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Episode 5.1 · 21 min

The First Animals: Life in the Ediacaran

The Ediacaran seafloor, from the fronds of Mistaken Point to mobile grazers, early reefs, and burrows, records the emergence of large and increasingly active organisms.

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Visual credits

42 sources

Sources and credits for imagery used in this film, including material incorporated into explanatory animations.

Animation design references 1 sources

These works informed the design of explanatory animations. A reference listed here is not necessarily reproduced on screen.

  • Scientific figure · source page 2

    Erik A. Sperling and Jakob Vinther

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    Figure or page excerpt cropped from the source publication.

Research references

Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.

  1. The tempo of Ediacaran evolution ↗
  2. Dodging snowballs: Geochronology of the Gaskiers glaciation and the first appearance of the Ediacara biota ↗
  3. DOI: 10.1130/G30368.1 ↗
  4. DOI: 10.1038/nature14646 ↗
  5. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0904836106 ↗
  6. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe0291 ↗
  7. DOI: 10.1126/science.aat7228 ↗
  8. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001045117 ↗
  9. Ediacaran metazoan reefs from the Nama Group, Namibia ↗
  10. DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12122 ↗
  11. DOI: 10.1126/science.257.5068.367 ↗
  12. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-05753-8 ↗
  13. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2207475119 ↗
  14. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05936-6 ↗
  15. Increase in ocean oxygen and the evolutionary pace of Ediacaran–early Cambrian animals ↗
  16. Uncovering the Ediacaran phosphorus cycle ↗
  17. DOI: 10.1126/science.adu2291 ↗
  18. Charnia masoni fossil, New Walk Museum ↗
  19. Fractofusus misrai ↗
  20. Ediacaran fossils, Mistaken Point ↗
  21. Dickinsonia, Flinders Ranges ↗
  22. Trace of Dickinsonia lissa ↗
  23. Cloudina carinata, Tamengo Formation ↗
  24. Warren et al. 2017, figure 4 ↗
  25. Oxford release and press images ↗
  26. Mistaken Point, NL Geo Centre ↗
  27. Accessing Nilpena Ediacara National Park ↗
  28. Auroralumina attenboroughii holotype ↗
  29. Haootia quadriformis ↗
  30. Namacalathus and Cloudina, Redpath Museum ↗
  31. Haootia quadriformis n. gen., n. sp., interpreted as a muscular cnidarian impression from the Late Ediacaran period ↗
  32. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01807-x ↗
  33. DOI: 10.1666/12051 ↗
  34. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1408542111 ↗
  35. The life and times of Pectinifrons abyssalis ↗
  36. DOI: 10.1111/brv.12365 ↗
  37. A bacterial sulfonolipid triggers multicellular development in the closest living relatives of animals ↗
  38. DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118187 ↗
  39. Dickinsonia observed in situ at Nilpena ↗
  40. Kimberella trace ↗
  41. Fossil bed at Nilpena Ediacara National Park ↗
  42. Cloudina fossils, Corumbá, Brazil ↗
  43. Commons file ↗
  44. official site clip ↗
  45. Jim Gehling lecture ↗
  46. ABC Landline Nilpena report ↗
  47. Life Through Time: Jiangchuan discussion ↗
  48. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloudina_fossils_(Neoproterozoic;_Corumba,_Brazil)_(45453979394).jpg ↗
  49. bobrovskiy 2022 ediacara guts ↗
  50. Light-regulated collective contractility in a multicellular choanoflagellate ↗
  51. colinetia 2026 pre gaskiers ↗
  52. darroch 2023 pectinifrons ↗
  53. DOI: 10.1111/gbi.70029 ↗
  54. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65176-2 ↗
  55. hua 2003 cloudina borings ↗
  56. DOI: 10.3390/geosciences9090395 ↗
  57. liu 2014 haootia ↗
  58. DOI: 10.1111/let.12401 ↗
  59. matthews 2021 avalon chronology ↗
  60. nama paleobiology monograph ↗
  61. nama trace fossils review 2020 ↗
  62. oxygen increase pacing 2024 ↗
  63. DOI: 10.1126/science.1253393 ↗
  64. Bacterial lipids activate, synergize, and inhibit a developmental switch in choanoflagellates ↗

Music

  • Meditation From The Star Orion
    OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements
Footage and image usage

Credits and usage times retained from the published edition or its production credit record. Where present, times identify visual appearances, not documentary chapters. Source and licence corrections are listed in the visual credits above.

  • Wikimedia Commons - 7:54-7:59
  • Aleksey Nagovitsyn ( User:Alnagov ) - 9:09-9:13
  • Alicejmichel - 2:47-2:51
  • Andy Dingley - 3:02-3:11
  • Apokryltaros - 6:38-6:47
  • Bobrovskiy et al. - 9:22-9:38
  • Cambridge - 15:30-15:38, 15:38-15:45, 15:45-15:51
  • Citronnel - 7:14-7:18, 7:18-7:24, 7:59-8:03, 13:02-13:08
  • Daderot - 13:57-14:01
  • djpmapleferryman - 3:41-3:43
  • Douglas Paul Perkins - 4:11-4:16
  • Dr Joe Moysiuk (@CambroJoe) - 3:43-3:46, 3:46-3:49
  • Dr Rod Taylor (@FossilRod) - 8:50-8:54, 9:13-9:16, 17:13-17:18
  • Dunn et al. - 5:06-5:19
  • Emily G. Mitchell (@EGMitchell) - 2:51-2:55
  • Environment, Conservation and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (@ECCC_GovNL) - 2:26-2:33; source: Original source ↗
  • Evans et al., PNAS (2020) - 9:55-10:05
  • Ghedo - 3:11-3:17
  • James St. John - 13:23-13:27
  • Jernej Furman from Maribor, Slovenia - 19:36-19:38
  • JF Cudennec (@LimpetNerd) - 2:33-2:41; source: Original source ↗
  • Julius B. Kirkegaard, Alan O. Marron, Raymond E. Goldstein - 11:25-11:31
  • Li et al., Science - 19:29-19:36
  • Liu, McIlroy and Brasier - 6:27-6:38
  • Lucas V. Warren et al. - 20:25-20:28
  • McIlroy, D.; Pérez-Pinedo, D.; Rosse-Guillevic, S.; Muirhead-Hunt, H.; Taylor, R.S.; Dufour, S.C. (2025) - 17:07-17:13
  • NIH - 4:46-4:50, 4:50-4:57
  • Penny et al., Science (2014) - 14:01-14:07
  • Peter Southwood - 12:35-12:40
  • R.R. Adôrno et al. - 13:27-13:30
  • Scott D. Evans et al. - 9:48-9:55
  • Steve Rupp, National Science Foundation - 12:29-12:35
  • Warren et al. - 14:24-14:31, 14:48-14:53
  • Custom animations and figures: From Cosmos to Civilization. Third-party material incorporated into animations is credited on the linked sources page.

How this film was made

Created and editorially directed by Anders Lunde using a custom production system developed over six months. AI assists research, drafting, programming, and visual production; I review and edit the material and make the final editorial decisions. Narration uses text-to-speech. Visuals combine custom-built scientific animations, AI-generated reconstructions, and credited scientific imagery.

Generated reconstructions illustrate scientific interpretations. They are distinct from photographs, specimens, and measured data.

More about the creator and production →