Anomalocaris the Earth's First Super-Predator

Anomalocaris first Super Predator

Anomalocaris was the first super-predator to evolve on Earth.  It was about a yard or meter long.  It was an Arthropod...that is, it had an external shell like skeleton which is called an exoskeleton.  The chief prey for Anomalocaris would have been trilobites.  Trilobites were probably the very first animal with an exoskeleton and eyes.  The drawing shows two trilobites.  Anomalocaris could grab a trilobite and use huge armored tentacle-like arms to tear open the trilobites to get to the soft tissue inside.  OK...so the arms were only about a foot or .3 meters long, but compared to most trilobites that was a huge weapon being used against them.  Note that Anomalocaris also had eyes.

Anomalocaris lived in the Cambrian Period...this was the first Period of the Paleozoic Era.  "Paleozoic" means "Old Life."  During the Cambrian Period all life was in the ocean.  We went to the Living Planet Aquarium yesterday and we saw the below drawing of an Anomalocaris.  Of course they do not have a living Anomalocaris there.  The species has been extinct for around 500 million years.

We have also seen actual fossils of Anomalocaris in Canada's Yoho National Park...from the Burgess Shale fossil bed.  We have also seen these fossils in Venice.  Yes there are more than canals and gondolas in Venice.  The below models of Anomalocaris and the fosslized arm of Anomalocaris...are from the  Natural History Museum of Venice in Venice Italy.

Fossilized Arm of Anomalocaris

Notice that there were jellyfish back in the Cambrian Period too.  Jellyfish and Sponges are both seen in my drawing at the top of this post. The below jellyfish live at the Living Planet Aquarium.

Jellyfish from the Living Planet Aquarium

The last one is a "Lion Jellyfish."

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