An international team of paleontologists—including UW’s Christian Sidor—have uncovered some of the most important vertebrate fossils ever found in Africa. These discoveries tremendously improve our understanding of the Permian period, which lasted from 299 million to 252 million years ago. These findings, recently published in a 14-article series in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, explore the era preceding the Earth’s largest mass extinction event. This study shows us what ecosystems were flourishing prior to this major disaster. Equally interestingly, it sheds further light on the mystery of which species were able to survive the great extinction and why.
Christian Sidor is a professor of biology and the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture, University of Washington. He is responsible for the first major body of research to advance this field. For over 15 years, Sidor and his colleague Kenneth Angielczyk, curator of paleomammalogy at the Field Museum, have led excavation efforts across three key basins in southern Africa: the Ruhuhu Basin in southern Tanzania, the Luangwa Basin in eastern Zambia, and the Mid-Zambezi Basin in southern Zambia. The team spent an extraordinary amount of time iterating these spaces. They took several trips – five to the Ruhuhu Basin and four each to the Mid-Zambezi and Luangwa basins.
This spectacular research has produced a stunning trove of fossils, most collected during month-long expedition trips for excavation and research. These new findings are significant indeed, as they fill in broader global context focused on the Permian period and the following extinction event.
Fossil Discoveries Across Southern Africa
The fossils we’ve gathered from these southern African basins are some of the best preserved in the world. Their condition, in fact, rivals those found from South Africa’s Karoo Basin, another important location for studying the Permian period. South Africa’s Karoo Basin has provided scientists with an unprecedented fossil record of the nearly-complete mass extinction. Today, fresh finds from Tanzania and Zambia are adding more data to the growing body that’s helping us better understand this critical period in Earth’s history.
Sidor said these new findings are critical for the knowledge pipeline. True, we’ve found a staggering amount of specimens coming from Zambia and Tanzania. Because of their amazing state of preservation, we can compare them on a species level to what paleontologists have found in South Africa,” he said. These direct comparisons allow us to better infer how well species were able to spread across the different regions of Pangea. Ecologically, this knowledge bridges the pre- and post-end-Permian mass extinction.
Dicynodonts rapidly became the largest herbivores on land in the Permian. Their unusual beak-like snouts and small tusks point to remarkable and unique evolutionary adaptations, rendering their fossils an incredibly rich source of paleoecological insights. Unfortunately, little is known about how these creatures lived prior to the catastrophic event. That event changed life on Earth profoundly and irrevocably.
Understanding the Mass Extinction Event
This end-Permian mass extinction scourged most ecosystems from the planet, creating one of the greatest biological shifts in the history of Earth. The second era, the Mesozoic Era, is characterized by the age of dinosaurs, birds, flowering plants, and mammals. Paleontologists have spent the last several decades returning to the Karoo Basin. A huge gap remains in our knowledge of how this extinction event affected global biodiversity.
Sidor expressed a pressing need for comprehensive data regarding species survival during this period. “We lack a comprehensive view of which species survived, which didn’t, and why,” he said. “The fossils we have collected in Tanzania and Zambia will give us a more global perspective on this unprecedented period in our planet’s natural history.”
In examining these fossils, researchers hope to unravel mysteries regarding survival strategies employed by various species during this tumultuous time. Sidor’s team has already made significant finds. This kind of comparative study will allow researchers to gain important insights into evolutionary trajectories following mass extinctions.
The Future of Paleontological Research
Back in Africa Sidor and his team are working around the clock. It’s a huge opportunity, and they’ll examine all the fossils they find before shipping them back to Tanzania and Zambia. This commitment is a great step towards keeping these priceless specimens available for future research in their countries of origin.
The ramifications of these findings reach far beyond the classroom. Learning from previous extinctions and historical survival patterns can similarly provide our best guidance on how to tackle the biodiversity crisis we’re facing in the present day. More scientists are beginning to appreciate how ancient mass extinctions can help guide conservation to protect the threatened species of today, like the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Sidor’s creative work plays an important role as part of this dynamic, two-way dialogue in a world of constantly evolving extinction. “We can now compare two different geographic regions of Pangea and see what was going on both before and after the end-Permian mass extinction,” he stated. This unique comparative approach will shed light on the limits and potential of life’s resilience. It has been powerful in forging the ecological landscape of Earth over millions of years.