Please note that the Wolfcampian Permian age given the El Pueblo tracksite or ichnotelmafacies by outside geologists in 1990 will be changing to Kasimovian late Pennsylvanian. This is because of a newly found giant centipede trackway and the footprints of very large dragonflies. Please excuse the inconvenience.
Dimetrodon and Darwinism
The fact that Dimetrodon's large toes (thicker digits) were located outwardly (Henry Ortiz, 2017, 2020, EPEPSF) raises questions about Dimetrodon's continued evolution. In other words, might there have been a link between Dimetrodon's pes and early mammals, or primates, as some have suggested? Darwin's concepts of natural selection always apply insofar as preparedness for a changing environment. But when, if ever, did Dimetrodon's big toe switch from the outward side of the pes to the inside, as in humans? It appears that the species and their individual specialization was designed for a specific ecological purpose, in a specific time, in a specific world. Because of its sail, Dimetrodon had to cope with maintaining its balance when it was windy, or in heavy currents. Having the big toes on the outer side aided in maintaining that balance. Three premises about early life come to mind:
1. Watery environments within a feasible climate engendered fish and terraqueousy.
2. Terraqueous environments led to terrestrial tetrapodism.
3. Low ozone-layer protection and abundant carbon dioxide led to bumpy heat-deflecting skin in tetrapods and dinosaurs, as well as temperature regulating sails on known and unknown tetrapods.
All of the above triggered the life force that is life itself but within the confines of very specific environments that when destroyed or altered, killed off countless species. (Modern climate change has begun to exact a toll on certain species.) Some animals were able to adapt; some did not. The implication is that many species were a product of a specific time and space, and Dimetrodon may have been such a species. Even if destined to become extinct, Dimetrodon's temporal range of 23 million years far exceeds Man's temporal progression of six million years. Something tells me that any link from the early Permian to humankind will involve the isolation of one or more tetrapods that habitually climbed trees to escape predators, with claws and with the thumb and forefinger providing a grasping ability.
