How Dinosaur Ancestors Survived Earth S Biggest Mass Extinction
Chinese scientists discovered bones of the newly identified species in the region of Xinjiang, located in the northwest of the country, amid a rich deposit of plant and animal fossils from the Permian period (around 299-252 million years ago) and Triassic period (around 252-201 million years ago), a study published in the journal The Science of Nature shows. Estimates of the age of the specimen, which has been named Vigilosaurus gaochangensis, indicate that it is around 252 million years old, placing it right at the boundary of the two periods—a tumultuous time marked by a mass-extinction event that wiped out the majority of life on Earth....