The Permian period, stretching from around 299 to 252 million years ago, was a time of extraordinary ecological richness, a time when early forests blanketed the Earth and many reptile-like and amphibian creatures roamed its area.Yet, this chapter of life on our planet came to a devastating close with the most catastrophic mass extinction in Earth’s history, popularly known as the Great Dying, wiping out nearly 70% of land species and an even greater proportion of marine life.
However, a new research can give new details about the Permian ecosystem…
Archaeologists and paleontologists have long looked to the Karoo Basin in South Africa as the primary window into life before and after the Permian mass extinction. But over the past 17 years, a team led by the University of Washington and the Field Museum has undertaken extensive excavations in southern Africa, including the parts of Ruhuhu Basin in Tanzania and the Luangwa and Mid‑Zambezi basins in Zambia, to expand the information about what is already known and this research was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.Christian Sidor, a UW biology professor and paleontology curator, describes the importance of these discoveries, “This mass extinction was nothing short of a cataclysm for life on Earth, and changed the course of evolution,” he said. “But we lack a comprehensive view of which species survived, which didn’t, and why. The fossils we have collected in Tanzania and Zambia will give us a more global perspective on this unprecedented period in our planet’s natural history.”In August 2025, a collection of 14 peer‑reviewed studies was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, showcasing newly discovered fossils, including saber‑toothed gorgonopsians, burrowing dicynodonts, and salamander‑like amphibians, found in these southern basins. These rich, beautifully preserved specimens help the scientists to make species-level comparisons to those previously found in the Karoo, offering unprecedented detail about the late Permian ecosystem.The project’s success comes from more than a decade of fieldwork, going across regions, navigating remote terrain, and collaborating with local authorities. The sheer quantity and quality of fossils recovered have opened new doors for understanding life in southern Pangea before the Great Dying.
This can also help in drawing comparisons
Beyond revealing the diversity of Permian life, the research enables fascinating comparisons between regions of Pangea. Sidor explains, “We can now compare two different geographic regions of Pangea and see what was going on both before and after the end‑Permian mass extinction,” he says. “We can really start to ask questions about who survived and who didn’t.”
Seymouria baylorensis – cast of fossil Early Permian period
Other studies reveal that tetrapod faunas fragmented regionally after the Great Dying, transitioning from a uniform community in the late Permian to more localized, provincial ecosystems during the Triassic, a change that may have paved the way for new groups like archosaurs to flourish.These new fossil discoveries in Zambia and Tanzania provide a richer, more geographically balanced view of one of Earth’s most consequential evolutionary moments.