Today i want to introduce you to a little guy that once was the most common animal on Earth.

Lystrosaurus, a creature that roamed the planet before dinosaurs appeared.

Let's get to know it.

Lystrosaurus means "Shovel Lizard" in Greek.

It was a therapsid, a genera of animal related to mammals and their ancestors.

Its kind were known as the dicynodonts, due to the two tusk like canines.

The largest species of Lystrosaurus reached 8 ft long.

the average sizes ranged from dog to pig size.

Lystrosaurus used its beak to feed of ferns and other plants of the Late Permian and Early Triassic.

Fossils of Lystrosaurus have been found across the world, Antarctica, India, China, Mongolia, Russia and South Africa.

The locations of the fossils is explained by the existence of Pangea, a super continent that once existed formed of the union of all landmasses on Earth.

Lystrosaurus fossils amount to 95% of all the fossil beds were it was found

Its the only time in history were a land vertebrate was so common and dominant in Earth's ecosystems

It is believed that one of the reasons it thrived was its ability to tackle all kinds of vegetation.

Among other characteristics, tusks of Antartica showed that they would have likely hibernated.

Its the earlies evidence of this behaviour and it shows torpor appeared in vertebrates before mammals and dinosaurs evolved.

But with so much flesh wandering around, surely they were predators:

The archosauriform Proterosuchus, a ancestor of modern crocodiles.

And the therocephalian Moschorhinus, a lion-sized synapsid, its ecological niche would have been similar to sabertooth cats.

Lystrosaurus was likely a social animal, as the amount of fossils suggest herd behavior.

Despite surviving the mass extinction from the Permian into the Triassic, Lystrosaurus and the other old genera of Mammalian ancestors would become extinct and pave the way for a new order of animals that would take over the Earth.

Living under the shadow of the early triassic trees, a small reptile, Euparkeria ran through the forest floor hunting for insects.

this animal was a biped, among the first of its kind.

Its decendants would be the largest monsters ever to be known...

The Dinosaurs.