Silently, the Mariner floated into the Devonian seas. The park had set the portal to take the ship to an estuary, so as to maximize the amount of animals that could be rescued. Already, the ROV had been thrown into the waves, where it searched for fish and invertebrates to rescue. So far, though, it had only managed to pick out a few eurypterids from the genus Stylonurus, which had crawled onto the ROV in an attempt to find edible material on or within the machine. The creatures had been swiftly transferred into a holding pen aboard the ship, after which the machine had been cast back under the waves - this time, hopefully, it would find more fish.

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The tiny sharks watched as the strange yellow arthropod fell back into the waves. Though by no means small creatures, in the prehistoric seas of the Devonian, they were not the largest of fish, nor were they apex predators. Indeed, despite what people often believed, sharks were not usually the dominant predators of the sea. They were playing second fiddle to the placoderms at the moment, and in the future, would be second to the marine reptiles and the whales. Now was probably the worst time to be a shark, though, as right now, they weren't even major predators! Future sharks, whilst still needing to look out for larger carnivores, would be the principal hunters of the seas - their hydrodynamic shape and lack of need to breath air meant that they could dominate niches that whales and marine reptiles would never be able to take. For now, though, the small sharks needed to be ever alert - there were many kinds of predators that would gobble them up in an instant. Giant placoderms were the most obvious hunter, but there were also dangers from eurypterids, nautiloids, and even other sharks. For now, at least, the days of shark dominion were a long ways off.

For the moment, though, the marine predators were fixated on something else - the yellow arthropod. Not only had it managed to free itself from the eurypterid's grasp, but it had returned beneath the waves, seemingly uncaring of the dangers it had just faced. That was something wroth examining - such an unexpected escape netted the interest of the sharks, as it meant the arthropod had an never before seen defense mechanism, one which could potentially be dangerous to them. Thus, the early sharks wanted to get a good look at this defense now so that, should more of these arthropods move in, they knew how to escape them...or turn them into lunch.

Cautiously, the sharks advanced on the arthropod, making sure to avoid its vision - not too hard, given that the area around them was filled with algae and coral, amongst them several colonies of Aulopora, a genus now mostly extinct in the Devonian world. The few survivors here, alongside other relic populations, were amongst the last of their kind. Hidden amongst them were a variety of benthic placoderms, many of which were now also advancing on the strange arthropod, sensing a potential meal. Said arthropod was now almost at the sea floor, still looking for food. The poor creature was completely unaware that it was being watched.

At least, it seemed that way.

Without warning, the world suddenly exploded into light. The fish panicked, trying to escape the strange blast of color, but none would evade this technicolor onslaught. One of the sharks managed to get farther than most, be even it was swallowed up by the light.

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When the last Cladoselache was consumed by the portal, the team hastily got to work diving into the depths of the estuary - they had a lot of sessile organisms to rescue now. Only Sean refused to go beneath the waves - he instead focused on gathering up samples from the nearby trees. The ocean wasn't the only source of life here, after all.

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Back in the park, the sauropods were on the march.

Leading the charge were a herd of Camarasaurus, who were on the search for more food to graze upon. They had been joined by a Brontosaurus bachelor herd and a single Brachiosaurus, all of whom desired new food to glut their maws on. The giants had trudged through one of the park's plains, gradually making their way to the western woodlands, where a lake waited for them. As the traveled, the ground around them was pulverized, sending many small animals fleeing for cover.

And that was something Zhao would not hesitate to take advantage of.

The Microaptor swiftly descended upon a mouse exposed by the sauropods' march, knocking over an ornate hawk-eagle as she did so. Fortunatley for the eagle, a second mouse timed its getaway poorly, and was swiftly snagged by the bird of prey. Nearby, other predators were doing the same, though Rascal and his mate were instead taking the opportunity to devour fungi exposed by the footsteps of the giants.

Most successful in this hunt, however, was a male Ornitholestes. Once a predator of juvenile sauropods, his prey had long since grown too large for him to hunt. Fortunately, however, this male had found another creature to fill his stomach with: the agouti. The giant rodents were surprisingly common at the park, and while he'd never been able to devour a black one, right now, he was sinking his teeth in a browner one.

A more surprising guest in this area, however, was Listener. The female Ornith had only recently discovered the giant rodents, but it had been a pleasant and succulent surprise when she had. Already, she was dressing a carcass to return to her tribe. This was a prize well worth the labor needed to bring it down.

Not far away from all of this, the elephant herd was grazing, now joined by the park's Columbian Mammoths. Martha, in particular, was watching the calf with the eyes of a hawk, as was one of her aunts. The carnivores were likely to be uninterested in the calf at the moment, but that could change in an instant. The elephants, after all, were also a source of devastation that lead to easy meals.

For now, though, the calf was safe.

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AN: Just to clear things up, there are two types of agouti in Mexico: the Black Agouti and the Central American Agouti. The Black ones are critically endangered, so the park actually keeps the native ones under constant tabs and has people actively work to keep the carnivorous residents from getting to them. The Central American ones, however, are not only not endangered, but actually experienced a population boom on the island, so the park is actively letting the carnivores feast on them so that, if they ever release certain species back into the wild, they know how to hunt.

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