Prehistoric Park: A New World

by MortalKombat247

Shinchoku Co. has been at the forefront of technological advance since the colonization of Mars. In 2016 in 'The New World' watch mankind's other great dream become true: a dream to end extinction. Meanwhile, five years later as Prehistoric Park begins to open it's doors to the public 'One Long Day' could change it all. Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary.

4. Mission 2- Tar and Sloths

There is something missing from our world. Over ninety-nine percent of life that time has left behind. What if we could bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever?

Shinchoku Co. has sent a wildlife explorer and a palaeontologist to plunge into prehistory to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. The plan: to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance.

Their next adventure they'll hunt for a sloth discovered by Thomas Jefferson, come face to face with a cheetah/puma hybrid and all while avoiding getting stuck in tar.

Extinction has gone extinct. Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park.

Mission 2- Tar and Sloths

The Nga Rara islands are now the most unique islands on planet for they now boast four species of extinct animals ranging from golden toads to the earliest dinosaurs. As the most recent residents of Prehistoric Park settle in to their new homes the park gets ready for the next set of inhabitants.

Bob sat on the back of the park's many open jeeps absentmindedly throwing berries into the bushes. He had no idea if the Nyasasaurs liked berries. Were there even berries during the Triassic? He didn't know but what he did know was that every omnivore today liked raspberries so without a doubt a Triassic omnivore would like them. He heard a bird like chirrup to his left. One of the Nyasasaurs stood there with his head bobbing up and down like some sort of featherless bird. It was so interesting that these dinosaurs were so old that they had yet to evolve feathers! However, if you looked closely at their skin you could see black bumps where feathers would eventually come through. He had a brilliant idea then which would make him the first person in history to do this. He would be the first person in history to handfeed a dinosaur. The Nyasasaurs were quite shy animals, (could there have been an undiscovered large carnivore at the Manda Formation which made them like that?), and the closest anyone ever got to them was either when they were rescued or when the vets looked at them. No one had handfed them though. Carefully he pulled a sandwich from his lunch; he didn't want to scare the little dinosaur away. Bacon, lettuce and tomato. None of those existed in the Triassic but the Nyasasaur probably didn't know that.

"Come here little fellow," he said softly wafting the sandwich. "I won't bite."

The Nyasasaur cocked its head and looked hungrily at the sandwich. Slowly it walked up to the strange product which had been developed millions of years after his kind had vanished from the face of the earth. The dinosaur opened his mouth revealing several peg like teeth. Bob then almost fell off the jeep as the dinosaur snatched the sandwich and darted into the underbrush. Bob laughed heartily rearranging the camera on his forehead.

"Little tyke. He may have been a scavenger during the Triassic. I can tell you now if we get a T Rex I won't be doing that with them. Anyhow I best see what dinosaur our intrepid time travellers will be bringing me today."

Although Bob may not realise Prehistoric Park's residency plan is open to all extinct wildlife. Today Amelia and Phil are planning to rescue something which lived much after the Mesozoica, or as it is better known the Age of Dinosaurs.

She had always hated the smell of tar. Her bedroom overlooked the road so whenever roadworks had to be done she had to endure the smell of it. Being a sulky teenager who is only understood by Gerard Way was made much harder thanks to that glutinous substance's smell. Phil, being the extravagant person that his is, decided to announce the next mission in his typical extravagant way. Hence, why they now stood on the Visitor Docks which were currently in the process of being built. There was a separate dock for supplies and staff but when Prehistoric Park opened its doors to the public they had to be given a special dock. It was almost the only place on the islands that were to have tarmac. Bob soon rounded the corner which she felt blessed by. The sooner they explained the mission the quicker they could leave the smell of tar.

"Does your next mission involve some form of coastal animal?" Bob asked twitching his impressive moustache.

"Not at all my friend!" Phil said smiling. "A friend of mine called Jack suggested to us that we rescue our next species. We are today going after the Jefferson's ground sloth!"

Not all sloths moved slowly and lived perpetually in trees. The Megalonyx jeffersonii, better known as the Jefferson's ground sloth, was just one of the many land dwelling relatives to the modern day tree dwelling variants who lived during the Ice Age.

"First discovered in 1797 by Thomas Jefferson," Amelia started and smiled at Bob's expression. "Yes that Thomas Jefferson, as in the author of the Declaration of Independence and former president, but he thought it was the skeleton of a still extant animal. In 1825 someone called Richard Harlan properly described it. They went extinct around 11,000 years ago thanks to climate change at the end of the Ice Age and, humans pushing them over the edge."

"So why are we at the sea? I've seen a big ground sloth at the museum in London and that certainly did not live on the seaside!" Bob commented.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "We're here thanks to that!" She pointed to the tar. "We're going to the La Brea tar pits in California. Megalonyx bones have been found there. I've actually been to the site on holiday; hundreds of herbivores got trapped in the tar which attracted carnivores who in turn got trapped. We call them predator traps for that reason. We're hoping to rescue a few extra species from the tar as well."

"Wait!" Bob said. "I've been there as well. In the museum they found a buried woman in the tar. Will you see…you know…prehistoric humans?"

"Possibly but not her," Phil replied. "She's been carbon dated to around 10,000 BC or BCE depending on your preference. In other words sometime after our sloths went extinct. We could see humans but we're not allowed to interact with them. Orders directly from the UN. These cameras aren't just to get footage for an awesome TV show; they're there to make sure we don't do anything unethical."

The La Brea tar pits caught hundreds upon hundreds of animals annually. As their habitats change and from human hunting maybe the crew can rescue a Megalonyx or two from the edges of the tar.

Compared to the differences between Triassic Tanzania to modern day Tanzania the differences between Ice Age California to modern day California were negligible. They were there though. No cloud trails from planes could be seen, the air was far cleaner and, in the distance there were no signs of the urban metropolises that dotted present day southern California. She had a Californian friend who was a naturalist; he would have loved it here. Behind her the drone pilot sent the whirring mechanical bird high into the air.

"We're connected. By next mission we should have cameras on that thing." Graham's voice said through her headset all the way from the future. Strange how they could communicate with the future but could not have a set of eyes in the sky. The helper Mike went to step out blindly until she caught him.

"Whoa there. Look." He was about to step straight into a puddle of glutinous tar. "Be careful Mike. We don't want you getting trapped and for us in eleven thousand years' time to see the anomaly of the prehistoric man with perfect teeth."

Mike gulped and stood back next to Phil looking scared. "Also modern day rural California is infested with rattlesnakes and I would think this would be true now." She added with a smile. Both Phil and Mike looked terrified. To reassure them she gave handed out some white walking sticks. "Tap the ground in front of you. You'll know then if you're heading in a tar pit or if a snake is in front of you. We don't want to end up like that guy."

The good news was that they had found a ground sloth. The bad news it was partially submerged in thick tar, almost devoid of flesh and, what was left of the flesh was being fought over by vultures. It did give her hope though. The presence of a dead sloth indicated that they must live in the area. Phil had told her two other ground sloth species were found at La Brea and she couldn't imagine there being too much of a difference between the sloths. If they found a species that wasn't a Megalonyx it could give them information about how to find one. They skirted the edges of tar pit until something caught her interest. It was a clump of faeces. Judging by how dry it was, and the Californian weather, it must have been a week old. She pulled a glove from her pocket and started dissecting it earning a series of disgusted noises from Mike.

"This is full of hair and claws. Still has some smell to it. Judging by the diet of a ground sloth this contains too much animal matter and protein to be the result of scavenging. This was from an animal whose entire diet consists of meat. Look! A few footprints. Footprint matches that of a cat, I've seen ones like it hundreds of times, and by the looks of it just one cat. This animal was solitary."

"That doesn't narrow it down much," Phil sighed. "La Brea is home to cougars, ring-tailed cats, and lions to name a few. Although some of them may have disappeared by now. Incidentally I did want to rescue a lion species."

"We may have our answer," Mike said pointing to the bushes ahead. There was a heard of pronghorn and possibly the largest bison she had ever seen. They were absentmindedly grazing and were oblivious to the cat hiding in the bushes. Even they could not make it out clearly. Amelia could tell for certain that the cat was not a species found today…

Meanwhile, in Prehistoric Park joint Head Vet Suzanne is having difficulties with some rather angry residents of the park.

The Stenaulorhynchus rumbled and slammed his head against the side of the jeep. Suzanne was almost sent flying off of the back of the jeep and that was the last thing that she wanted. The jaws of the rhynchosaurs were perfectly adapted to tearing up the earth to get at the roots buried underneath. That meant her abdomen would quickly become pate if she had an unfortunate run-in with their teeth. Again the angry rhynchosaur slammed into the jeep.

The Stenaulorhynchus was rescued during the last mission from a possible long death by dehydration.

Suzanne had been administrating a powder containing essential proteins and nutrients in the rhynchosaur water supply in order for them to build up strength. Dehydration killed by sapping all of your energy so proteins and nutrients were needed for a speedy recovery. When they arrived she had Bob fill up water troughs with the powder mixed in but when that got too violent she had been placing it their water supply. A glitch in the filtration system stopped the powder from being administrated from the safety of the keeper hub which meant journeys into the rhynchosaur exhibit were needed. Journeys which always ended with her being buffeted about like a weather during a twister by the territorial males.

"Morarji get down here quick or Prehistoric Park will need a new vet!" she yelled through her headset. When she heard another engine role into the exhibit the banging and grunting almost immediately stopped. She managed to peak out from her hiding spot on the jeep to see the rhynchosaur now furiously attacking a transport truck while Morarji had a bemused look on his face. This job's going to kill me!

Meanwhile, back in the tar pits of California our time travellers are about to witness a hunt.

The cat slunk stealthily out of the bushes. It looked like a puma/cheetah mix. It had the short face and long legs of a cheetah, (perfect for maximising speed and oxygen capacity), but had the stockiness of a puma. The colouration was even a mix: the body of a puma but the head, legs and tail of a cheetah. It was obvious that this was America's answer to Africa's speedster. Back in Kenya she had seen cheetahs hunt so many times and this was exactly like a cheetah's hunt. Although cheetahs were fast at 112km/h they could not keep that speed up for too long. As a result they would stalk prey for a long time until the opportune moment. Those bison were far too large for the cheetah; instead the pronghorn was this cat's meal.

"Did the ancestors of cheetahs come through Siberia?" she asked Phil. Cheetahs could be found in Africa and Asia, (although human hunting had forced the Asian population into a small area of Iran), and she had heard humans came to America a frozen Bering Strait. Although she thought a cheetah doing so was unlikely. Cheetahs liked the open which Siberia, Alaska and the northern USA didn't offer. Leopards were a different matter but not cheetahs.

"In the 1970s it was thought that puma ancestors migrated back to the Old World," Phil whispered. "In 2006 mitochondrial DNA analysis found the likeliest answer for our American cheetah was parallel evolution. A common ancestor diverged millennia ago producing pumas for one habitat and cheetahs for another."

It was so interesting. Animals that lived on different continents had evolved to fit the exact same environments in the exact same way. They all jumped as a cat pounced. However, it wasn't the cheetah. Three cats had landed on a young bison near the edge of the herd. Startled both the bison and the pronghorn fled. The cheetah stood up and looked at the now empty plain dejected. She felt nothing but pity for this cat. Then she looked at the new cats as they silenced the warbled moans of the young bison. They were larger than the cheetah and had numbers on their sides. Just like in Africa; lions ruined the hunt of cheetahs. Except they weren't lions. The bloodied canines of the cats before her were far too large to be owned by a lion. Even then the body shape was all wrong. At that moment she remembered what one of the cats that lived here was.

"My goodness!" Phil frantically whispered as Mike looked pale. "Smilodon fatalis. Better known in the media as…"

"The sabre toothed tiger," she finished. Mike blanched. Then one of the Smilodon roared revealing why they had that namesake. "Phil when did the cheetahs go extinct?"

"Around now. Ah." He had realised what she had in mind. She was determined that not only a sloth would be saved today. Amelia whispered something to Mike who stumbled off back in the direction of the jeep as quietly as he could. Although she wanted to rescue a cheetah she also didn't want to be the meal of one. The cheetah stood there panting through a mixture of the heat and anxiety. If the plains of California were anything like the plains of Kenya then the cheetah would not be top dog, (or cat), around here. Lions were the biggest killers of cheetahs and most cheetah cubs were killed by lions. Although lions could go for bigger animals they effectively hunted the same things as cheetahs. Another big cat around meant more competition. Likely the Smilodon would do the same. This got confirmed when the alpha arrived. He bared his two formidable scimitars in his mouth which caused the cheetah to bear its far smaller canines. She thought it was a wise idea that the cheetah backed off several paces.

"Why hasn't it run off?" Phil asked.

"Likely it wants to scavenge. With the arrival of humans and climate change scavenging off of more successful carnivores must be an easy option." The cheetah sat on its haunches looking eagerly at the bison as the alpha Smilodon tore into the dead bison. Mike did not seem to like this at all judging by the face he made when he arrived with a chunk of meat wrapped in packaging. Happy she stuck her tar/snake finding stick into the ground and placed the meat on the top after removing it from the packaging. After placing the portal sticks firmly in the ground just behind the stick she wrapped some rope from her bag around the pole.

"Well time to explain my plan," she said gesturing to the camera on her head. "That cheetah is likely starving. I've…erm…placed this meat on a stick…" She pulled a face when Mike gave a slow, sarcastic clap. "The time portal is behind the stick. We'll get the cat's attention and seeing the meat will come to investigate. When close to the stick I'll pull it back, the hungry cheetah will follow and then Phil will open the portal. The wind's in the wrong direction so we can't rely on the smell of the meat."

"Leave it to me!" Mike said happily. "CHEETAHS ARE DICKS!"

Well it certainly got the cheetah's attention…and the Smilodon. As they hid back in the undergrowth she punched Mike extremely hard in an area where he didn't want to be punched. She gave a sigh of relief when the Smilodon returned to their bison feast, or sitting on their haunches to join in later on the feast. The cheetah hungry for food slowly lopped towards the meat. It was all going to plan! Just as the cheetah was on the meat Mike pulled the rope sending the stick and meat flying backwards. Eager for food the cheetah continued forward until…WHOOSH. The portal opened and Amelia could just see the tail of a cat slink through.

"Wait we didn't tell Control," Phil said as the portal closed.

At the park joint Head Vet Jesse has already started tending to the newest resident but Bob is not too happy.

"Almost took my bleedin' arm off!" he yelled. He was happily preparing for his sloth to arrive when it happened. He was just putting out some fresh lettuce, which he was sure any sloth on the verge of extinction would love to try, when the portal opened. That had surprised him. Maybe they had returned empty handed for a retry? Nope. Some mixture of a cheetah and a puma had burst through! If it wasn't for the fact that the cat was equally as confused to be in the 21st century as he was to see it in the 21st century he would probably be premium cat food now!

"She's doing fine. Doesn't seem to be carrying any harmful pathogens and she's not lactating so the team doesn't have to look for cubs," Jesse told him as they looked down at the cat happily eating a chunk of some unfortunate cow. "How about Cheshire for a name?"

"I don't care. Call her 'Not Bob's friend' for all I care. Well until I came down from the shock at least!" He knew with this job he would eventually need a hard drink but he never thought it would be this early. At a stab in the dark he would guess the cat was an American cheetah but he would wait until the park's other palaeontologist, Alfred Steiner, had a look. Dr Steiner's asthma meant he could not run around the past with the others so he stayed at the park. He was glad though that they had rescued the cat. He had loved working with the big cats at his old job and, it would bring some normality to the world which revolved around dinosaurs, giant bugs and the monstrosities which nature had cooked up. However, that was all in the future, and the past for that matter.

Meanwhile, in Ice Age La Brea the team have decided to head back to their starting point to hunt for Thomas Jefferson's elusive giant sloth.

She knew it was a mistake to continue in the direction that the cat prints took them in. Well, a mistake trying to find a sloth. The park's new cheetah was definitely no mistake. She could have kicked herself though for thinking they could find a sloth in that direction. What animal would want to be found at the hunting ground of both cheetahs and sabre toothed cats! Back at the jeep site she had set to work finding more clues of the whereabouts of a sloth. She may have even found a clue. There was a recent set of tracks which looked very bizarre. The hind legs of this animal had sprawling clawed toes while the other set of limbs made the animal look like it walked on knuckles like an ape. However, the even weight distribution on both sets of prints made it seem that this animal walked like a bear. What was even more interesting was a tuft of dark yellow fur on a tree branch almost two metres off of the ground.

"By the height of the fur and these prints we may have found us a sloth," she concluded. "Whether it is Mr President's sloth is a different matter."

Leaving the drone pilot, Jean, in the safety of the jeep they set out once more following the tracks of the sloth. They must have been recent if they could still be clearly seen. A few snapped branches and tufts of brown fur caught on the occasional branch indicated they were going in the right direction. Luckily no accidents involving the tar happened this time. With everyone looking firmly at the ground it was easy to spot and manoeuvre themselves around the stray pits of the noxious substance. The prints seemed to lead to some bushes stuck oddly in the dusty plains like someone had started making a garden but gave up half way. The bushes were leaning to and fro haphazardly and one even had its roots exposed. As they got closer they saw that the bushes surrounded a large hole. Looking closer Amelia noticed that long claws had dug this hole. Wait it wasn't a hole, it was a burrow.

"There is a theory that Megalonyx and other ground sloths would dig burrows for protection," Phil explained. "Do you think this is a sloth burrow?"

Just like an aardvark. She couldn't but help notice the similarities. "I think so. It isn't complete yet though. And…"

"What's that smell?" Mike asked. There was a musky smell nearby. Being adventurous Amelia went in the direction where the scent was strongest. A large animal with shaggy brown fur was rubbing itself against a bush. It had a head like a horse but less streamlined and covered in thick fur with large black eyes. The creature had long arms which ended in sloth like claws and it also had a short tail. It looked exactly like the photos of ground sloths in the books she had seen.

"Phil is it a Megalonyx or the one of the others?" she whispered. The sloth heard her. Angry the sloth turned around and stood up making itself almost two metres tall. Its underbelly was dark yellow in colour. The sloth made a rumbling sound like an elephant which she recognised from her years in Kenya: go away or I will harm you. Taking the message they backed off. Happy that he had fended off the attackers the sloth returned to his quadrupedal stance.

"Too tall to be Paramylodon and too bulky to be Nothrotheriops," Phil panted. "It's our sloth."

"Guys I have a plan," Mike panted. She was surprised. Mike never struck her as a planner. "You said that it was a burrow. Like what rabbits live in. Even if it's not finished wouldn't it go sleep in it?"

"Yeah," Amelia replied excited. "We just have to put the portal at the entrance! Mike you're a genius!"

It may be all well and good to make a plan to catch a sleepy sloth but you have to have a sleep sloth to enact the plan.

Tired beyond belief Amelia took another sip of coffee from a flask. In preparation they had put the portal down and told Control that when the sloth got tired they could rescue it. That was four hours ago. It was still content rearing up to strip leaves from the trees with his massive claws which he would then eat using his long purple tongue. It was neat though. They were for both defence and were eating utensils. To her right Phil was asleep with his guide over his face, (exactly how her dad sleeps), while Mike was slunk over the cooler in a stupor. Jean was asleep hugging the drone like how a child hugs a teddy bear and mumbling about a Colette. The same sun that she had seen in 2016 and the Triassic slowly set across the Californian plains casting purple light across the landscape. She sat up suddenly. The sloth ambled towards the burrow and, more importantly, the portal. Just as it was on the portal she opened it. Success!

Prehistoric Park now has a Jefferson's ground sloth among the inhabitants!

She had blocked out Bob's complaints of 'setting a cheetah' on him. Amelia knew he was ecstatic about both the sloth and the cheetah but at the same time she knew he didn't want to lose face. Right now Thomas the Megalonyx was happily eating lettuce from the trough in front of him. The sun had almost disappeared now behind the horizon and darkness had soon replaced the purple glow cast by the sun. Thomas would be moved to his new exhibit the next morning largely for two reasons. The first was that Suzanne had found ticks on him so they had to wait until the ticks had been killed. The second was that there were no keepers to help move him. Prehistoric Park only had two nocturnal animals: the Nyasasaurs, (which were technically cathemeral), and Scamp the Diademodon. None of these required many keepers to watch over them. Thomas, it seemed, had to wait until the next day to appreciate his new life.

"Ah my beautiful sloth!" Hiroshi declared happily upon climbing up the walkway. He looked warmly at the sloth like a proud parent looking at their child. "Rescued from a habitat vanishing through climate change, rescued from potentially being caught up in tar and, being a species discovered by an American president. Why do I have a feeling American tourists will love him?"

"We're planning tomorrow to rescue a female," Amelia explained tiredly.

"Perfect! We can call her Martha after the First Lady. Thomas and Martha, Prehistoric Park's first mated pair. Fantastic!" She had no idea where that man got his energy from.

As Thomas moves into his new home the time travellers must return to the La Brea pits to rescue a possible mate for the world's first ground sloth in 11,000 years.

Igor had placed them at a larger tar pit. Hopefully this would mean that they could find a sloth sooner. The tar bubbled in the hot Californian sun. Large noxious black bubbles burst with loud gurgles. It was like the land itself was liquefying in front of them. Caws of buzzards and the extinct condor Teratornis could only be heard as they fought over the decaying corpses submerged in the black mire. Seeing vultures in Kenya had desensitised her to the wonders that were the diet of scavengers. One buzzard pulled out the eye of a coyote and greedily ate it much to the dismay of Phil. The eye-guzzler's compatriots were busy nipping at the insides of bison which had become trapped who knows how long ago.

"This is amazing to see," Phil commented, possibly for the camera. "Teratornis. They are actually larger than the Andean condor and they are just beautiful." She nodded in agreement. Suddenly Mike called them over and they were met with a low grunting noise. A sloth, female judging by the lack of the musky smell, had gotten submerged in the tar. It was a Megalonyx as well. She thrashed and made pitiful moans of torment as she her attempts to free herself failed. Overhead condors and buzzards circled eagerly awaiting fresher food.

"The poor thing. That's how the tar kills them. They get trapped and eventually die from exhaustion, dehydration, starvation or a combination of them all."

If the team does nothing the ground sloth will slowly die. They have to act quickly though. The more the sloth struggles the more she gets embedded in the tar.

"We have to help her!" Mike cried.

"Mike, Phil there's a dead tree there. Break off a large, sturdy branch each. Jean put the drone down; we can go five minutes without communication. Good. Now Jean tie the end of this rope to the front of the jeep."

She tied her end into a lasso. When Jean had tied his end she threw the lasso. The first attempt was wide off the mark. So were the second and the third. Finally the fourth went around the collar and left arm of the sloth. At that moment Phil and Mike returned with a branch each.

"Jean get in the jeep and lightly reverse. Not too hard or we'll hurt her. Phil and Mike use the branches as a lever and get it below her. Avoid the tar; we don't want you to get stuck."

As they did that she started pulling on the rope. Instinctively the sloth turned as much as it could in her direction. She had squelching noises as the branches were forced into the tar. Faintly she could see the sloth's body rise from the tar. With the force from the jeep, and her pulling the rope, the sloth started to come free. Both of the men readjusted their branches to help lever the sloth further out of the tar. Amelia could see that the sloth was almost freed. Instantly she ran just before the tar and forced the time portal down into the earth. With one more tug from the jeep the sloth was freed. Amelia opened the portal and sent the sloth through. Almost cheering she called Jean to drive the jeep through the portal. They had done it. They had… She recognised that sound from anywhere. It was the low rumble of an elephant.

"Oh my goodness!" Phil cried. "Mammoths!"

They looked like elephants but they were gigantic. The largest bull African bush elephants were not even as tall. The matriarch must have been four metres tall and those tusks! They were something out of legends. She had thought elephant tusks were impressive but they made their tusks look like penknives. Like an elephant they were mostly hairless so unlike their northern cousins this mammoth species was perfectly adapted for warmer climates. She could have cried.

"Columbian mammoths," Phil cried. Tears streamed down his face. "They are beautiful. Found across the southern United States all the way down to Costa Rica. These magnificent creatures lasted until 11,000 years ago when like the sloths and so many megafauna climate change decimated their numbers. Human hunting pushed them over the edge. My goodness they are so amazing. I feel so privileged to see them."

The matriarch roared with her mighty trunk in the air. Then she realised they were coming straight towards them. The only thing separating them from the tar pits was the time portal…

"Phil I think you're going to be even more privileged."

Prehistoric Park has just acquired a new herd of residents and just how mighty they are.

"Elephants! Elephants!" Bob shouted almost hysterically in happiness. "Ha ha! Do you guys know the difference between elephants and sloths?"

"Not elephants," Amelia corrected smiling. "Mammoths. Or to be precise Columbian mammoths."

"Mammoths? Mammoths!" Bob cried hysterically. "Actual mammoths!"

The matriarch roared once more as she walked through the corridor in the holding pen. Nobly the mammoth walked her herd away from extinction and into a new world.

As the park settles down the mission comes to a close. After a lengthy amount of time Martha the ground sloth is successfully cleaned up and moved to her new home with her new partner, Cheshire the American cheetah is given plenty of room to hunt away from the envious sabres of Smilodon and the mammoth herd now has the honour of being the earth's largest land animals…for now!

Rescued this chapter:

2 Megalonyx jeffersonii. 1 male, 1 female.

1 American cheetah. 1 female.

13 Columbian mammoths. 12 female, 1 male.

Seen but not rescued:

Giant bison.

Pronghorn (not extinct).

Smilodon fatalis.

Teratornis merriami.

Turkey vulture (not extinct)

Pleistocene coyote

Trivia and note:

1. This is the only request that I'm doing for the foreseeable future. This one was suggested by Jack905 who also requested this mission back when I was doing Extinction World. I did seriously consider doing though each of the other requests and I tried to reference each request in this story/allude to it.

2. The references/allusions to the requesters that I managed to put in. Jack905 is briefly mentioned, Drew asked for Atlas elephants so I put in mammoths, Park Guest asked for a mission for South African animals and the first one he/she mentioned was the Cape lion so that is why Phil mentions a lion mission and, Guest wanted Titanis and he/she mentioned Smilodon so that is why a pack appears.

3. The Smilodon scene was going to contain a new theory that I have read but I felt it may be appropriate for a later date (hint, hint).

4. Camelops were going to appear but not be rescued. I cut that as it felt shoehorned in.

5. Jean mentions a Colette as my way of honouring the other Prehistoric Park inspired world made by Drew. (Sorry I have yet to read it but my real life friend Mortal's Friend told me there was a character called that so I thought best honour what came before me).

Notes: I may do a request mission in the future so please do not be disheartened if I didn't pick yours. With the missions I am not doing a next time at the end. Partially as if I have to cancel the story, which I hope won't happen, it may lessen the frustration and I like to keep you all wondering. Thanks for reading and until next time.