Bradysaurus was a genus of herbivorous (plant-eating) reptiles, common in the Middle Permian period. Thick plates (not preserved in this skeleton) covering its body protected it from predators, but may be assumed to have made it slow and somewhat clumsy. Bradysaurus could weigh up to a tonne.

The large, broad skull was typical of the pareiasaurs a group classified as belonging to the parareptiles, which have no modern descendants. The eureptiles, in contrast, gave rise to all present-day reptiles and birds.