But the Permian detectives are faced with a host of suspects and not enough evidence to convict any of them. To understand this extinction, I wanted first to get a sense of its scale.

Since the first sharks emerged in the world’s oceans nearly half a billion years ago, the world has gone through five major ...

The end-Permian mass extinction, which occurred approximately 252 million years ago, wiped out over 80% of marine species, and its impact on land has long been debated.

The biggest mass extinction in Earth’s history wiped out 90 percent of lifeforms because they couldn’t breathe, scientists have revealed. Global warming left animals gasping 252 million… ...

BALTIMORE — The greatest extinction in Earth’s history might not have been so great after all. A suspected colossal die-off of roughly 75 percent of land species didn’t accompany the Permian ...

They transcribed these findings to the Zechstein Sea, which about 250 million years ago in the Permian Age, was situated about where present day Central Europe is.

During the end-Permian extinction 95 percent of all species on Earth became extinct, compared to only 75 percent during the K-T when a large asteroid apparently caused the dinosaurs to disappear.

The Permian extinction saw the loss of 80 to 96 percent of all marine species. In the Cretaceous event, perhaps 60 to 75 percent of marine species disappeared. What caused these immense die-offs?

Weissflog et al. Late permian changes in conditions of the atmosphere and environments caused by halogenated gases. Doklady Earth Sciences, 2009; 425 (2): 291 DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X09020263 ...

This was the Permian, an obscure era of geological history where the planet was ruled by giant, bone-chilling beasts that ran with a characteristic waddle and sometimes snacked on sharks.

Shao Jian Feng, 26, holds a saltwater crocodile in his home on the outskirts of Beijing. This juvenile is only 2½ years old, but when fully grown, can reach up to 20 feet, making it the world’s ...