Back in Miocene America, Nigel's group was already on the trail of more animals. Before them were footprints of creatures they'd seen before, as well as some new ones.

"I don't get it," remarked Tai, "why are all these footprints so familiar?"

"Well, we didn't travel too far ahead in time. We're only 3 million years later in time than we were last time. There are a lot of species in this time that we can rescue, so we don't have to jump around too much," remarked Tristan.

"Fair enough," said Alice.

Ahead, they noticed a bird flying in the sky. It resembled a vulture, so maybe something had died up ahead. If so, then they had a chance to rescue a new type of predator.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back at the park, several of the other newcomers are getting settled into the park. For most of these creatures, Bob has decided on a simple housing plan: rather than build a bunch of small exhibits, he'll put them all in a much larger exhibit. This one will hold all of the Miocene herbivores, including the oreodonts, camels and horses.

So far, its working quite well. The herbivores are exploring their new home with great interest.

Besides easing in the transition from past to present, it also gives them a chance to meet some of the other residents, such as their modern cousins. The most obvious one is the meeting between a group of Desmatihippus and their descendants, Equus.

Some of the horses, though, are more interested in a different resident of the park. Nearby is an orange colored, armored animal. From its bony eyelids to its clubbed tail, its clear this is an ankylosaur.

There early horses have met Anky, one of the park's Ankylosaurus magniventris. Anky's colors are a form of sexual display, contrasting the drabber black and yellow of the other sex. Ironically, despite Anky's bright coloration, she is a female ankylosaur.

Bob is watching over this. He's slightly worried for the horses, and for good reason.

"Those ankylosaurs are really asocial. They keep away from everything, even each other. We let them have free reign of the park, because what would attack them? Not even Map, our Mapusaurus, goes anywhere near them."

Luckily, Anky is wiling to play nice. The horses are unable to present any threat to the armored reptile, and she knows this. So, aside from a few angry bellows when the horses get too close for comfort, Anky simply ignores them in favor of eating.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back in the Miocene, Nigel's team has found what they are looking for.

Before them is, yet again, a giant herd of mammals. Many are familiar, but some are new. Among the new ones are what appear to be tapirs.

"Well, looks like we found a mix of what we caught last time," remarked Alice.

"OK, but how do we catch them?" asked Lucas.

"Well," answered Nigel, "I'm not sure yet, but I don't think we can count on what happened last time. Hyaenodon is extinct in North America at this point in time."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ironically, while Nigel is correct about a certain group of carnivores being extinct, there are a group of predators that might be able to help them.

Though, looking down on their prey from 2000 feet in the air, neither party is aware of how they could benefit each other. Not yet.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Anky's colors are based off Saurian's Ankylosaurus, as is her aggressive behavior. As for her being more colorful than laes, which have the WWD color scheme, in several species of birds, the females court the males.

Oh, and three guess as to what the giant flyer that was watching the group is. Just saying this now, though: IT IS NOT ARGENTAVIS. It is in the same family as Argentavis, though.

So, read and review. This is Flameal15k, signing off.