Life, Part 5 (The Recovery)

The extinction almost brought life to an end. It wiped out almost everything on the planet. There were little places for the creatures of the Permian deserts to run. All around them, chaos was erupting. And so they all sadly faced their horrible ends. It wiped out a staggering 96% of all species on the planet, and it especially took it's toll on the ocean. Even the creatures that did survive eventually starved and were buried in the sand. There was little left of all the animals other than skeletons and corpses. But even if it did bring about the near end of life, it also brought on a new beginning. Although it took years for the Earth to fully recover from such an event, the extinction did not stop life for long. Around the same time as the Permian extinction, the Mesozoic Marine Revolution began. During this time, many diverse ocean creatures evolved, and became increasingly well adapted. They became bigger and stronger over time, and it seemed as if life was starting over back where it began. In the deep blue seas. Many powerful ocean predators came into existence, some of which could crush bones. They evolved shell-crushing behavior that lasted throughout the new Mesozoic era. A new age was beginning. While there were predators, there were also prey animals. The first Ichthyosaurs evolved during this time, or rather their early ancestors, the Ichthyopterygia, and spread across the globe around the beginning of the Triassic.(Eurhinosaurus) While there were many things going on in the water, the land was recovering along with it. Around the beginning of the Triassic, most of the trees had grown back, though most of the land was still a desert. There were also quite a lot of new species too, such as Cynodonts, crocodiles, and Lystrosaurus. Lystrosaurus had evolved from the ground-burrowing Diictodon, and and moved onto land. They behaved similar to wildebeest. A herd migrated to across a river to get to land, and did so every year, all while trying to avoid ancient crocodiles, which often got their fair share of Lystrosaurus. (Lystrosaurus) While this was all interesting, there were two main groups of animals that would dominate the Earth. The first were our ancestors, the mammals, although they only got their chance after the second group of animals. (Hadrocodium) Mammals started out as very small, shrewlike creatures, living in the shadow of the reptiles. They often occupied small holes in the ground, and were very vulnerable to predators. Their ancestors were actually the cynodonts, which seemed to far exceed the mammals of time in strength. The cynodonts were half mammal and half reptile. They possessed fur and visible ears, but had a slightly reptilian build. (Thrinaxodon) It seemed as if Earth was once again flourishing with all kinds of life. The planet seemed to have finally recovered from an event the could have wiped out all forms of life. Even the first conifer trees evolved during this time, and would later dominate the landscape. But of all these animals, there was only one that would rule them all in this new age. They evolved from a lizard. A very strange lizard that walked on two legs. This lizard was known as Euparkeria, and would spawn the first bipedal group of animals to dominate the earth.(Euparkeria) These animals would be unlike any other. They would come in all different shapes and sizes. Some were powerful predators. Others were peaceful giants. Some were smart and cunning. Others needed two brains. They were larger, faster and stronger than any animal before them. And for the next 135 million years, starting with the Triassic, they would dominate the earth. They were called the Dinosaurs.