New research suggests that the ancient animal Spriggina floundersi tended to bend to the right, making it the oldest known example of lateralized behavior. More than 550 million years ago, a small, flattened animal moved across the seafloor and repeatedly favored one direction. Complex behavior emerged before modern animalsThe Ediacaran Period (about 635–538 million years ago) records a major transition in the history of life. At Nilpena Ediacara National Park, storms rapidly buried entire seafloor communities, preserving scenes from roughly 550 million years ago. Humans and most living animals share this same basic organization.