Name:
Moschops (Greek for "calf face"); pronounced MOE-shops
Habitat:
Forests of South Africa
Historical Period:
Late Permian (255 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 16 feet long; weight unknown
Diet:
Plants
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Thick skull; short tail; front legs longer than hind legs
About Moschops:
Moschops is a case study in how evolution evolves roughly the same forms to occupy the same ecological niches. Although it was a therapsid (mammal-like reptile) rather than a dinosaur, Moschops seems to have borne a marked similarity to later herbivores like Protoceratops: both were thick-set, medium-sized, and built close to the ground, the better to browse on vegetation. Clearly, though, Moschops was the less "evolved" creature, since it had a classic, splay-footed reptilian posture and (possibly) an even tinier brain.
