Name of First Life found in fossils? E-D-ACK-RINS?

Question

i was watching the history channel's "evolve" last night and made a mental note to remember the name of the first 'animal' it was plant like, looking similar to large-narrow leaves. after an hour of trying to guess the spelling in good'ol google i gave up. i know the name is pronounced E-D-ACK-RINS or E-DE-ACT-RINS, or something similar.

Answer 1

It was the "Ediacaran fauna" (meaning pertaining to Ediacara, the place in Australia where the fossils were found). The 'leaf-like' animal was probably this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charnia

or this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickinsonia

Answer 2

There's a slight muddle in that question.  The Ediacaran faunas aren't the first fossils of dead organism.  They're about 3 billion years too late for that honour.  They contain animals that are more complex than earlier conditions allowed.  Anyhow, the Ediacaran faunas are named after a place in Australia, Ediacara, are now known from various places around the world, and are Precambrium.