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Description

Ruvuma Region, Tanzania, 257 million years ago.

Chased by a trio of Dinogorgon rubidgei, a herd of Rhachiocephalus behemoth rush across a small river, only to run straight into the jaws of an old female Rubidgea atrox, which takes advantage of the confusion to bring down a large bull.

Though slowed down by advanced age and being blind in one eye from an old injury, this female has survived against all odds thanks to her choice of territory: a river basin with sufficient tree cover that serves as an oasis in an increasingly dry world, attracting large prey from miles around and offering ideal sites for an ambush.

While she has had little trouble hunting, her impaired vision has affected the precision of her strike; though she had aimed for her quarry's neck - hoping to deliver a bite that would've killed it in a few seconds - she has instead landed a misplaced bite onto its left flank, and though she would've been able to easily hold down an animal this size in her prime, her age has weakened her, and the bull Rhachiocephalus has shaken free, breaking one of her saberteeth in the process, but his victory is short-lived. The gorgon's vicious teeth have left a massive, gaping wound on his flank, and the little surge of energy afforded by adrenaline ebbs away as he bleeds out, and he tumbles to his side after barely a few metres. All he can do now is watch in horror as his assailant looms over him, like a primordial grim reaper, while the rest of his herd flee for their lives.

The Rubidgea may have a damaged tooth, but this will be replaced in a short span of time, and this kill will sustain her until then.

The Dinogorgon trio are relative newcomers to this region. Though they aren't related to one another, over the years they've figured out that banding together is the best survival strategy around here. Doing so has allowed them to hold their own against and even drive off other predators in their weight class, as well as bring down large prey during times when smaller prey is scarce. Having figured out some years ago that the resident Rubidgea often makes kills far too big to finish in one sitting, the 'pack' has now formed an unusual, occasionally mutualistic relationship. Being faster, they'll often drive prey towards the larger gorgon's regular ambush sites, and later move in to scavenge on the leftovers.

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After rewatching Walking With Monsters recently, in particular the 2 Permian episodes, I thought I’d try and weave this into a Walking With-esque story, and is why I couldn't finish it in time for #synapsidweek . Now I've definitely done a good bit of speculation here with regards to the 2 gorgonopsids' quasi-mutualistic behaviour, but then again associations between predators and scavengers aren't completely unheard of, and considering that in nearly every formation gorgonopsids have been found in, there never seems to be just 1 or 2 species. Instead, several species, most of which overlap considerably in size and weight range, all seem to have coexisted, in stark contrast to large theropod dinosaurs. This indicates some serious niche partitioning going on, and let's not forget that most ecosystems and niches as we know them today didn't even exist until the mid-late Triassic, meaning that the Permian was a truly alien world in terms of the overall structure of global ecosystems, so for all we know, these animals could've occupied ecological niches unlike any found on Earth today.

Furthermore, in the natural world, a general rule of thumb is if something proves advantageous even in the short term, with enough of an ecological pressure, and enough resources to make something happen, then there's a good chance it will.

Rhachiocephalus behemoth was a rhachiocephalid dicynodont known from South Africa and Tanzania. I don't know much about dicynodonts, and couldn't find a great deal of information on this and many other Permian species, a shame given they were really cool animals, and unlike the gorgonopsids, were among the 3 therapsid clades to actually survive the Great Dying (Permian-Triassic extinction), the most devastating extinction event in Earth's history, and went on to thrive for much of the Triassic, to the point of almost monopolising the large herbivore niche until the Triassic-Jurassic extinction wiped them out allowing herbivorous dinosaurs to take over the niches they left vacant.

At 2m long, R. behemoth is perhaps the largest Permian dicynodont known, though this was still paltry compared to Triassic species, some of which could grow as large as rhinos and elephants. The majority of Permian dicynodonts appear to have been burrowing herbivores or omnivores, a bit like modern pigs, and with its barrel-like body with relatively short legs, it's probable that R. behemoth may have lived a bit like a modern wild boar, digging up roots and tubers using its characteristic beak. Unlike many Permian dicynodonts, it lacked tusks.

While cynodonts are arguably the most successful lineage of therapsids simply by virtue of how long they've been around (late Permian - today) the dicynodonts were a very close second. They thrived both before and after the Great Dying, becoming the most abundant large animals - and terrestrial vertebrate in general - within just a million years of the most devastating mass extinction the Earth has ever seen. By comparison, cynodonts (and their mammalian descendants) wouldn't see this kind of success for another 180 million years, until the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago.

Description

Ruvuma Region, Tanzania, 257 million years ago.

Chased by a trio of Dinogorgon rubidgei, a herd of Rhachiocephalus behemoth rush across a small river, only to run straight into the jaws of an old female Rubidgea atrox, which takes advantage of the confusion to bring down a large bull.

Though slowed down by advanced age and being blind in one eye from an old injury, this female has survived against all odds thanks to her choice of territory: a river basin with sufficient tree cover that serves as an oasis in an increasingly dry world, attracting large prey from miles around and offering ideal sites for an ambush.

While she has had little trouble hunting, her impaired vision has affected the precision of her strike; though she had aimed for her quarry's neck - hoping to deliver a bite that would've killed it in a few seconds - she has instead landed a misplaced bite onto its left flank, and though she would've been able to easily hold down an animal this size in her prime, her age has weakened her, and the bull Rhachiocephalus has shaken free, breaking one of her saberteeth in the process, but his victory is short-lived. The gorgon's vicious teeth have left a massive, gaping wound on his flank, and the little surge of energy afforded by adrenaline ebbs away as he bleeds out, and he tumbles to his side after barely a few metres. All he can do now is watch in horror as his assailant looms over him, like a primordial grim reaper, while the rest of his herd flee for their lives.

The Rubidgea may have a damaged tooth, but this will be replaced in a short span of time, and this kill will sustain her until then.

The Dinogorgon trio are relative newcomers to this region. Though they aren't related to one another, over the years they've figured out that banding together is the best survival strategy around here. Doing so has allowed them to hold their own against and even drive off other predators in their weight class, as well as bring down large prey during times when smaller prey is scarce. Having figured out some years ago that the resident Rubidgea often makes kills far too big to finish in one sitting, the 'pack' has now formed an unusual, occasionally mutualistic relationship. Being faster, they'll often drive prey towards the larger gorgon's regular ambush sites, and later move in to scavenge on the leftovers.

.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

After rewatching Walking With Monsters recently, in particular the 2 Permian episodes, I thought I’d try and weave this into a Walking With-esque story, and is why I couldn't finish it in time for #synapsidweek . Now I've definitely done a good bit of speculation here with regards to the 2 gorgonopsids' quasi-mutualistic behaviour, but then again associations between predators and scavengers aren't completely unheard of, and considering that in nearly every formation gorgonopsids have been found in, there never seems to be just 1 or 2 species. Instead, several species, most of which overlap considerably in size and weight range, all seem to have coexisted, in stark contrast to large theropod dinosaurs. This indicates some serious niche partitioning going on, and let's not forget that most ecosystems and niches as we know them today didn't even exist until the mid-late Triassic, meaning that the Permian was a truly alien world in terms of the overall structure of global ecosystems, so for all we know, these animals could've occupied ecological niches unlike any found on Earth today.

Furthermore, in the natural world, a general rule of thumb is if something proves advantageous even in the short term, with enough of an ecological pressure, and enough resources to make something happen, then there's a good chance it will.

Rhachiocephalus behemoth was a rhachiocephalid dicynodont known from South Africa and Tanzania. I don't know much about dicynodonts, and couldn't find a great deal of information on this and many other Permian species, a shame given they were really cool animals, and unlike the gorgonopsids, were among the 3 therapsid clades to actually survive the Great Dying (Permian-Triassic extinction), the most devastating extinction event in Earth's history, and went on to thrive for much of the Triassic, to the point of almost monopolising the large herbivore niche until the Triassic-Jurassic extinction wiped them out allowing herbivorous dinosaurs to take over the niches they left vacant.

At 2m long, R. behemoth is perhaps the largest Permian dicynodont known, though this was still paltry compared to Triassic species, some of which could grow as large as rhinos and elephants. The majority of Permian dicynodonts appear to have been burrowing herbivores or omnivores, a bit like modern pigs, and with its barrel-like body with relatively short legs, it's probable that R. behemoth may have lived a bit like a modern wild boar, digging up roots and tubers using its characteristic beak. Unlike many Permian dicynodonts, it lacked tusks.

While cynodonts are arguably the most successful lineage of therapsids simply by virtue of how long they've been around (late Permian - today) the dicynodonts were a very close second. They thrived both before and after the Great Dying, becoming the most abundant large animals - and terrestrial vertebrate in general - within just a million years of the most devastating mass extinction the Earth has ever seen. By comparison, cynodonts (and their mammalian descendants) wouldn't see this kind of success for another 180 million years, until the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago.