What was the Permian Period?
The Permian period is the last of six periods making up the Paleozoic era, the oldest era of multicellular life on Earth, extending from about 542 to 251 million years ago. The Permian period itself extends from about 299 to 251 million years ago. During the Permian period, all land masses except for part of East Asia were aggregated into the supercontinent Pangaea. This minimized the amount of warm shoreline habitats available, and created temperature extremes, including the greatest desert in the history of the planet: the center of Pangaea. So much land promoted great temperature extremes in general, and terrain hostile to all but the most rugged of life. Land fauna continued to diversify during the Permian period, paving the way for the evolution for large reptiles. The mammal-like carnivorous reptile Anteosaurus emerged in the early Permian period. In some respects the animal resembles a boar in appearance. It had a long tail and weak limbs, suggesting a semi-aquatic lifestyle sim
