A large number of fossils of ancient arthropods and other animals have been found in Morocco. The animals survived for 300-500 million years ago. Some of them have died out long ago, while others look just like they do today, "says Lars Holmer, professor of historical biology and paleontology at Uppsala University.

- Perhaps the most interesting discovery was found was completely unexpected discovery of the horseshoe crab, a fun group of animals today is commonly referred to as living fossils. They existed when the dinosaurs lived here but the new findings take the fossils back to the many, many millions of years before the dinosaur era.

The researchers found fossils of animals that they did not know existed during this particular period. Some still exist today and have not changed much, such as the horseshoe crab. Dagger tail resembles a helmet with a dead straight tail and a bottom that looks like a wart. But it also found extinct relatives of today's Starfish, their fossils had a round, small thin body and five arms. It also found fossils of graptoliter, an extinct branch of Hemichordata which looks like a fuzzy red coral.

Since there was little oxygen in the soil when these animals died as cells are not broken down as quickly. And since animals are then quickly covered with mud and goo so they nested in from the oxygen in the water and thus could be the soft parts preserved. Thanks to it you can now get a clearer picture of how these animals looked like, "says Lars Holmer.

- They have found bones, antennae, guts and got the whole of this rich picture of how animals really looked like, because usually by this time so you just find them hard shells.

Reference:
Van Roy, P. et al. Ordovician fauna of Burgess Shale type. Nature. Vol 465, May 13, 2010, DOI: 10.1038/nature09038