The Permaian Period: The Mass Extinction Of Animals

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The Permain Period (about 290-250 million years ago) During the Permian, reptiles populated the land. At this time, most of the continents were at high, rather cold latitudes. The 'mammal-like' reptiles (pelycosaurs) included such well known forms as the 'sail backs' Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus (up to 3m long) and were the most common tetrapod in the Early Permian fauna. Other groups living at this time include the therapsids, which were a diverse group including Moschops (up to 5m long) and Dicynodon. It is important to realize that the lineage of animals that eventually led to the dinosaurs (known as the diapsids) were rare in the Carboniferous and Permian - they showed no sign of their later rise to dominance. They included forms such as Protorosaurus, and the remarkable Coeleurosauravus that was able to glide from tree to tree using skin covered ribs in a similar way to the modern 'flying lizard' (Draco). …show more content…

The cause of the mass extinction is not known for certain, but the lineage of animals that led to the dinosaurs, along with some other groups, survived. This great extinction marked the end of the Paleozoic, one of the great geological divisions of time. The Mesozoic era that followed it was to see the evolution of the dinosaurs themselves. The Mesozoic is divided into three 'periods' of geological time when the dinosaurs lived. These periods are the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. (Boulton,

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