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Published: 2022-06-28 10:28:42 Updated: 2022-06-28 10:28:42

Posted June 28, 2022 10:28 a.m. EDT

By Abbey Slattery, WRAL Digital Solutions

This article was written for our sponsor, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Almost 300 million years ago, the world was ruled by monsters — Permian Monsters, that is.

Permian Monsters include mammalian ancestors that predate dinosaurs, but were almost completely wiped out due to a mass extinction event, likely caused by global warming. Now, traces left behind after the Permian–Triassic extinction event can be found in the Triangle.

“The Research Triangle is actually built on Triassic rock, so any building made of bricks around here, that's Triassic — it’s that red rock, usually highly oxidized, that’s typical of Triassic outcrops,” said Christian Kammerer, P.h.D, research curator of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. “There are actually a lot of amazing fossils from just before the age of the dinosaurs that are found locally and which are the subject of my fieldwork. Raleigh is a great place to be if you're interested in Permian-Triassic creatures.”

Some of Kammerer’s research will be featured in the Museum of Natural Sciences’ latest traveling exhibition, “Life Before Dinosaurs: The Permian Monsters.” Since the Permian-Triassic Earth was covered in a single supercontinent, Pangea, fossils from this time can be found across the world — including the Triangle.

“There are so many fossils from this time period, but there are actually very few of us worldwide who work on these animals. There is much more public interest and research interest in dinosaurs, but Permian animals have the numbers — but there are thousands of specimens all over the world. I've worked on Permian animals from every continent,” said Kammerer.

According to Kammerer, with East Coast paleontology, there is very little in the way of exposed rock. For the most part, it's covered in grass, forest or asphalt, and if the rock isn’t exposed, fossils can’t be found. Where there are rock exposures, they are mostly in mines, road cuts and construction areas.

“There's no magic technology to look through the ground and find things on the scale of a single fossil — for the most part, we’re relying on human-mediated activities to bring them to the surface. The local rock is very hard, so we're mostly using rock saws to excavate these specimens. It’s not just going through with a brush and a chisel and chipping away by hand — at one of the sites I work at, even the jackhammer just bounces off the rock, so we have to use a diamond-tipped blade to get through,” said Kammerer. “It’s great to have fossil sites close by, though – while it’s fun camping out in the Rockies on long field seasons, or doing international fieldwork in South America and Africa, there is something to be said for going out, working hard all day, getting dirty and sweaty, then just being able to come home and shower.”

The local Triassic research helps bring context to what the planet might have looked like hundreds of millions of years ago. The Appalachians are over 300 million years old, and as they eroded, the sediment from them filled in rift lakes and left fossils behind. Those rift lakes eventually got so big that they formed the Atlantic Ocean.

The fossils found on the western part of these lakes — now on the East Coast of the United States — are similar to fossils that are found in places like Morocco and southern Spain.

“At the time, they may have only been a few miles apart. It all goes towards understanding the geological evolution of the whole planet, and also of the groups of animals involved, comparing what we see in North Carolina to what we see in Morocco,” said Kammerer. “It’s remarkable that they’re so similar, and there are probably some of the same species shared between the two areas.”

Eric Dorfman, Ph.D., director and CEO of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, is eager to show off some of Kammerer’s work in the current exhibition. In fact, there’s even a lecture series accompanying the exhibit with media support from WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio. Talks include:

“We're really lucky to have Dr. Kammerer with us — he’s at the forefront of this research worldwide. He’s uncovered and named a number of rare specimens already, and you’ll see reconstructions of these animals that he's discovered,” said Dorfman.

“There's this thing called Bulbasaurus, which is a bulbous lizard, and its face was covered in blobs. Then there was this tiny insect creature whose name translates to insect slayer, and it’s this vicious thing that can fit in the palm of your hand,” he continued. “There's this whole world of creepy, interesting animals that people will never have seen before, and a lot of his discoveries are coming from North Carolina. The fact that we have all of these amazing resources for knowledge right on our doorstep is a very compelling part of Permian Monsters being at the museum.”

With help from their in-house expert, the museum has created an exhibition that offers something for everyone.

“It’s such a visual treat, and there's so much going on. We have these weird creatures, like a shark that has a circular saw for jaws. There are moving models, there are soundscapes, there’s incredible set design — it's going to be lots and lots of fun, especially for families,” said Dorfman. “It's a very lively exhibition, and it combines spectacle with real science.”

This article was written for our sponsor, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

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