Set your time machines for the dawn of the Phanerozoic! In this episode host David Mountain travels all the way back to the Cambrian period and dives into an unrecognisable world of bizarre creatures and treacherous environments.

Helping to make sense of the oddest period in prehistory are Dr Martin Smith, a palaeontologist at Durham University (https://www.dur.ac.uk/directory/profile/?id=14260; https://smithlabdurham.github.io/; https://twitter.com/palaeosmith) and Dr Xiaoya Ma, a palaeontologist at the University of Exeter (https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=Xiaoya_Ma). If you want to find out more about the Cambrian and its creatures then be sure to check out their research!

Follow The Backpacker's Guide To Prehistory on Twitter @prehistoryguide. Find out more at prehistoryguide.co.uk.

Sound effects from Zapsplat.com.