If The Internet Was Around During Each Geologic Period

I can haz cone shell?

Cambrian (541–485 million years ago)

This doge-y looking arthropod ancestor is Anomalocaris.

Admittedly we are not working with a very deep bench here when it comes to cute Cambrian creatures, but just look at this fella! Sure, this proto-lobster was the apex predator of its day. Sure, some of them lived to be up to 6 feet in length. Sure, they crushed their soft-bodied prey with their gigantic forearms. But just look at those goofy eyes! Fun fact about these eyes: They are the earliest evidence of compound eyes and they suggest that this ancient beast actually had pretty acute vision.

Esben Horn / Alex Kasprak / BuzzFeed / Via eurekalert.org

Ordovician (485–443 million years ago)

Meet Orthoceras. This lol-opod can haz all the cone shell it wants.

Not only did Orthoceras sport an adorable cone-shaped shell, it also dominated the Ordovician seas. This kind of creature is a cephalopod, and it is distantly related to things like the octopus and the nautilus.

Nobu Tamura / Alex Kasprak / BuzzFeed / Via spinops.blogspot.com

Silurian (443–414 million years ago)

Watch out for Eurypterus — the beast is looking pretty aggressive.

Despite all its rage, it is still an adorable sea scorpion trapped in the Silurian ocean cage! Later types of "sea scorpions" (an informal name for an order of animals called eurypterids) would actually inhabit freshwater, but not this fella — he's an OG sea scorpion. These guys ate whatever, but were likely primarily carnivores.

Dimitris Siskopoulos (modified) / Alex Kasprak / BuzzFeed / Via en.wikipedia.org

Devonian (419–359 million years ago)

Acanthostega was wise enough to venture into new and uncharted terrestrial territory. Acanthostega is happy to give you all the advice you want.

This smiley amphibian is one of the first vertebrate creatures to have easily recognizable limbs. It is considered a perfect example of a transitional creature between fish and tetrapods (a massive group of creatures that includes amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). These things were pretty aquatic, but they did venture onto land for food sometimes. Some scientists think their fishy structure may have made it hard for them to eat land-food at first.

Dr. Günter Bechly / Alex Kasprak / BuzzFeed / Via en.wikipedia.org

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