Episode 6.2 · 17 min

Our Ancestors and the Great Dying

How did Permian therapsids begin acquiring features that mammals would later inherit—and how did any survive the Great Dying? This episode follows their changing teeth, jaws, mouths and limbs through the Karoo, then traces how the Siberian Traps helped trigger heat, oxygen loss and acidification that erased most marine species and devastated life on land.

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Visual credits

22 sources

Sources and credits for imagery used in this film, including material incorporated into explanatory animations.

Madumabisa NHMUK PV R 37363, ventral view
The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0
Cropped/reframed and incorporated into an original animation.
Odontocyclops fossil skull
Nkansahrexford
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 3.0
Cropped to the skull and incorporated into an original animation.
Diictodon spiral burrow cast
Nkansahrexford
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 3.0
Cropped/reframed and incorporated into an original animation.
Two Diictodon skeletons in a burrow cast
Nkansahrexford
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 3.0
Cropped to the two skeletons and incorporated into an original animation.
Gorynychus masyutinae skull and interpretive drawing
Christian F. Kammerer
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0
Cropped/reframed and annotated with color overlays in the animation.
Procynosuchus delaharpeae jaw
Ghedoghedo
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Cropped/reframed and incorporated into an original animation.
Lystrosaurus georgi skeleton
Ghedoghedo
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Cropped/reframed and incorporated into an original animation.
Hill at Karoo National Park
flowcomm
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 2.0
Cropped/reframed and incorporated into an original animation.
Putorana Plateau, Siberia
European Space Agency
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Cropped/reframed, including a tighter valley crop, and animated with a slow push-in.
Glossopteris fossil leaves in claystone
James St. John
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 2.0
Cover-cropped and incorporated into an original animation.
Early snow on the Putorana Plateau, Aqua/MODIS, 25 September 2003
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
View original source ↗
Cropped/reframed and animated with a slow push-in.
NASA should be acknowledged as the source of the material.
Thrinaxodon fossil
Nkansahrexford
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 3.0
Cropped/reframed and incorporated into an original animation.
Proterosuchus fergusi skull (SAM-PK-11208)
Nkansahrexford
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 3.0
Cropped/reframed and animated with a slow push-in.
Nile crocodile skull
Zachi Evenor
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Cropped to the crocodile skull and incorporated into an original animation.
Dimetrodon grandis skull
Daderot
View original source ↗Source licence: Public domain
Cropped and traced by AgentHouse for the comparison.
Inostrancevia skull
Ghedoghedo
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Cropped at the bottom and annotated within the animation.
Monitor Lizard Roaming in Sungei Buloh
Anish Sheela
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0
Transcoded, excerpted, trimmed, reframed, and incorporated into an original animation.
A Cold Beverage in a Glass
Engin Akyurt
View original source ↗Source licence: Pexels License
Excerpted, trimmed, reframed, and incorporated into an original animation.
PALEOMAP PaleoDEM: 250 Ma reconstruction
Scotese and Wright (2018)
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0
Processed into derived map graphics for the nominal 250 Ma reconstruction.
PALEOMAP PaleoDEM: 255 Ma reconstruction
Scotese and Wright (2018)
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0
Processed into derived globe and map graphics, including coastlines, relief, and a derived river network, for the nominal 255 Ma reconstruction.
Eoraptor lunensis skeleton
Esv - Eduard Solà Vázquez
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 3.0
Used as an anatomical reference through generated Eoraptor reconstruction imagery and animation.
Lufengosaurus huenei holotype mount (IVPP)
Jonathan Chen
View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as an anatomical reference through generated Lufengosaurus-like reconstruction imagery and animation.

Research references

Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.

Music

Meditation From The Star Orion
OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements

Footage and image usage

Credits and usage times retained from the published edition or its production credit record. Where present, times identify visual appearances, not documentary chapters. Source and licence corrections are listed in the visual credits above.

Anish Sheela — 6:49-6:59
Christian F. Kammerer — 5:20-5:25
Daderot — 4:36-4:40
Engin Akyurt — 11:44-11:55
Esv - Eduard Solà Vázquez — 17:06-17:12
European Space Agency — 9:45-9:49, 9:53-9:59
flowcomm — 1:43-1:53
Ghedoghedo — 4:14-4:26, 4:44-4:52, 14:49-14:52
James St. John — 8:30-8:34
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC — 9:49-9:53
Jonathan Chen — 17:12-17:19
Nkansahrexford — 2:09-2:12, 2:17-2:21, 2:21-2:26, 14:59-15:04, 15:21-15:25
Scotese and Wright (2018) — 0:00-0:15, 1:22-1:31, 1:31-1:41, 9:12-9:21, 14:11-14:22, 14:40-14:46
The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London — 4:52-4:57
Zachi Evenor — 4:06-4:14

How this film was made

Created and editorially directed by Anders Lunde using a custom production system developed over six months. AI assists research, drafting, programming, and visual production; I review and edit the material and make the final editorial decisions. Narration uses text-to-speech. Visuals combine custom-built scientific animations, AI-generated reconstructions, and credited scientific imagery.

Generated reconstructions illustrate scientific interpretations. They are distinct from photographs, specimens, and measured data.

More about the creator and production →

Visual credits

Madumabisa NHMUK PV R 37363, ventral view

Odontocyclops fossil skull

Diictodon spiral burrow cast

Two Diictodon skeletons in a burrow cast

Gorynychus masyutinae skull and interpretive drawing

Procynosuchus delaharpeae jaw

Lystrosaurus georgi skeleton

Hill at Karoo National Park

Putorana Plateau, Siberia

Glossopteris fossil leaves in claystone

Early snow on the Putorana Plateau, Aqua/MODIS, 25 September 2003

Thrinaxodon fossil

Proterosuchus fergusi skull (SAM-PK-11208)

Nile crocodile skull

Dimetrodon grandis skull

Inostrancevia skull

Monitor Lizard Roaming in Sungei Buloh

A Cold Beverage in a Glass

PALEOMAP PaleoDEM: 250 Ma reconstruction

PALEOMAP PaleoDEM: 255 Ma reconstruction

Eoraptor lunensis skeleton

Lufengosaurus huenei holotype mount (IVPP)

Research references

Music

How this film was made