What It Was Like to Walk Across Pangaea, From Antarctica to China

On Pangaea, the supercontinent of 250 million years ago, you could walk from Antarctica to China without crossing a sea. In the aftermath of the Great Dying, how did life cope with a world this large and this extreme? The walk starts on a riverbank inside the Antarctic Circle, where Lystrosaurus probably sleeps through two months of night. It heads north past the burrows of South Africa's Karoo, across a dry interior where the monsoon wind reverses with the seasons, and along a tropical sea close to 40°C. At the far end, in China, Lystrosaurus turns up again. The fossils along the way point to how animals got through: moving toward the poles, digging in, slowing down and breeding early. CHAPTERS 00:00 — Two Months of Night, and No Ice 03:18 — Green Ponds Under the Midnight Sun 11:03 — Diggers of the Karoo 17:24 — When the Wind Turns Around 23:17 — The Hot Middle 29:07 — Footprints Without Bones 34:59 — Farther Apart Than Today 40:48 — The Way Through SELECTED SOURCES Romano et al. (2020). Early Triassic terrestrial tetrapod fauna: a review. Earth-Science Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2... Whitney & Sidor (2020). Evidence of torpor in the tusks of Lystrosaurus from the Early Triassic of Antarctica. Communications Biology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01... Sun et al. (2012). Lethally hot temperatures during the Early Triassic greenhouse. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1224126 Xu et al. (2025). Early Triassic super-greenhouse climate driven by vegetation collapse. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60... Based on current scientific research. Where the evidence is uncertain or reconstructed, we say so. Inside Prehistory takes you into the ancient Earth as it actually was — vivid, evidence-based documentaries that put you inside the moment and keep moving. If you'd like more walks through the deep past, consider subscribing. #pangaea #paleontology #documentary #triassic