Burgess Shale Fossils and their Importance  The Burgess Shale
fossils have been called the world’s most significant fossil
discovery, mainly because of their great age, their diversity
and the incredible detail of their preservation. What makes them
different from other fossil sites is that a series of geological
factors resulted in these soft-bodied animals (mostly
arthropods) having not only the hard parts of their bodies –
bones, shells, teeth – but also the muscles, gills, digestive
systems and other soft body parts preserved allowing scientists
an unprecedented opportunity to observe not only these details
but also the way the creatures lived and interacted.  The
Burgess Shale fossils merit special interest for several
reasons:   The story of the Burgess Shale begins more than 500
million years ago. Shortly before the Burgess Shale animals
lived, there was an evolutionary “Big-Bang” called the Cambrian
Explosion. After nearly 2 billion years of only simple,
unicellular life-forms on earth, a full spectru