
The efforts of these microbes created the conditions for all other life to evolve across the earth.Ģ.1 billion years ago more sunlight was starting to penetrate the earth’s toxic atmosphere.Ĭyanobacteria, named after their blue/green color- were the first to start exhaling oxygen. They process the other chemicals that were abundant in the early atmosphere and oceans. These anaerobic organisms lived in the absence of oxygen. The fossils were once part of a now-extinct seabed and thought to be the remains of ancient microbes. They were found preserved in ancient rock samples from Greenland. The earliest fossil evidence of life on earth dates to 3.7 billion years ago. It makes sense the first signs of life on planet earth are incredibly simple. The struggle started and soon after earth’s formation, organisms start appearing. In the beginning, survival was difficult for any life forms. The timeline of life on earth begins over 4.5 billion years ago. What was the first form of life on Earth? Our planet’s evolution started with the first organism ever to call our planet home.

In this article, we’ll outline the timeline of life on earth. So how did it end up this way, and who lived before us?

We, humans, are currently sharing the earth with about 12 million other species.

Of all of those living life forms, an estimated 99% of all species are now extinct. Monkeys to humans, the evolution of life is a story with surprising twists.Įarth has been home to over five billion different species of organisms.
