"The Walking Dead" existed millions of years ago: scientists told how they appeared

According to a new study, reports of a mass extinction of gorgons at the end of the Permian period are strongly

exaggerated.These bizarre paleo-beasts were thought to have gone extinct along with most other species on Earth at the end of the Permian period. But scientists have recently discovered that some of these “gorgons” survived into the Triassic period. However, they did not live long.

Scientists analyzed three specimens foundin the Karoo Basin, South Africa. It turns out that this group of saber-toothed predators, known as Gorgonopsians, not only dominated the late Permian period. They also managed to survive the “Great Dying.” Then, 251.9 million years ago, about 90% of all species became extinct. The exception was Gorgonops. But despite this feat, their prospects were not the most rosy. They became "the walking dead" (English: dead clade walking).

As scientists explain, technically "walkingthe dead” (in this case, the Gorgonops) survived the mass extinction, but suffered so much from it that they soon disappeared anyway. Such species may survive for millions of years after a mass extinction but never re-diversify. In fact, they are already "dead" from a macroevolutionary point of view, hence the name.

Cover: A Late Permian cyanosaur specimen is on display at the Iziko Museum in Cape Town, South Africa.
Image courtesy of Christian Kammerer

Researchers have studied the Gorgonops skullfrom the Karoo Basin, which belonged to the Triassic period (from 251.9 to 251.2 million years ago). Other experts believed it had been misidentified or dated. A new investigation shows that it is "definitely a gorgonopsian," possibly from the genus Cyonosaurus, the scientists wrote.

The scientists then analyzed two more specimens.probably also representatives of a cyanosaur from the Karoo Basin. Of the three gorgonops specimens, two were taken from sites spanning the Permo-Triassic boundary, and the third was from the Early Triassic layer.

It is quite possible that the cyanosaur survived a massive massacre.extinction due to its small size, numbers and flexible diet. The fox-sized predator with a narrow, elongated snout full of teeth was one of the smallest known gorgonopsians. According to scientists, small, “generalist” predators usually adapt better to changing ecosystems than large ones. Therefore, they are more likely to experience catastrophic events.

The scientists presented the study at the annual conference of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology in Toronto, but it has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

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Cover: Cyanosaurus fossil at the Iziko Museum in Cape Town, South Africa
Image courtesy of Christian Kammerer