The Permian Extinction Event is known as the largest mass extinction in
the history of the Earth and was responsible for the devastation and
literal genocide for thousands of species , from marine species , to
terrestrial vertebrate and even insects . With that said , a close look
will be taken into the Permian Extinction Event to determine what
scientists believe happened , as well as an analysis of what the mass
extinction meant for the planet Earth .
To begin with , since the Permian Extinction Event ``dwarfs all the
others , it has long been the major focus of inquiry . If we could explain
this greatest of all dyings , we might hold the key to understanding mass
extinctions in general (Gould , 1977 , 135 . The Extinction itself is
best understood by taking a close look into a land known as Karoo in
South Africa , known to ``the world 's paleontologists .[as] a sacred
place , for the flat sandstones , and shales piled into tablelands , called
koppies , are one of the Earth 's great museums , a store house of ancient
history , holding treasures more precious than all the gold and diamonds
still to be found in Africa (Ward , 2000 , 39 . This treasure trove
account for more than ``50 million years of land animal evolution .[and
is also] a graveyard filled with the victims of one of the Earth 's great
massacres : the protomammals , victims of the Permian Event (39 .
Protomammals , as many people have never heard the term , are ``common
ancestors of all mammals ' and...