Eryops << EH ree ops >> was a prehistoric animal that inhabited swamps of what is now North America. It lived about 270 million years ago, during the Permian Period and long before the dinosaurs. The name Eryops means long face. It describes the animal’s broad, elongated head.
Eryops ranked among the larger land animals of its time, growing more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length. Four short, strong legs supported the creature’s thick body. Its powerful jaws held many sharp teeth.
Eryops was an early tetrapod (four-legged animal). It resembled modern amphibians in living part of its life in the water and part on land. It probably laid its eggs in water. A young Eryops likely breathed by means of gills, but it lost its gills as an adult and breathed with lungs. In other respects, Eryops resembled a crocodile. Scientists believe Eryops may have been more capable of life on land than were many other early tetrapods. Eryops ate mostly fish, but it also preyed on other tetrapods. It probably captured its prey both on land and in water.
The American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope named Eryops in 1887. The animal’s fossils have been found in the United States, in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
See also Prehistoric animal (The move onto land).
