Two Separate Discoveries; Fossils Reveal the Life of Two Prehistoric Predators

The global warming caused by catastrophic volcanic eruptions in Siberia around 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, led to the worst mass extinction recorded, which resulted in the extinction of approximately 90% of species. According to Reuters, unlike the asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs, this extinction occurred over a long period, with species disappearing one after another as conditions worsened. Researchers said on Monday that fossils recently discovered in South Africa define the life of a predator at the top of the food chain and how it migrated to the other hemisphere in a desperate and ultimately unsuccessful effort to survive over several generations. This creature, known as 'Inostranzewia', was a mammal with saber-like teeth the size of a tiger's. Before the recent discovery of new remains on a farm in central South Africa, fossils of this mammal had only been found in northwestern Russia near the Arctic Ocean. The recent discovery of these fossils in the Southern Hemisphere indicates that Inostranzewia left its homeland and traveled about 12,000 kilometers across the supercontinent Pangaea over perhaps hundreds or thousands of years to continue surviving. The massive supercontinent Pangaea existed in prehistoric times when today's continents were joined together, allowing terrestrial creatures to migrate to various parts of the supercontinent that later split into today's continents. Inostranzewia ecologically filled the niche of four top predator species at the top of the food chain in the area now known as South Africa. However, Christian Kammerer, the senior researcher of this study from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, stated that this carnivorous mammal 'did not last long.' He noted that Inostranzewia and all its close relatives disappeared during the Permian mass extinction, also known as the 'Great Dying.' The results of this research were published in the scientific journal 'Current Biology.' Meanwhile, in Europe, paleontologists reported the discovery of a new dinosaur fossil that had not been identified before. A painted image of what 'Protaetliys sinctornensis' might have looked like. According to Reuters, scientists discovered this dinosaur with a long skull, almost resembling a crocodile with curved teeth and serrated ridges that could easily tear apart the flesh of its prey, in the province of Castellon, Spain. This discovery could help in a better and deeper understanding of a successful group of carnivores that hunted both on land and in water. This bipedal dinosaur, which lived around 126 to 127 million years ago, has been named 'Protaetliys sinctornensis.' This dinosaur was about 10 to 11 meters long and weighed around 2 tons, and belonged to a group of dinosaurs known as Spinosaurus, the largest member of which is recorded among the largest carnivorous dinosaurs on Earth. The auction of a dinosaur skeleton in Switzerland led to the discovery of a massive dinosaur fossil. The discovery of 100-million-year-old dinosaur footprints in a restaurant in China. The fossil of the largest carnivorous dinosaur in Europe was discovered on the Isle of Wight in Britain. The discovery of a very small dinosaur fossil in Madagascar, the size of a mobile phone. A different species of carnivorous dinosaur fossil was discovered in Utah.