Cotylorhyncus was a synapsid from the Permian era, a tetrapod ancestral to mammals. They look somewhat like dinosaurs but are actually not related (the other major clade at the time were the sauropsids, which gave rise to birds and reptiles). He is notable for his head too small for he got damn body.
Why his head too small for he got damn body?
It seems likely that the enormous barrel shaped torso was needed to house voluminous intestines. This would be a crude solution to the need to eat large quantities of low quality forage and then ferment it to get usable nutrients, the same way that ruminants do today with their four chambered stomachs.
Why is today International Cotylorhyncus Day?
Two years ago, I discovered this delightful dumbass and posted about him. Completely coincidentally, so did @checkervest. We decided this guy deserves his own holiday, and thus it began.
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