There is something missing from our world: the amazing animals that time has left behind.
But what if we could bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever?
We're going back in time on a safari with a difference as wildlife adventurer Nigel Marvin plunges into prehistory to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction.
His plan is to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance.
This time Nigel travels to three different periods of time to rescue animals extinct thanks to humans.
Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary.
Welcome to Prehistoric Park!
Chapter 3- The Recently Extinct
The giant three horned creature paced around the pen with a smaller one next to it. Both were a brown orange colour and had two darker spots on a giant ridged crest. They were Triceratopses. In nearby pens were many other strange and wonderful creatures including a flock of Ornithamimus, a small pack of Smilodons and a herd of small Protoceratopses.
"Hello there," Nigel Marvin said "A giant storm is heading towards the park so we've herded every animal inside this specially designed area to protect them. We've got a huge menagerie of extinct creatures and more are going to join them soon."
"What you're bringing for me this time Nigel," Bob asked looking down on a Triceratops.
"Many animals have been wiped out thanks to the actions of humans so I plan to save some of those unfortunate animals. I plan to go to three areas: New Zealand in the year 1299 to have a species of Moa called Diornis, Mauritius in the year 1590 to save the Dodo and to South Africa in 1500 to save a species of zebra called the Quagga."
"Thank goodness Nigel! You're bringing back safe animals for once."
"I'm purposefully going back before humans came into contact with them so I won't cause any time paradoxes. First off I'm going to collect the Diornis."
Nigel now plans to capture the legendry Moa in pre-Maori New Zealand but another species of bird may attract his attention.
Nigel calculated his arrival with perfect precision. In front of him were a group of six giant long necked birds that were twice the height of a human. They pecked in the foliage for berries and fruit to eat. None of them paid attention to the 21st century explorer.
"Here we have a group of Diornis, one of the largest of the moa. Look they're paying no attention to us; they've never seen humans before. In fact they only have one predator. This is why unfortunately when humans arrive here they'll be hunted to extinction for this reason."
Nigel placed the portal sticks hoping for an easy capture until the shadow came. It swooped down and landed on a moa, scattering the others though fear. The creature had brown feathers and resembled a golden eagle.
"This is a Haast's Eagle, the only hunter of the moa. They can fly at 80 km/hour and are massive. From what we just saw it looks like they hunt like the Harpy eagle, swooping down onto the spine of helpless prey. When the moa goes extinct in years to come these guys will follow them so I think we'll save them."
A second eagle landed next to the first and started eating the dead moa. The birds' mate. Luckily Nigel has had practice catching birds of prey and expected to find these magnificent hunters. The crew grabbed some tranquiliser guns from the jeep and fired at the birds. Quickly they were sleeping and were loaded into the jeep. Nigel immediately tracked the moa to their new feeding area before setting up the portal to which the jeep went through it. One of the moa walked up to Nigel and started sniffing his head like a curious parrot.
"Look how friendly they are!"
All five moa went through the portal after being persuaded with some nice berries. The storm was nearing the park so the new arrivals were sent to the pens.
"It's a good job I've finished the aviary for these eagles," Bob said "This storm will be bad. All the animals are getting restless. Susan's had to calm one of the Troodon after a clap of thunder."
"Don't worry it will pass soon. I need to get us a few Dodo birds now."
As the storm outside draws ominously nearer Nigel heads to Mauritius to capture the most famous victims of extinction.
They looked like giant, plump pigeons. Their bodies were grey and they waddled around the forest floor eating fallen berries from the tree above. There was around three females and two males.
"As you can see these cheery fellows are Dodos and like our Diornis at the park they have no fear of us. No humans have ever come to Mauritius before but when humans arrive here in years to come the hungry sailors will overhunt them while stowaway rats will eat the poor birds' eggs."
The playful birds hunted for small berries in the undergrowth, oblivious to Nigel who was setting up the time portal. A few scattered berries easily lured the birds away from the past and into the present.
With the acquisition of two of his three targets Nigel wastes no time in going to Africa to capture the Quagga, unaware of the storms stress on one particular animal.
The Tyrannosaur roared with distress. Matilda was feeling even more stressed than the over therapods due to her present condition. Susan on the walkway looked down on the dinosaur with distress.
"She's scared for herself because of her pregnancy. Animals who are pregnant are normally skittish at the best of times, as we've seen, but the added stress from the storm is making her even more scared."
The scared dinosaur was darting to and fro around her pen roaring occasionally. Every time she roared one of the other three tyrannosaurs roared in response.
"Her distress is affecting the other animals as well. Excluding the three pliosaurs and the two Deinosuchus she's the largest carnivore in here. We may need to sedate her if she gets too stressed to calm her down."
In the year 1500 Nigel has tracked down his zebra subspecies but how can he get them into the 21st century.
The herd of horses consisted of twenty individuals if Nigel counted correctly. All of them were brown with white stripes at the front half of the body. Despite the fact that they were a subspecies of zebra they looked more like a normal species of horse.
"These here are the Quagga. They are like the zebra in every aspect except their colour so we know a lot about these. They went extinct for a few reasons. Primarily because they offered completion for farmers cattle and goats regarding grass. They also offered good meat for the locals to store for a long period of time."
There were crew members setting up the portal one end of the herd which were peacefully grazing. Nigel sat in his jeep at the other end of the horse herd.
"It's a simple plan that may work but I'm going to drive towards the herd which will herd them into the portal safely."
Despite the simplicity of the plan it worked well and all 21 Quagga were herded into a pen in the present day, just in time for the storm.
The storm roared like an angry god as the rain lashed unmercifully on the roof of the holding area. The wind shrieked to the sound of roars of distressed animals. Every animal was in fear of the tempest outside: the mammoths and elephants rumbled fearfully, the velociraptors croaked with fear and Theo the Triceratops charged around his pen with his startled mate. Matilda was given a light sedative so while other modern day and prehistoric creatures panicked she lightly walked around her pen.
"All of them are panicking," Susan said "They hate the storm."
"In the morning we should be fine," Nigel replied.
He was right and by the morning the rage of the storm had passed away leaving the residents to clear up.
After all the wind swept debris had been cleared away all the residents can be sorted back into their enclosures. The Haast's eagles into the newly finished aviary, the Quagga in the fields next to Mammoth mount to eat grass alongside the elephants while the Diornis and Dodos were sorted into their enclosures. Calm has returned to Prehistoric Park. For now…
New Arrivals:
5 Diornis
2 Haast's Eagles
5 Dodos
21 Quaggas
Next time Nigel travels back 65 million years to capture the largest flying creatures to ever fly, Matilda finally lays her eggs as the Protoceratops complete their nests. All next time on Prehistoric Park.
Thank you for reading and please leave any suggestions you have. Hope to see you again!