Mid afternoon: the sun hangs low in the sky, its light bleeding through the canopy of an Early Permian (272 MYA) forest. Amidst the trunks of primitive conifers, a small group of Edaphosaurs snuffle slowly through a underbrush of ferns, using small peg-like teeth they snip off an ample bounty fronds, absently grinding them using the broad, rough plates affixed to the backs of their bizarre but powerful jaws. Amongst the foliage the patterning on their large sails help to break up their outline, providing a modicum of protection from would-be predators; sadly that protection isn't enough and they are oblivious as another sail back cuts through the ferns behind them. Their cousin, Dimetrodon limbatus has come round for what can only be a very unpleasant family reunion. E. pogonias was an extinct synapsid, like it's relative Dimetrodon it possessed a large sail on its back, but unlike its cousin it was a herbivore. At 11.5 ft and 660 lbs Edaphosaurus was one of the bigger animals in it's environment.
