Hi Steemians..! Hope you guys are alright.Today I am going to show you the top 10 animals that have been around for millions of years. The top ten animals that have been around for millions of years. So far as we know the earth has been around for 4.5 billion years. There's been life on Earth around 3.8 billion years.Species come and go and they also evolved.So far as, we know there have been around 5 global mass extinctions on earth, the last of which took place around 66 million years ago.Some species are Hardy and have survived for millions of years. ![Untitled-1.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmf3oxfXP7kCUv1f2eMqwCLfTVwU1tpsUTuEMDLRzZyjgC/Untitled-1.jpg)

10. shrew opossum

![Untitled design (1).jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXPvoED78dNoXxY56zFYCnmsQbzwumd3xp19hLLUAHgVi/Untitled%20design%20(1).jpg) The shrew opossum which has been going strong for 20+ million years. Shrew spend a lot of their life in underground burrows and tend to live in grassy areas and forests.Shrews as we know them today, have been around for 20 million years although their ancestors pygmy shrews were discovered in England and date back a 145 million years. The fossil of a giant shrew was found in Spain in 2009 but that just dates back 1 million years.Well shrews are rife in South America but they only arrived there during the great American interchange 3 million years ago.You still can't find them on the most southerly tip as they never made it.

9. Pelicans

![Untitled design.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZKioXpFdigNxRtB1W3E4tL9Gf6SVPB8rePma5ZbNjn1m/Untitled%20design.jpg) Pelicans which will be going strong for 30+ million years.Pelicans are freaky little beasts to live in pockets all over the world. Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back at least 30 million years have seen very very similar to our modern day species. It is thought that they started in Africa and in Europe and then spread over the West starting a new lineage.The oldest fossil of a pelican was found in France.Some scientists think that the Pelican is related to the pelagornithid,a large prehistoric sea bird that dates back nearly 60 million years.

8. Crocodile

![Untitled design (2).jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUU7hR87qa51xv1UsFB4PY2Fg6aV4R5z7eZ4xW9HCmJYS/Untitled%20design%20(2).jpg) Crocodilia which have been going strong for 83.5 million years. Crocodilia have been around for a long time.Now crocodilia is the name given to a group that includes both alligators and crocodiles which of course are slightly different but are related. Crocodilia ancestors date back 250 million years for the Crocs that we have today around 83.5 million. Crocodilians are usually found in the lowlands and tropics but they do also live in rivers.The Nile crocodile is the most aggressive to humans. Weirdly crocodilia are the closest living relatives to birds.

7. Shark.

![Untitled design.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVkZebCWDmHk1svokUGRHpBFAUV7oFkCddaC9nHQq94su/Untitled%20design.png) The frilled shark which has been around for a 150 million years.Sharks have been with us for a long time although ocean pollution and global warming are threatening our current sharks.The fruit shark is a deep-sea fish living around 200 metres down although they have been noted as far down as 1570 metres. Their deep-sea antics may explain why this species of shark has survived so long.The deep ocean is less affected by climate change in human activity. The froude shark kind of looks like an eel shark combo and they have 300 teeth which is too many looking at picture them makes me feel really really glad that I wasn't in the ocean 150 million.years ago if this was the standard of an animal around say freak me out.Individual Greenland sharks can live over 270 years.In fact a lot of the oldest surviving species out there are sharks.Many variants of the sea dweller have been living for over a hundred million years.

6. Sturgeons

![Untitled design (1).png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcmiJAS2GXMqnNs5YeV5fm19QoNBYzZxi9orXqa9NVj8i/Untitled%20design%20(1).png) Sturgeons are hardy., and apparently quite playful. Individual sturgeons can live up to 150 years but as a species, they’re pretty prehistoric. Like their predecessors, they have a skeleton made of Cartilage and an outer armor of bony plates. Sturgeons can be chunky, too! They can reach up to 2.5 meters in length and weigh 140 kilo.The Sturgeon evolved 200 million years ago and mainly live in the Atlantic. Lake sturgeons are a little different, but also go way back over 100 million years and live in the great lakes of America. Fun fact, the Queen of England owns all the sturgeons off the coast of the UK – They’re considered part of the fishes royal. She also owns the whales and the dolphins. This statute goes back to 1324, which sure,is a long time.

5. Coelacanth

The Coelacanth is very very interesting indeed as Scientists think that this species of fish was a key part of the evolution of fish into four-legged land animals. They are the oldest known living relative of the lobe-finned fish which means they are indeed very closely related to reptiles and mammals. The Coelacanth was thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, but they were rediscovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. We now know they also live around Colombo. It is thought that the fish has had roughly the same form for over 360 million years and it is often referred to as a living fossil. They can open their mouths REALLY wide so they can fit in a lot of food. It’s definitely creepy!

4. Horseshoe Crab

![Untitled design (2).png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdZRCuYkWSTyEtcwPaChjPUgRM8LagwMyFjEHbgYrw4Wh/Untitled%20design%20(2).png) Horseshoe Crab evolved 445 millions years ago. I think they’re fascinating animals. Like an absolute charm for the crabs for hundreds of millions of years! That being said, the Horseshow crab doesn’t look like your average crab.They look more like something out of Wizards chess!Horseshoe crabs are survivors that are not gonna give up.They tend to live in shallow ocean waters in soft sand. The horseshoe crab of today is very very similar to their ancestors.In recent years, the long-standing legacy of the Horseshoe crab is under threat due to harvesting and human developments along the coast of Japan and Thailand.

3. Nautilus

![Untitled design (3).png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRMf5GLxso3tjdejeD83LS39NTw8arh6U6ref4HNr1Ryr/Untitled%20design%20(3).png) Nautilus evolved 500 million years ago. Nautiluses are mollusk,like big sea snails. While these are among the oldest living animals, the worrying news is that they’re slowly dying out. Fossil records tell us that 2500 species of this creature used to exist, but now we’re left with just 6. They were kind of doing absolutely fine half a billion years, but now humans are hunting them for their shells, which have Mother of Pearl in them. This hunting is contributing to their decline.

2. Jellyfish

![Untitled design (4).png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVCodSfFcqs4JrCfQ1YUgMQiUL3xPgWzoR6RKQdfHth8j/Untitled%20design%20(4).png) Jellyfish evolved 550 million years or older. Stinging poor blighters for over half a billion years. I think jellyfish are beautiful but aren’t they a pain in the butt or wherever they wrap their tentacles!Jellyfish are regularly dubbed immortal, which is perhaps why they have managed to defy so many mass extinctions and global traumas. A few years ago, Scientists discovered a Jellyfish called the Turritopsis dohrnii that is seemingly immortal. The jellyfish eventually start age backward! Fossil evidence has shown us that Jellyfish very similar to the types we see today existed in Utah in the Cambrian Period. Some say Comb Jellies are the first true animals.

1. Algae

![Untitled design (5).png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQRJXzJ8YfxcGX6PKBFZGXaRg4yaJVgTMnrXy1pffCmp3/Untitled%20design%20(5).png) Blue Green Algae evolved avout 2.8 Billion years ago. The official name for Blue Green Algae is Cyanobacteria and this Bacteria has made it WORK! They are the oldest known lifeform on earth and date back nearest to the dawn of all life. The Cyanobacteria are a phylum of bacteria that get energy through photosynthesis and produce oxygen. The algae are produced in areas of high nutrients , especially phosphorus and nitrogen. The fact that it has existed for so long, over billions of years, tells us a lot about our earth's chemical makeup and the way our atmosphere has operated. Age wise, this organism tops the list, although beware: Blue Green Algae can be harmful to humans and have been linked to Motor Neurone Disease. So that was the top 10 Animals that have lived for millions of years. So, how did you find my list. Please upvote for support and comment for your favorite animals. Thanks.