This lovely creature was a Dinogorgon, one of many types of animals known as “Gorgonopsia,” the apex predators in the Permian Period. When I learned about how boss these creatures were, the nine-year-old paleontologist in me felt cheated because of all the front stage play that dinosaurs get. But these animals were amazing and thrived at the top of the terrestrial food chain for millions of years until, suddenly (in geologic time), they didn’t. Today none of their descendants survives, casualties of the greatest extinction event in Earth’s history.
The Gorgons of Greek mythology were, of course, hideous female monsters whose gaze could turn viewers to stone. This Dinogorgon skull fossil, on the other hand, is made up of stone, dating to about 265-252 million years ago. Although neither mammal nor reptile, the Gorgons had features of both — they walked upon land mainly on hind legs. Scientists don’t know whether they had sweat glands or fur, and they had long sabre teeth that could slash and stab their opponents.
This Dinogorgon was discovered in the scrublands of modern South Africa known as the Karoo, where some of the best documentation of the Permian Extinction Event from 252 million years ago can be found. Layers of earth reveal a die-off that destroyed most of the planet’s trees, 70% of life on land, and up to 94% of all marine species.
Scientists debate the chain of causes of the “Great Dying,” but ultimately massive volcanic explosions around Siberia began the killings. Land-based life suffered first — in some places, scientists can document a lower layer of pollen-bearing trees, followed by a layer of rocks characterized by fossilized fungi. The healthy plants were replaced by life that existed by consuming dead trees.
The ocean life that died next might have been caused by a variety of related events, including acid rain and a warming of the seas and concurrent anoxia of the oceans.
Only millions of years later did the Earth recover and enable life forms to generate and diversify. And now they don’t even make Dinogorgon Halloween costumes.
Sources: _Nature_ review article, “Environmental crises at the Permian-Triassic mass extinction,” Dal Corso et al., Pp 197-214 (Feb 2022). Nationalgeographic.com, “The Permian Extinction — When Life Nearly Came to an End,” Hillel J. Hoffman. Photograph by Jonathan Blair. _Otherlands_, Thomas Halliday
