Here's the penultimate part of Chapter 2

-

With one issue solved, Nigel now needs to focus on another. He's reactivated the time portal, and is once again headed to the Ice Age. This time, though, he's headed back 100,000 thousand years, to the heart of the last Ice Age. back then, the mammoths were at their strongest, and it's here that Nigel hopes to find the food they loved.

Upon exiting the portal via snowmobile, Nigel quickly finds out that he was not mistaken about the prominence of the mammoths. Nearby is a colossal herd of them.

"Well, this is amazing. There's so many mammoths around here, I just can't believe my eyes. This herd, it's mostly compromised of females and calves. Males, they're like bull elephants, they live alone except when they want to mate.

As Nigel watches the herd, he soon notices that they are moving away from something rather quickly. He soon finds the answer.

"There's an old female at the front of the herd, I think she's the alpha. She's ordering them all to move forward. In the back, there's a bull mammoth. He might be in musth, so the alpha wants to avoid making him angry.

As Nigel observes the herd, he soon finds something else worth examining: a herd it f deer. They look like regular deer, except for one difference.

Their antlers are HUGE.

"These are Megaloceras, the Irish Elk. These guys had the biggest antlers of any known deer. There's three males in that group, with nine females. It looks like we've found a herd."

Now, Nigel may be after grasses, but he won't turn down a chance to save another species for the park.

Nigel gets to work setting up the portal. Once he has, he tries to lure the deer toward him. Unfortunately, he has no bait and is forced to try and lure them over with gestures and calls.

At first, all he gets are weird looks.

Then, suddenly, five shapes dart out of the grass toward the herd, which immediately runs for it. Nigel, seeing his chance, activates the portal. In go the elk and their pursuers. Just before the portal closes, seven tiny figures dart through it.

"Well, that was interesting."

-—

In the present, Bob has already divided the elk and their pursuers into spectate pens.

"These creatures are cave lions. I don't think they're normally pack animals, so these ones must have been driven together by hunger. There's two males and three females, and two of the females have two cubs, while one has three."

Normally, males would try to kill Cubs so that the females could begin raising their own. For now, though, the males show no interest in doing so.

-

Back in the ice age, Nigel is already gathering his grass samples. He's chosen to do so from a vantage point that allows him to observe the mammoth herd.

As he watches, he sees that one of the calves has become stuck in the mud of a river bank. The matriarch, sensing the calf's distress, approaches and wraps her trunk around it. With difficulty, she manages to free her charge.

As Nigel is busy admiring her success, though, he soon notices another creature.

Nearby him is another wooly rhino. This one, however, only has one very long horn.

"This is Elasmotherium, the unicorn rhino. This guy might have been the source of unicorn myths."

While rhinos are not known for their sense of sight, their sense of smell works just fine.

And unfortunately for Nigel, the rhino is upwind of him.

The rhino soon notices him. If it's sounds are any indication, it isn't happy.

Worse, Nigel hears a loud trumpeting behind him. The bull mammoth has noticed him.

At the moment, he's trapped between a rock and a hard place. The mammoth is on one side and the rhino on the other, and both look ready to fight.

Fortunately for Nigel, the rhino backs down, giving him the chance to reach his snowmobile and make a break for it. The mammoth pursues, but eventually gives up.

Unfortunately for Nigel, he had to leave behind his clippings. While this is a setback, he's now set his eyes on a much bigger target.

This is his chance to save the Elasmotherium from extinction, but it means using himself as bait.

For Nigel, the risk is worth the reward. He sets up the portal, then dashes toward the clippings. Then, he waits for the rhino to notice him.

The minute it does, he runs, activating the portal. The rhino follows, and both are soon in the park. Nigel quickly tossed aside the clippings and get up the catwalks. From there, he gets the rhino into a hooding pen.

"What have you brought back this time, Nigel?" Inquires an annoyed Bob.

-

At Mammoth Mount, Nigel is offering Martha the clippings.

Unfortunately, it isn't working. Martha still won't eat.

"Do you have any idea why she might not be eating?" Asks Susan.

"I have one. When I was in the Ice Age, I saw herds of mammoths living together. But Martha, she's all on her own. I think she's lonely."

Some animals, like the Elasmotherium, like to live alone. Others, however, need fairly social lives.

Poor Martha is dying of loneliness.

For Nigel and co., there is one last option to save her. But it is very risky.