Bradysaurus

Skeletal reconstruction of Bradysaurus bainitic at the Natural History Museum Vienna

• South Africa

• Bradysaurus bainitic
• Bradysaurus seeleyi

Bradysaurus was a herbivorous reptile. Its fossils have been discovered in about 265 bis 260.5 million years old rock in South Africa.

The body length of Bradysaurus is about 2.5 m, his skull measures about half a meter. He moved away quadruped ( four legged ). Like other Pareiasauriden the animal was stocky and muscular, and possessed compared to the total body length, a relatively short tail. His jaw has the typical for that time herbivore dentition.

Bradysaurus supported himself as herbivorous Pareiasauridae of shrubs and ferns. For mutual protection, he lived in herds. This enabled him to better defend against potential predators such as gorgonopsians or other carnivorous Theriodontia.

Within the genus Bradysaurus are with Bradysaurus bainitic and Bradysaurus seeleyi two species are known.