Did animals evolve from plants?

See this paper "Divergence time estimates for the early history of animal phyla and the origin of plants, animals and fungi" for information on the divergence estimates (I'm not sure if there are more recent papers discussing this). read more

Thus, in answer to your question, no, animals did not evolve from plants. Plants have chloroplasts in their cells, which provide the ability to produce energy via photosynthesis. It is thought that the chloroplast resulted from a symbiotic relationship between early plants and a cyanobacteria in that they both relied on each other for survival and so coevolved. read more

Those who did have chloroplasts either stayed single-celled (or made small colonies or something) or went on to become plants. Plants and animals share a common eukaryote ancestor. Neither evolved from the other. Plants evolved from single-celled eukaryotes, not large, multi-cellular animals. read more

Like the plants, animals evolved in the sea. And that is where they remained for at least 600 million years. This is because, in the absence of a protective ozone layer, the land was bathed in lethal levels of UV radiation. read more