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While catastrophic for some species, extinctions offer opportunities to survivors. Reptiles arose about 300 million years ago, and they replaced amphibians as the dominant land-dwelling animal following the Permian Extinction. Reptiles produce an egg that contains nutrients within a protective shell; unlike amphibians, they do not have to return to the water to reproduce. This difference allowed reptiles to move into new land environments. Early reptiles, like Euparkeria , may have been ancestors of the dinosaurs. |