RELLA’S CAMBRIAN DREAM: MAIN CHARACTERS

(These are a few citizens of Rella’s world— waiting to be turned into vivid, ‘humanized’ characters!)

RELLA -- is a Marrella splendens (aka “lace crab”)

YURI -- is a Bathyuriscus (Trilobite)

AXI -- is a Wiwaxia

NIA -- is an Opabinia

KAIA -- is a Pikaia

"CLUE WORM" -- is a Hallucigenia sparsa

“THE WATCHER” -- is a Charnia

Look out! -- “THE GRABBER” -- is an Anomalocaris!

*RELLA MARRELLA* is our young hero! 2 cm.

She is a dreamer, a leader, an explorer.

Her dream is to know all about her world.

FACT: marrella splendens are among the most common Cambrian sea creatures.

YURI is Rella’s new friend.

He is a rebel, a risk-taker, a show-off. 4 cm

(But not quite as smart as he thinks he is!)

FACT: Trilobites are the most famous & diverse Cambrian sea creatures!

AXI is Rella’s new friend. 5 cm He is a weirdo, lazy, a bit of a loner. But sometimes has good ideas.

FACT: Wiwaxia have fancy armour like armadillos!

NIA is Rella’s other new friend. 5 cm. She is fast, amazingly talented and so smart! AND she has five eyes! AND an arm, to grab things! (Okay, we're boasting now!)

FACTS: Opabinia is not related to any living creature, but has been described by one science writer as a “perfect” life form!

A lost stranger. A confused, lovable little mystery ... 2 cm

FACT: Pikaia is one of the first chordates, ie. proto-vertebrates. Possibly ancestor to ALL vertebrates .... like you and me!

The “Watchers” watch us, from far below, far in the past. 19 - 60 cm. They’re mostly quiet ... but they know everything.

FACTS: Charnia are some of Earth’s earliest complex life: going back 570 million years (that's the Ediacaran Period, before the Cambrian Period)... And they’re not plants, not animals. They’re simple formations of cells!

FACT: This monstrous predator was, by far, the biggest creature in the Cambrian world. Up to 1 metre long!

Click pictures for more information!

FACT: Hallucigenia is a tiny "prickly worm" with no living descendants & spines going in two directions. It got its name because scientists couldn't believe it was real. For 100 years, they weren't even sure which way was up!