• Ancient fossils reveal our oldest known ancestors had four eyes In certain species, a “third eye” or parietal eye still exists to detect light, while in humans, this feature has evolved into the pineal gland. • Rare fossils discovered in southern China reveals that the earliest creatures with spines - jawless fish from 518 million years ago - had two pairs of eyes. • The team has reconstructed one such four-eyed noodle as part of study to understand how complex vision and brain structures evolved in the ancestors of modern human. • “This changes how we think about the early evolution of vertebrates,” said study co-author Jakob Vinther, an associate professor in macroevolution at the University of Bristol in the U.K. • “It turns out our ancestors were visually sophisticated animals navigating a dangerous world.” A sophisticated visual system Humans history goes back millions of years of these jawless fish, known as myllokunmingids. • Like most of the vertebrates have two eyes like we do, these early ancestors were an exception to the rule.
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