According to a new study, a complex organism called rangeomorphs was the first example of reproduction and procreation; it lived approximately 565 million years ago in the Ediacaran period prior to the Cambrian era.

The study was published in the journal Nature on August 3. Rangeomorphs appeared to have soft body, similar to a fern. These creatures grow up to 6.5 feet in length; however, the majority of them are about 4 inches or 10 centimeters in length.

As per reports, this creature was never seen moving around, and it was not having a mouth or any specific organ. However, it appeared that it absorbed nutrients from the nearby water. But researchers said that the rangeomorph inhabited a new neighborhood following sending out an advance party to check out a proper area.

According to study lead author Emily Mitchell, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Cambridge’s department of earth sciences, “Rangeomorphs don’t look like anything else in the fossil record, which is why they’re such a mystery. But we’ve developed a whole new way of looking at them, which has helped us understand them a lot better — most interestingly, how they reproduced”.

In order to reach conclusions, scientists analyzed fossils of Fractofusus, which is a rangeomorph found in Newfoundland in southeastern Canada. As per the study, this fractofusus was immobile, just like the majority of rangeomorphs and their fossils that were discovered where they were present millions of years ago.