You are in the floodplains of India, 245 million years ago.

The air in the early Middle Triassic was heavy and dry. Standing amidst the scrubby, fern-like vegetation of the semi-arid floodplain, you froze as a heavy, dragging sound emanated from behind a copse of horsetails.

Then, you saw it: a Shringasaurus, the "horned lizard," a massive herbivorous stem-archosaur roughly 13 feet in length. It was a strange blend of features—a long, graceful neck like a sauropod supporting a small, boxy head, but its body was bulky with thick, crocodile-like feet.

The most striking feature, however, was the pair of horns protruding directly above its eyes, akin to a modern bovid or a much later ceratopsian dinosaur. The creature seemed almost surreal, as it browses on the lush flora near a slow-moving river.

Suddenly, another Shringasaurus emerged from the brush. It was a tense moment. The two behemoths didn't fight, but they held their heads high, displaying their supraorbital horns—a silent, intense contest of strength in this harsh, evolving world. Watching them navigate this prehistoric landscape, you felt as though you were witnessing a forgotten chapter of Earth's history, a "horned dragon" from long before the age of the true dinosaurs.