Lystrosaurus

extinct · therapsid · Permian-Triassic · tusked herbivore

Tusked plant-eater. Lystrosaurus had two long tusks sticking out from its upper jaw and a stocky body shaped a bit like a hippo. It used those tusks to dig up roots and plants to munch on.

Lived everywhere. Fossils of Lystrosaurus have been found on almost every continent, from Antarctica to China to South Africa. This shows it lived during the time when all the land was stuck together as one giant supercontinent called Pangaea.

Survived the worst. Lystrosaurus lived during the late Permian period and into the early Triassic, when Earth went through one of its biggest extinction events ever. It was one of the few animals that managed to survive this catastrophe.

Many species mystery. Scientists used to think there were tons of different Lystrosaurus species, but today they believe there were probably only four to six real species. The confusion happened because fossils from different places looked slightly different.

Ancient mammal cousin. Lystrosaurus was part of a group called dicynodonts, which were ancient relatives of mammals. It lived millions of years before the first dinosaurs even appeared on Earth.