Therapsids were a group of synapsids that showed increasingly mammal-like features. They first appeared in the Middle Permian and eventually gave rise to mammals during the Triassic Period.

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Middle Permian Period

273-260 million years ago

The Middle Permian saw increasingly advanced synapsids evolving more mammal-like features. The climate was warming and drying, and life was adapting to a world that was very different from the lush Carboniferous forests that preceded it. Dinosaurs were still tens of millions of years away.

Fun Facts

✓Middle Permian synapsids like Moschops were large, barrel-shaped plant-eaters with heavily built skulls.
✓The first therapsids, the mammal-like reptiles, appeared in the Middle Permian.
✓Pangaea's interior was becoming increasingly arid during the Middle Permian.

Questions About the Middle Permian

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