies swim using Cilia, often known as “combs,” and so they get the name “Comb Jellies.” A few years ago, sponges were considered the primary organisms in the evolutionary tree, but new research says they’re not. Comb jellies and sponges have diverged from a common ancestor. The progenitors of these modern jellies are from the mid-Cambrian and Ediacaran periods. A Cambrian fossil named Sclerocrenophora is found, which is 520 million years old.

02) Sponge: 600 Million Years

Sponges are multicellular organisms that are members of the Porifera phylum. This organism has no nervous, digestive, or circulatory systems. What’s more, their bodies are riddled with pores due to the lack of cell walls. They continually flow water through their bodies in order to receive food and oxygen, as well as to eliminate waste from the body, a process known as filter-feeding. There are approximately 5000 to 10,000 sponge species that rely on organisms such as bacteria and microscopic organisms. Although it’s not clear how long sponges have existed on earth, they were among the primary animal groups to evolve on earth. The earliest sponge fossil record dates back 580 million years. In 2015, 600 million-year-old fossils were discovered. However, fossils dating from 660 million to 635 million years old have been discovered in Oman, Siberia in Russia, and India.

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01) Cyanobacteria: 3.5 Billion Years (Disputed) Oldest Undisputed

Cyanobacteria also referred to as Cyanophyta, is a kind of bacterium that absorbs energy through photosynthesis. They are also called blue-green algae. However, modern botanists have limited algae to eukaryotes, but it doesn’t apply to cyanobacteria, as they’re prokaryotes. Cyanobacteria live in almost every land and water area around the world, including oceans, moist soil, permanently wet desert rock, and even the reefs of Antarctica. Cyanobacteria are the oldest extant species in the world. These bacteria are considered to be the oldest known life on earth. Fossil Stromatolites are a type of layered sedimentary formation composed of photosynthetic cyanobacteria. This is evidence of cyanobacterial activity 3.5 billion years ago. However, this evidence is disputed. As of 2010, the oldest undisputed evidence of cyanobacteria is 2.1 or 2.7 billion years old.

These are some of the ancient organisms that didn’t choose the evolutionary path. Their looks do not match the current era, as if they came from another era. Somehow, it’s also true to an extent. As they are very similar to their forebears, these ancient organisms are considered living fossils.

If any of these oldest living animals have surprised you, or if you think another organism should be added to this list, let us know in the comments section below.