The story of our crushing jaws began with a fish

Have you ever wondered how humans acquired a special jaw that could smash complicated and raw food? It all began approximately 400 million years ago. Four fish species’ fossils have been found, which suggests that they may have been the first animals to have jaws in the history of human evolution.

This is the first proof of an important stage in evolution that has been challenging to explain because there aren’t many fossils from that time period still around. Vertebrates are species like humans that have a hard skeleton and an internal backbone. Two fish species are 436 million years old, and two others are 439 million years old.

Researchers have made numerous discoveries in investigations, ranging from extinct animals to ancient teeth. According to studies, life on Earth, which sprang from the planet’s oceans, may have begun developing teeth and jaws around the Silurian epoch, which lasted from 443 million years ago to 419 million years ago.

‘Everything is altered by the new fossils. Now that we are aware of their size, appearance, and history of evolution,’ Reuters was informed by vertebrate palaeontologist Min Zhu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. The earliest jawed animals that have been discovered so far are fish that date to 425 million years ago.

More than 20 individuals of a fish about 1.2 inches long called Xiushanosteus mirabilis were found in Chongqing municipality. It was part of a group of armored fish called placoderms that later included some real giants. They were found inside a rock, which was in perfect condition for study.