Almost a monster! Animal survived to mass extinction

Belonging to the evolutionary tree of the species, the gorgonapsida led the group of living animals after the period of the mammals. A recent discovery may be suitably frightening given the endurance of these Permian quasi-monsters, as their lifespan exceeds what was expected by science.

Research guided by Christian Kammerer and Julien Benoit believes that the animal was super versatile and it was exactly for this reason that it managed to resist the extinction event. The last species that were found by the research had the appearance like that of a fox, for example.

Animal species that survived the mass extinction

The Permian period happened more than 200 million years ago, as history presents. The biodiversity of the entire planet Earth has gone through a mass extinction of all species. Until recently, researchers believed that the gorgonipsids became extinct along with the great mass, since about 90% of all existing species revolved around the extinction of the Permian-Triassic.

The gift for research brought something surprising. Three fossils of gorgonopsids, from South Africa, belonging to the Karoo Basin, were analyzed, showing that the animals survived after the period of extinction in passes after the Permian time.

Photo: Christian Kammerer via LiveScience.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference indicated that these were "monsters" that resisted the extinction of all species. Evidently, enduring these events has taken the species to task. So far, the article has not received publication and is awaiting due review to be published.

Dead clade walking

Organisms that survived extinction events are recognized as living dead. Surviving, in these cases, may not be so relevant to the animal itself, but it makes the discovery even more incredible. As a result, the Permian monsters survived, but they weakened over time and eventually became extinct.

These events happen within millions of years and the survival of some of them is seen as a “extinction debt”, as the researchers point out, caused changes in the ecosystem of the species. That is, the species has time to adapt to change, but extinction ends up being influenced by biodiversity of nature itself.

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