Sharks are among the oldest living creatures on Earth, with a lineage stretching back around 450 million years. This remarkable history means that sharks predate the emergence of trees by approximately 65 million years. Their ancestors appeared in the late Ordovician period, a time when life was primarily confined to the oceans, and the planet’s first complex ecosystems were beginning to develop. Over the millennia, sharks have evolved into a diverse group of species, displaying an extraordinary