Preservation
The majority of the fossil record consists of the robust matter of decayed corpses. The Ediacaran biota had soft bodies and no skeletons, making their abundant preservation surprising. The absence of burrowing creatures living in the sediments undoubtedly helped. After the evolution of these organisms in the Cambrian, soft-bodied impressions were usually disturbed before they could fossilize.
Read more about this topic: Ediacaran Biota
Famous quotes containing the word preservation:
“The preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“Is not our role to stand for the one thing which means our own salvation here but with which it will also be possible to save the world, and with which Europe will be able to save itself, namely the preservation of the white man and his state?”
—Hendrik Verwoerd (1901–1966)
“If there is ANY THING which it is the duty of the WHOLE PEOPLE to never entrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity, of their own liberties, and institutions.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)