Hello everyone. I've worked hard on this version of Prehistoric Park and I hope you enjoy. I will start with the canon show, with some changes, before going beyond, rescuing more and more species. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!
In a huge archipelago of the coast of the African country of Kenya, the sounds of construction could be heard. This construction was for something magnificent. Wildlife biologist and adventurer Nigel Marvin had, with some assistance, leased the islands from the government of Kenya to build a wildlife park unlike any other. Nigel himself would travel back into the past and rescue prehistoric creatures from extinction. Then he would bring them here, to Prehistoric Park, to care for them and eventually breed them.
Such an endeavor would prove very expensive, and Nigel had made some concessions when planning out the park. Prehistoric Park would eventually be opened to the public to display and educate people about the animals they rescued, and a film crew would follow Nigel as he rescued the animals from extinction. Nigel had accepted these in exchange for funding.
The lands they had chosen was large and perfect for the prehistoric creatures. They had forests, grasslands, rivers, even waterfalls. They were also not home to anyone else, so Nigel was able to lease the land without displacing anyone. The plan was for the park to span the whole island chain, but for now the largest of the islands would be the only one available to the public, with other islands being opened bit by bit as Nigel brought back more animals.
Today was a big day for everyone in Prehistoric Park. Nigel was planning his first mission, and he was not planning small. Nigel Marvin intended to rescue THE most famous extinct animal that ever lived: Tyrannosaurus rex. He had wanted to do that anyway, but figured future guests would be happy to see such a famous dinosaur.
All over the largest island everyone was busy getting ready, hence all the construction going on. Meanwhile, Nigel was in his den, talking to the film crew about his plan.
"The most widely accepted theory as to why the dinosaurs went extinct was that a meteorite smashed into Earth around here, in the Gulf of Mexico." He explained, pointing to a map of the Earth 66 million years ago. "It threw up a whole bunch of dust and ash, blocked out the sun, wiping out most of life. Now around this time, tons of Tyrannosaurus lived around here, in Montana, and that's where I need to go." Everyone had prepared for this, and so within a couple of hours Nigel was in his jeep at the time portal entrance way.
The portal itself was a large blue circle, large enough for even the largest of animals to enter safely. Nigel was at the front, with everyone else behind him: staff who worked at the park to assist Nigel in his mission as well as the film crew. Other members of the staff had come to see them off, including Bob and Suzanne, the head keeper and head vet respectively. They had known Nigel throughout most of the process needed to make the park and wanted to see him off.
With a signal, Nigel Marvin set off into Late Cretaceous Montana. His crew moved behind him, both excited and nervous about what was to come.
Montana in the Late Cretaceous was very different than it was today. No grass, it hadn't moved beyond India yet. Volcanoes thrown up by the moving of the continents had created ash fields for miles, fields in which Nigel drove his jeep. He had gone off to do some scouting while his crew built base camp. Nigel had found nothing of note outside of a nearby forest he planned to explore.
Once he arrived at base camp, he began to talk to the film crew again for the show.
"I hope I haven't bitten off more than I could chew. Tyrannosaurus is so massive and we have such little time. I saw a forest while scouting, that's where I'll go first and see what I can find." With a plan in motion, Nigel set his crew to the tasks they were assigned to do while Nigel went to find the Tyrannosaurus.
Tyrannosaurus is a massive carnivorous dinosaur, the top predator of its day. Nigel is determined to find one; what he intends to do once he does, no one is exactly sure. Still, after searching the forest for a few hours, Nigel had not found anything of note. But that was about to change.
"Look at this here." He gestured over to some broken plants. "These plants have been broken at the stems, the leaves stripped off. And look. It's hard to see but you can see the outline of a footprint, with the classic three toes of a therapod dinosaur. Now, this isn't an adult Tyrannosaurus, and given the plants I don't even think it's a carnivore, but keep your guard up. We're definitely not alone here anymore."
Nigel's words proved to be prophetic. He stopped the film crew a little later after they all heard some rustling in the forest.
"Okay, be careful. With reptiles, and indeed a lot of animals, you're more likely to hear them then see them, but if we're careful, we might be able to see what's around here." A couple of minutes later, something poked it's head and neck out of the bushes. It was obviously a dinosaur, with blue feathers on its neck and head. Nigel stared at it in wonder.
"I've seen the fossils, this is an Ornithomimus, it means bird mimic, and it is gorgeous. Let's see how close we can get to it." Carefully, Nigel and the crew stepped closer to the Ornithomimus. It stared at them for a bit, then screeched very loudly. Everyone stumbled back at that.
"That went right through me, and look!" Suddenly, many heads of other Ornithomimus were poking out of the bushes, staring curiously at the strange new creatures. "That one must have been the sentry, his call alerted the others. And you can see why they named it bird mimic, they're acting so much like birds. Look at their beaks." Indeed, they had beaks that they were using to strip leaves off of the bushes. "Now, they are obviously herbivores at least, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't turn up their beaks at some insects and small vertebrates."
Nigel and the crew watched the dinosaurs peacefully graze for a few moments. Finally, Nigel spoke again.
"I would love a breeding colony of these at Prehistoric Park. But I need a way to catch them, and I think I know how." As he said this, Nigel took off his shoe and then his sock. He put his shoe back on and held up the sock. "I've done this with ostriches: You hold the sock over the eyes and the dark calms them down. Now, of course, we need to catch one of these guys. And they are fast."
Nigel slowly crept up on the Ornithomimus herd, making sure not to startle them. Finally, he lunged, prompting them to stampede. As the astonished film crew watched and filmed, Nigel caught a nearly grown Ornithomimus. The rest of the herd ran away and Nigel struggled to put the sock over the struggling dinosaur's head. Everyone was so caught up in this they did not hear the roars and movement of something gigantic in the forest.
It wasn't until the herd came back running through did anyone notice something was up. A confused and distracted Nigel ended up losing the Ornithomimus. But that was the least of his worries, as the creatures that scared the herd made their presence known. They hadn't found the Tyrannosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus had found them.
There were three of them, staring at Nigel and the film crew.
"No sudden movements, we don't want them to start attacking." Nigel warned as they slowly backed away. The dinosaurs were snapping at the crew, and seemed ready to attack anyway.
"Forget that, just run! Run!" Nigel ran away first, and the Tyrannosauruses followed him, allowing the film crew to run away as well. The crew followed parallel to Nigel as the dinosaurs ran after him. It seemed as if the pack would overtake Nigel, but the zoologist had an advantage. Tyrannosaurus was top heavy, and if it fell, it would be potentially fatal.
Nigel and the crew ran into the denser forest, where the dinosaurs couldn't follow. The Tyrannosaurus pack could only roar as the humans regrouped in safety.
"Get down." Nigel said to the crew as they knelt down. They watched, safe now, as the pack roared until they finally gave up. "That's good. See, the Rexes are top heavy, they don't like confined spaces, no room to maneuver. They've given up, as you can see." Nigel sighed, then looked at the sky. "They only thing left to do is to make our way back to base camp and hope nothing else finds us."
Nothing did, and the crew made it safely back. The first day had led to no dinosaurs for Nigel, but not everyone was so unsuccessful. While Nigel and the film crew went after the big, charismatic megafauna like the T. rex, the rest of the expedition crew went after smaller creatures to be rescued, and they had been successful in finding them. Among the lizards, snakes, and mammals was an animal that Nigel wanted to focus on.
It was a small yet long otter-like mammal.
"This is Didelphodon. When we first discovered this mammal, we thought it was an egg-eating mammal, like how it was portrayed in Walking with Dinosaurs. As it turns out, it lived more like an otter. Didelphodon shows just how diverse mammals actually were throughout the age of the dinosaurs. They didn't rule, but they found success in their own ways. These guys will be great at Prehistoric Park."
But Nigel and the rest of the crew wanted more than just the small life. They also wanted the big ones. Thankfully, with no sign of the meteorite, they would go looking for the T. rex and other dinosaurs tomorrow, and hopefully find more success.
