Did any large animals survive the Permian extinction?

Very few. Lystrosaurus, a pig-sized therapsid, dominated Early Triassic land ecosystems because it was one of the few large animals to survive. Diversity was extremely low immediately after the extinction.

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Late Permian to Early Triassic

260-247 million years ago

The boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods marks the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history. This transition saw life nearly wiped out and then slowly, painfully rebuilding over millions of years. The survivors of this catastrophe, including the ancestors of dinosaurs, inherited a very different world.

Fun Facts

✓The Permian-Triassic boundary, about 252 million years ago, is defined by the sudden disappearance of 96% of all species.
✓Recovery from the extinction took millions of years. Some ecosystems may have taken 10-30 million years to fully stabilize.
✓The ancestors of dinosaurs, crocodilians, and pterosaurs all survived the extinction as small archosaurs.

Questions About the Permian-Triassic

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