(So... episode 6: synapsid domination only takes place in the early permian because i don't want to make the episode longer or anything but yeah but lets get into episode 7: permian demise...)
We are in the lopingian epoch of the permian 259.51-251.9 mya in what's now russia
Most of the pangea subcontinent is barren with few vegatation and arid theres also forest here but the number of greenery on the supercontinent is much less than today.
but creatures have adapted to survive in this(mostly)deserted world.
(shi's depiction of scutosaurus karpinskii)
Like this scutosaurus over here. he's a distant ancestral relative of modern turtles, over 2.5 meters long and probably weighted 1,160 kg
Scutosaurus normally travel in herds but this one is wandering alone...and he has sensed something, vulnerable to a fearsome therapsid.
(shi's depiction of inostrancevia alexandri, shi often refered inostrancevia as ino for some reason) the attacker was a fearsome inostrancevia. she evolved saber teeth. she's also a gorgonopsid, the first animals to evolve these kinds of teeth.
Inostrancevia is a fast powerful predator of the late permian. she bites into her victim with her saber teeth. the scutosaurus couldn't stand a chance againts this predator...
It seems like the scutosaurus is weakened by his wound and waits for the killer blow...
These cainine teeth that can reach up to 12-15 cm long are lethal weapons that predators who came after the permian will later use including the infamous saber-toothed smilodon of the still currently-ongoing cenozoic era. temperatures from volcanic activity in the permian climate is heating up the planet which triggered the largest mass extinction on earth's history.
We then traveled to south africa. where we saw a small synapsid who lives in burrows...
(shi's reconstruction of diictodon feliceps)
Smaller animals like the dicynodonts can survive the permian mass extinction. these burrowers are called diictodons.
like other dicynodonts they have a tusk and beak. they lived like a modern gopher digging spiral-shaped dig deep underground burrows which allowed them to hide from predators and sandstorms and even keep them warm even in the heat of the permian supercontinent.
to create a burrow. diictodons push dirt to create an entrance then dig deep in a spiral pattern until they made the chamber where they rest and sleep for the day. inhabiting the south african oasi is isn't a synapsid, it's a temnospondyli amphibian called rhinesuchus
(rhinesuchus whaitsi art by:shi)
Rhinesuchus fossils are found in south africa's karoo basin'. they are about 3 meters in length and weighted over 100 kg. while in other parts of south africa...
(abdalodon diastematicus art by:shi)
An abdalodon and her young are resting in the floodplains. these small cynodonts are are known from a crushed skull discovered in the karoo basin of south africa. it's name means abdala's teeth, right now her young are under their mother's protection
In south africa, we saw another dicynodont synapsid
This is pristerodon mackayi, a dicynodont who's fossils are found in south africa, zambia and india. they are among the earliest animals able to hear airborne sound to opposed via hearing vibration along with diictodon.
We traveled back to russia to see another synapsid
Proburnetia viatkensis is a biarmosuchusn therapsid of russia. she had bizzare bumps even in the protrusions of her skull. she's 1.5 meters long with a 20 cm skull, another predator is eating a carcass of an temnospondyli amphibian
This is scylacosuchus orenburgensis. a predatory eutheroceohalian of orenburg oblast pf russia. he's a distant relative of moschorhinus
(life restoration of moschorhinus preying on a dicynodont lystrosaurus)
251.9 million years ago. the great dying occured. caused by flood basalt volcanic eruptions and carbon dioxide. this is the largest extinction life on earth has ever seen....
Diictodons hide in burrows, food become scarces, and 90% of the planet's species that lived during this time go extinct. theres still hope that a few species might survive like therapsids, and a few fish, it seems our ancestors are evolving to become more mammalian a few million years later after thw great dying
we finally reached the beginning of the dinosaurs....
This is where i'm going to end this series
Because the series mainly focouses on the paleozoic and not the mesozoic and cenozoic.
So yeah
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