There is something missing from our world. The amazing creatures that time has left behind. But what if we could bring them back?
What if extinction didn't have to be forever?
We are going on a safari with a difference as wildlife adventurer Nigel Marven plunges into pre-history 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.
On his third mission, Nigel goes back 120 million years to China, in order to rescue a missing link between dinosaurs and birds.
Welcome to the ultimate wildlife refuge!
Welcome to Prehistoric Park!
Chapter 3- Dino Birds
"Oh god it's gotten worse!" yelled Suzanne.
She was visiting Terrance to see how he was faring.
A week ago, his sister, Matilda, attacked him in his sleep and broke his leg along with giving him a deep gash.
Terrence was still limping, but his leg was healing quickly. Her biggest worry was the gash on his face. She had stitched it up, but they could barely be seen due to the skin being red and inflamed.
"This was what I was worried about, infection.".
Terrence needed antibiotics but Suzanne had been wary about using antibiotics due to the fact that she didn't know the correct amount but now, she has no other choice.
On Isla Muerta, the island where employees live, Bob is chopping down a Deadly Nightshade plant, its oily leaves fell into the bag that held the stems, leaves, and berries of various other dangerous plants. His head was soaked with sweat.
Bob sat down only to jump up again holding his arm. Small trickles of blood ran off two holes in his arm. He looked where his arm was to see a plant with green leaves spread out to reveal blue needles and 3 black appendages. Bob had never seen this type of plant in the three years he's worked on this island. He unrooted it and put it in the bag.
Back on Isla Nublar, Nigel was feeding his parrot, Patrick.
"Patrick hasn't been as active as he used to be, and I think I know why. I'm almost never here nowadays so he must get lonely and in the wild, they're always in flocks so I'm thinking of getting Patrick some very unusual friends.".
Nigel walked over to his desk and pulled out a paper of a small, chicken-sized, feathered, dinosaur.
"This is Microraptor, they lived in China 120 million years ago. I'm heading to the Jiufotang Formation where the first Microraptor fossils were discovered.".
As Nigel got ready for his adventure Bob visited Gretchen, the park's paleobotanist.
"I don't believe this Bob you have just discovered an extinct type of carnivorous plant called Saxonipollis. You've gotta take me to where you found this and tell your construction workers to start on that greenhouse of mine," she said.
At the holding pens, Nigel was ready to go on his mission. His team was also ready.
They walked through the portal to be greeted with a pristine lake and a volcano surrounded by thick forest hiding the sun.
"Alright everyone the sun seems to be setting and this lake is probably the safest place for miles so set up your tents and meet up at the shore.".
Once Nigel had set up his tent and cot he walked over to the shore. The shore was lined with shells and bones of past eaten fish. Jim suddenly appeared over the crest.
"Hi Nigel, how are you?".
"Oh, I'm fine thanks," replied Nigel.
As they sat on the shore Nigel noticed something flying overhead. It was about a meter long with a crest that looked almost like a shark fin.
"Crazy! It's Sinopterus, you can tell because of its unique crest!" Jim exclaimed.
Just then Katrina, Ted, and Newt all came walking down the hill. "Sorry we took so long we had to help Ted set his new tent up." snickered Katrina, Ted never replied.
As the Sinopterus flew out of sight and the sun went down Nigel got ready to tell everyone his idea. But he was interrupted by a loud screech from camp.
They all raced to their campsite only to reveal shredded tents, strewn about containers, and drops of meat everywhere.
"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Jim.
Nigel couldn't believe it either. Tracks led in and out of camp.
"Alright everyone we need to clean this up and head to bed. Ted gather all the food and put it in my tent," ordered Nigel.
As everyone spread out Nigel got a good look at the tracks. They were theropod tracks almost 3 feet long and Nigel knew that there was only one species of theropod that big in this region.
"Thank god these are only infant tracks!" whispered Nigel.
Even though he whispered Katrina could hear him. "Of what?" she asked with a concerned expression.
Nigel knew he had to tell them now. "These tracks, the mess, they were made by juvenile Sinotyrannus," explained Nigel. Jim, Ted, and Newt had gathered around to see what Nigel was talking about. "Those are the biggest predators in this area!" one of them yelled.
"Sinotyrannus is the Jiufotang Formation's version of Hell Creek's T-Rex!", Newt made the comparison.
Nigel wanted this to be a secret for a reason. Katrina and Ted were freaking out and Newt and Jim were trying to calm them down.
Eventually, night fully came, and everyone went to sleep, everyone except Nigel.
Nigel planned on going on a late-night walk to see if any Microraptor dared to dash for water under the cover of darkness. Nigel was halfway around the lake when he saw his first signs of animal life.
Bushes started to rustle and what came out were of nothing Nigel had ever seen before. They were bipedal dinosaurs the size of sheep with a beak and spikes on the end of their tails, some longer than others. in the dark, Nigel couldn't see any markings but he knew what they were.
"Wow! Psittacosaurus!" whispered Nigel.
The biggest noticed Nigel but did nothing. He led his herd down to the water's edge. They seemed so peaceful drinking the freezing water. They were about to leave when a large form came jumping out of the water and grabbed one of the unsuspecting dinos.
The rest of the herd ran straight towards Nigel and he saw this as an opportunity. He grabbed the portal sticks and placed them. He had just placed the second one when the herd reached him. He turned the portal on. The herbivores took no notice of the flash of bright colors. They were too frightened to turn, and ran through. Once the last one ran through Nigel closed the portal and looked out to the lake to see a collection of blood floating by the shore.
Nigel never saw what killed the unlucky Psittacosaurus, or any other dinosaurs for that matter. Nigel was just glad to be in his bed, but it felt like only a minute before the sun rose and Jim came to wake Nigel.
As everyone collected what they'd need for their long hike Nigel hoped that whatever killed the little Ceratopsid last night would reappear.
"If it was a reptile it would have to come ashore for warmth but if it's some sort of big fish that he didn't know of..." Before Nigel could finish his thought, Newt interrupted him.
"Nigel everyone's set." Nigel grabbed his bag and ran over the hill. If only Nigel waited a little longer than he would have seen a back break the surface of the water.
Once Nigel caught up with the team he led them into the forest. As they followed a trail they heard chirps from small bird-like dinosaurs and howls from big dinosaurs. All this noise startled Ted and he hid behind Katrina.
"Oh, you're such a baby!" exclaimed Katrina.
Nigel just kept going. He had walked for almost half an hour before the first signs of life came into view.
They were very bizarre creatures. They stood almost a meter tall with their head and tail feathers being black, blue arm feathers, a light brown underbelly, and the rest was covered in cocoa brown proto-feathers. But the most unusual feature about this dinosaur is its teeth. The front top two teeth were buckteeth.
"What! These are Incisivosaurus, they were supposed to have gone extinct 6 million years ago!" said Newt.
Nigel was impressed, few people knew about Incisivosaurus even though they had funny features.
"Yes, these could be the very last pair in the world!" added Nigel. Just then three miniature versions of the pair.
"I don't believe it," whispered Katrina.
Even though they were only about a fifth of their parent's size their buck teeth were starting to become clear. Nigel knew that he couldn't leave these creatures here to die so he pulled out his portal sticks and told Jim to pull out his recorder where he had calls from all the creatures at Prehistoric Park including T-Rex.
Jim snuck around and set the T-Rex call on just as the portal flared to life. The call of a predator sparked fear in the Incisivosaurus and the adults ran away into the portal closely followed by their children.
Just as Jim turned the recorder off he had a realization. He ran over to Nigel and told him.
"Nigel what if that call attracts other tyrannosaurs?" he asked shakingly.
"I doubt those juveniles would dare come," reassured Nigel.
As night came for the second time they walked to the beach only to see a large form drinking from the water.
"I don't believe it, it's a juvenile Borealosaurus!" exclaimed Newt.
Suddenly, another large form, this one more of a fish than a reptile, came flying out of the water and dragged the poor sauropod down with it. All the team could do was gawk at the sight. Everyone's jaws dropped.
That night everyone was worried that the beast of the water would come and eat them, even though they know it was a fish.
As the sun rose above the tree line the team awoke to a deadly surprise.
"Everyone up and running NOW!" yelled Nigel.
Everyone woke up and were dragged to a hill.
"What's going on?" asked Ted.
"The volcano is about to erupt." answered Nigel.
Just as he said that a huge explosion could be heard from the West!
Prehistoric China was very volcanic, and all the explosions led to ash avalanches which helped to preserve small animals such as the Microraptor.
The explosion only lasted a second but what followed was worse. Huge balls of rock and fire came hurling into the surrounding forest, pummeling the poor animals in their wake. Those who weren't crushed by the rocks were burned by the many forest fires. This apocalypse happened all day and by the time it ended almost all the forest was gone.
Skeletons littered the ground. As the team walked back to their camp they had to avoid small patches of surviving fire and jagged bones.
Once they had cleared the downed forest they had to pick up the remains of their camp. Shreds of tent fabric and bits of glass were the only proof that a camp was once here. But the most surprising thing was the huge whale-like creature lying dead on the beach.
"I don't believe it, I don't remember this creature from my books," said Jim.
"That's because it's never been discovered!" replied Nigel.
"What should we call it?" said Katrina, while taking a picture of it for proof.
"I don't know," answered Nigel.
Once the team had finished taking pictures, getting blood samples, and scraping scales they headed off into the decimated forest.
They had walked for almost two hours before they found their first survivors.
"Nigel look, down there." pointed Newt.
Nigel followed the finger to a small canyon. And in that canyon were dinosaurs big and small. As the team walked down they had to avoid being stepped on by some familiar sauropods.
"Wow it's a herd of Borealosaurus!" exclaimed Jim. He had a soft spot for sauropods.
All the Borealosaurus had cuts, burns, and/or bruises from either fireballs or debris.
As they looked for their Microraptor they saw many dinosaurs. They saw small mammals racing around the feet of the bigger reptiles. Pterosaurs perched on bigger dinosaurs' backs.
"Hey Nigel, I caught a Microraptor!" yelled a voice behind them. The sudden loud noise spooked some cretaceous denizens in the vicinity.
Nigel looked back to see Ted holding a bird-like dinosaur with brown feathers and two long, red tails.
"That's not a Microraptor, that's a Confuciusornis." corrected Nigel. Suddenly the proud look on Ted's face turned into a disappointed one.
"Don't worry, those are Microraptor!" yelled Newt. Nigel followed Newt's finger to the way they and the Borealosaurus herd entered. Where the herd passed were huge crater-like footprints and in those footprints were more little dinosaurs.
It seemed that the Microraptor were eating insects that the sauropods churned up. They were too far away for Nigel to see their coloring, but he knew they were Microraptor. Nigel grabbed a net gun from his backpack and slowly proceeded.
He was eventually able to make out colors. They had more feathers than Confuciusornis. Their wing feathers were a light brown while the tail was three-striped, bluish-gray, brown, and black. The rest of their bodies were made up of the same bluish-grey.
Nigel fired a net. In his first net were three Microraptor. Again, and again he fired until he had 8 little dinosaurs in pet carriers.
Nigel was about to set up the portal when Katrina screamed.
Everyone looked back to see two small tyrannosaurs' attacking the Borealosaurus herd.
They were 2 meters tall and 5 meters long at the tail. They had black splotches all over their backs while the rest of their bodies were a mixture of brown and red except their underbelly which was white. They also had the first signs of crests on their heads.
The smaller one, probably the male lunged for a young Borealosaurus' neck, thankfully missing.
As the two juveniles jumped for their necks, the sauropods tried to bat at the little nuisances with their long tails while keeping their necks out of reach. Once the duo tired themselves out on the big prey they tried on something smaller. With all the commotion all the dinosaurs in the valley had consequently runoff. Seeing only one option they charged, right for Nigel's team!
Back in Prehistoric Park, Bob was transporting the designated dinosaurs to Isla Muerta.
"Easy, easy! We are finally able to release the Edmontosaurus herd into the island. And to keep them company we are going to add the Thescelosaurus and Ankylosaurus. Plus, with all the empty space we'll be able to expand Ceratopsid Creek" explained Bob.
The last of the crates landed next to three other crates. On each crate was an employee waiting to open the door.
"Now!" Bob shouted.
On cue, the employees opened the crates. At first, nothing came out until one head and then another and then another.
The Edmontosaurus were first to exit. Seeing that it was safe the Thescelosaurus flocked out soon followed by the Ankylosaurus.
As the dinosaurs searched their new home, Gretchen was observing the newly built greenhouse. The greenhouse was split into three sections, dry and arid, moist, and temperate humidity. The moist section was filled with endangered plants plus the newly discovered Saxonipollis. But Gretchen wasn't there for the beauty but for a different reason.
"Right now, I'm checking the soil and humidity. It seems that everything in here is okay. Now I just have to release the fruit flies for the flytrap species." Once Gretchen did that she left the plants to devour their flies.
In Suzanne's clinic, Terrence has had his antibiotics and is now making a mess of the place. Outside Suzanne is loading her tranquilizer gun.
"I was worried about using too many antibiotics because I didn't know how his system would react. It seems he's doing just fine and he woke up before I thought he would." just then a large dent, the shape of a huge tail, was formed in the gate. Suzanne looked at the camera with a face full of annoyance.
Back in Prehistoric China, Nigel and his team are facing off against a pair of tyrannical teens.
"Jim, play the T-Rex call!" Nigel ordered
Jim listened and quickly scrolled to T-Rex and played it. The sounds of Jane caused the pair of Sinotyranus to pause for a moment, giving Nigel enough time to set up the portal.
Once the pair finished making sure that no predators were around they ran at Nigel not realizing that there was a time portal between.
"That was close!" panted Nigel.
"Alright, let's get theā¦" Nigel was interrupted by a loud bang.
The team looked over to see that the volcano had erupted again, this time worse.
Molten lava had already made it to the forest and black smoke was already upon them.
"Everybody put your masks on," ordered Nigel.
The only dinosaurs in the valley, the Borealosaurus herd, were panicking and slowly stampeding towards the portal.
Thankfully the entire team and Microraptors had made it through the portal and up the ladder by the time the sauropod herd slowly ran through.
Bob was on the viewing deck reading a magazine when the huge forms made their way through.
"WHAT THE?".
The leader of the herd smashed through the walls at the end of the holding corridor and walked off.
"NIGEL!" yelled Bob.
It seemed that the thought of caring for creatures the size of about 10 elephants has hit him.
Bob stomped over to the team.
Just as he reached them Jim and Newt grabbed the Microraptor and walked off to the newly built Jiufotang Formation.
"Now Bob, before you kill me, let me explain.".
"You have a lot of explaining to do!" Bob's face was becoming very red now.
Thankfully after explaining the situation Bob decided that it was okay and that he wouldn't kill Nigel today.
After all the animals had investigated their new homes Nigel went and looked around.
First, he drove to Borealosaurus Branch.
"Bob has planted some trees and rocks that sauropods like so that they'll stay in their "home" but let's see how that'll work out," explained Nigel.
The group of paddocks that made up the Jiufotang Formation was located in the temperate forest area of the island.
Eventually, Nigel finally reached the first paddock which held the juvenile Sinotyrannus. Sadly, they were nowhere to be found.
Soon, he came to the big aviary which held the rest of the rescued dinosaurs. As Nigel parked his jeep and walked in he was blasted with humidity.
As he was walking around he found the family of Incisivosaurus walking around a small grove. The huge trees almost completely covered the sky and the technicians had to put windows on the sides.
Eventually, he came to a bench where Ted was sitting with the Confusicornis.
"Oh, hi Nigel." he welcomed.
Above them, a Microraptor glided into a makeshift nest. The calls of the rest of the flock including Patrick called around the aviary.
Nigel heard rustling and the Confusicornis flew away. What came out was the remaining Psittacosaurus.
"Oh, it's just them," Nigel said.
"Yeah, well they scared Mimic away." pouted Ted. Nigel inferred that that was the Confuciusornis' name.
As the sun fell, employees finished off their jobs and Suzanne was just making sure that Terrance was comfortable. Ever since Terrance received antibiotics he had made huge progress. The infection had receded, and he was able to eat without pain. In a few days he will be able to go back to a proper paddock but not his family's.
On Isla Muerta Bob is inspecting the new inhabitants.
The Edmontosaurus and Thescelosaurus had become symbiotic partners. The small ornithopods were eating the remains of the bigger hadrosaurs' meal while the Thescelosaurus helped with keeping flies and ticks off of the Edmontosaurus.
The Ankylosaurus rarely left his ditch.
In the greenhouse, Gretchen was enjoying the beautiful foliage as the sun cast a beautiful mirage of colors. Prehistoric Park was once again peaceful, only to have the peace be broken once Nigel decides he's ready for a mission again.
Next Time on Prehistoric Park
Nigel goes back to rescue the top predators of prehistoric South America.
A giant bird eats meat and a feline with huge incisors roared into the distance
But finds a world of weird.
An antelope creature with a proboscis and huge pig-like creature wade in a pond.
And in Prehistoric Park, they get their first pregnancy
A Triceratops lay on a blanket on the ground.
All next time on Prehistoric Park!
Creatures rescued:
8 Microraptor (4 males 4 females)
5 Incisivosaurus (3 males 2 females)
8 Psittacosaurus (2 males 6 females)
9 Borealosaurus (1 male 8 females)
1 Confuciusornis (1 male)
2 Sinotyrannus (1 male 1 female)
57 Saxonipollis (unknown gender)
Hey guys Cowpie here, a few things to know about this chapter:
It is up to you if the Sinotyrannus has feathers or not, just like the T-Rex
Do you guys want me to add hints of Jurassic Park into this story, if so tell me in the comments
If you guys have any comments, complaints, or ideas feel free to share them in the comments!
Have a good day!
