New Author

Hey guy, Im the new author Dsungaripterus.Im a Pro and a Blogo.See me around the island.

Weekly Dino Fact – The Ultimate Survivor

Hey gang, Weekly Dino Fact time. Today’s fact comes from a question asked by Irvine. Irvine asked, “What dinosaurs survived the great extinction or the great dying?” Very interesting question because 90% of all life on Earth was wiped out by this catastrophic event; whoever survived had to be a seriously tough animal. Well here is his, the scary, the intimidating Lystrosaurus!!! Actually… he’s kind of cute!

Lystrosaurus was roughly the size of a pig and was the most common terrestrial species in the Early Triassic period. They only had two tusk-like teeth (that make them look kind of like a giant green chipmunk) and a horny beak that helped them bite off pieces of vegetation. They were extremely close to the ground and are believed to have been powerful burrowers. They were herbivores and were something like a mixture between a lizard and a shell-less turtle. It is not clear how the Lystrosaurus was able to survive the extinction event. The most popular theory suggests that they were able to survive because they had big lungs and were accustomed to living in burrows with stale air which made them best suited to adapt to the low levels of oxygen. Another is that they were semi-aquatic and that they could retreat to the water. All of these theories have several holes which leads us to believe that they simply survived out of sheer luck! However they did it, the Lystrosaurus was the ultimate survivor! What do you think about Lystrosaurus? Cute right? How do you think they were able to survive?