Animals—including humans, dinosaurs, and trilobites—appeared only about 85 percent of the way through Earth's history.
Notes on verification
Multiple peer-reviewed and institutional sources (Biological Bulletin, NASA, Paleontological Society, Andrew Knoll's own research) converge on the same order of magnitude, confirming animals emerged only in the last ~15% of Earth's history.
Sources
- Interesting facts about Earth from Harvard paleontologist (news.harvard.edu)
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/721754 (journals.uchicago.edu)
- https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19850024398 (ntrs.nasa.gov)
- https://www.paleosoc.org/assets/docs/Oldest_Fossil.pdf (paleosoc.org)
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4484972 (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)