The Earth has undergone significant changes throughout its 4.5 billion-year history, and it's difficult to imagine what it was like before humans existed. However, the early Triassic period, which was around 50 million years ago, was an unusual time even by the Earth's standards. During this time, the supercontinent Pangia covered around a third of the Earth's total surface and consisted of over 95% of all land, with only a few continental islands to the east.

The Paleo teus sea surrounded these islands, and the Panthalassic super ocean was located to the east of the sea. The early Triassic was extremely hot, with temperatures ranging from 120 to 140°F (49 to 60°C) during the summer.

This was largely due to the worst mass extinction event in history, the Peran Triassic Extinction event, which wiped out 90% of all species. Despite the harsh conditions, life managed to persist, and the most abundant creature was the Lystrosaurus, an unassuming herbivorous animal that had managed to survive the extinction event. Other survivors included the non-mamalian synapsids, such as the Therocephalians and Gorgonopsids, as well as the non-mamalian cynodonts.