Why Triassic Animals Were Just the Weirdest

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The Triassic was full of creatures that look a lot like other, more modern species, even though they’re not closely related at all. The reason for this has to do with how evolution works and with the timing of the Triassic itself: when life was trapped between two mass extinctions.
Thanks to Ceri Thomas for the Drepanosaurus reconstruction. Check out more of Ceri's paleoart at / alphynix and nixillustration.com
And thanks as always to Nobumichi Tamura for allowing us to use his wonderful paleoart: spinops.blogspot.com/
Finally, thanks to Emilio Rolandia, Matt Celeskey, and Studio 252mya for their excellent images as well.
Produced for PBS Digital Studios.
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References:
Original description of Triopticus with a description of repeated bodyplans and lifestyles of Triassic and later Mesozoic animals www.cell.com/current-biology/a...
Original description of Shringasaurus with discussion of allokotosaur evolution
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
Original description of Avicranium with a discussion of drepanosaurids
rsos.royalsocietypublishing.or...
An earlier phylogenetic analysis of drepanosaurs with discussion of their likely habits in life
doi.org/10.1017/S147720190400...
A very thorough, but fairly technical discussion of adaptive radiations (including those triggered by extinctions) can be found in chapters 4, 5, and 10 of:
Stanley, SM. 1979. Macroevolution: Pattern and Process. John Hopkins University Press.
ISBN 0-8018-5735-X

[@krinniv7898]

Aren't we always trapped between two mass extinctions?

[@bigbadseed7665]

Paleontologists: Can you at least pretend to be normal?

[@migcaro7151]

animal adaptation be like, "if it looks stupid but it works, it ain't stupid."

[@lutinlaut]

"Looked like featherless birds"

[@penguinpenguinpenguin]

When you run out of mass extinction names:

[@jaylynabrams9564]

Ah yes, the Triassic period, also known as the teenage years of life.

[@battlechampion47]

PBS EONS: the triassic was the weirdest time period

[@Halbairn]

Basically the "it's just a phase" era

[@favorius]

Extinction events be like "Oh no I misallocated evolution points, let me reset the simulation."

[@eternityf0rever]

Poor Pangea...she never got over her breakup 💔😢

[@ccvcharger]

If the Triassic is the "just a phase" era, then the Cambrian must be the "dressed self for the first time" era.

[@thesaviorofsouls5210]

"Another lineage for catching fish"

[@philochristos]

Who is going to maintain this channel after the next mass extinction? I need updates on when some niches open up.

[@wizzlet6821]

I believe what some guy actually said was, "Life, uh, finds a way."

[@paulqpublic4742]

"... and within JUST 20 MILLION YEARS..."

[@sillybob9689]

Ah yes, Triassic Era. A chaotic but wonderful time for public testing server with no restriction on testing multiple builds, allowing many players to experiment to their heart content.

[@PaulPaulPaulson]

Length:

[@geinikan1kan]

The comments section here is abnormally intelligent and positive.

[@alex-fs9yt]

No one:

[@rafaelmoro9114]

Imagine how many species that planet had since the beginning. It's just amazing.