After bringing Hammond car to the Top Gear garage, the various animals were placed in their new forever homes.
The Dryosaurus herd joined its kind in the Ornithopod savanna.
The Ornitholestes hermanni was placed in a plain with trees to climb in the small theropod section of the park.
The Eutretauranosuchus delfsi was placed in a small woodland pond in the Reptile House.
And finally, the Torvosaurus tanneri was placed in a large enclosure, with rocks it could climb, some trees for shade and plenty of space where it could run.
With the various animals placed in their new homes, the group was ready to depart, surprisingly quickly.
Clarkson: « I would have bet my left ear that Hammond would have NEVER been able to get that Campagnola moving. And yet…he has! »
Hammond: « Turns out the actual damage was nowhere near as bad as we thought. All I had to do was straighten the boot lid, top off the water and the radiator, and that was it. »
Clarkson: « So here we are, proof that you can traverse prehistoric earth with four cars, and all of them will survive. »
Clarkson: With all four cars running well, we headed off to face our toughest challenge. Because Nigel has planned to capture a sauropod.
Nigel: « Sauropods are the largest land animals that ever walked the earth. They had very long necks, long tails, small heads relative to the rest of their body, and four thick, pillar-like legs. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic, and by the Late Jurassic, they had become widespread. Sauropods are one of the most recognizable groups of dinosaurs, and have become a fixture in popular culture due to their impressive size. I know it's going to be risky to bring some to the 21st century, but I cannot pass the opportunity to save these massive giants from extinction. »
Xxxxxxx
As the group passed the time portal, they once again traversed the Morrinson savanna, but this time they were getting near one of the few remaining rivers in the area.
« Right, this looks like a good site. Plenty of water for this season, sauropods will probably need a lot of water, and rivers like these are indispensable for them. » Nigel explained on the radio. « Well I'm sure they'll be easy picking, for a man in a ford. » Clarkson responded confidently. While there were no sauropods, there was a family of Stegosaurus, clearly non bothered by the humans.
« Hello my dear. » Clarkson greeted one of the Stegosaurus. But as they drove, Nigel noticed something on the ground.
Nigel: « Well you certainly don't need an expert tracker to know what these are. They must be sauropod tracks. Which means that sauropods do come here to drink. So if we just wait, we may be able to get a good look at them, and plan something out. »
Nigel then noticed a large conifer, which would have given the group enough shade. « All right, it's very likely sauropods come here to drink, so what I propose is that we park the cars under that conifer and wait for them. » Nigel proposed on the radio. « Well that sounds easy enough. » Clarkson commented.
Xxxxxxx
At the park, it's time for vet Suzanne to give the Placerias her ultrasound scan, to determinate if she's really the Park second mum.
After having isolated the female from the rest of the group, vet Suzanne and her staff were working to make sure that the female Placerias was as calm as possible.
« Okay, let's just put this probe on and see how she goes. » Suzanne said, as she placed the probe on the Placerias belly, which didn't seem too bothered. It also helped that she was fed a lot during the process. « Good girl, that's good. » Suzanne complimented the animal, while it was also massaged. Then, Suzanne finally had a good look at two oviducts.
Suzanne: «All right, it seems she has two oviducts. That's a thing with reptiles, while in some way this Placerias may resemble a mammal, they're still reptiles, they still work in the same way. I think she has five or so eggs inside, when she'll come to lay them, she'll lay them all at the same time like reptiles. It's great news! »
Xxxxxxx
Meanwhile, back in the Jurassic, Nigel and crew are still waiting for the sauropods.
As they wait continued, the group had decided to have lunch. But as they did, they were soon joined by a family of Stegosaurus. Nigel simply smiled at the scene. « They truly aren't afraid of us. They most obviously don't take us as a threat, I mean we're far too small to be one. » Nigel pondered.
One of the Stegosaurus babies walked towards Hammond, inspecting the weird creature that he was. « Oh, hello. » Hammond greeted the creature nervously, as it continued to cling on his leg.
And as the Stegosaurs got more confident, their interactions became even more intimate.
As that happened, Clarkson was just drinking some water from a bottle. He then noticed one of the Stegosaurus was looking at him curious. Shrugging, he offered the bottle to the animal, tilting so that the Stegosaurus could drink out of it. « Well Stegosaurus, in honour of Tesco, I shall name you Tesco 2. » Clarkson told the creature.
With that, it seemed that some sort of connection was made with the animals.
« Right, that's the animal's trust sorted out. I actually nicked that idea from Steve Backshall. I don't think he'd mind, 'cause he never rode a Ford. » Clarkson commented.
Nearby, two other Stegosaurus were present near the river, two males probably, fighting over dominance of the river.
But in the nearby cycads, danger loomed. Two Allosaurus came out of the cycad bush, probably interested in drinking as well. But they were not like the ones first captured by Nigel in his first expedition.
For starters, they were larger, being 9,5 meters long. The colour was also different, them being mostly dark yellow in colour. The nostrils, neck, throat, belly, and legs were light yellow, alongside a large spot on the jaws. They had a dark brown mask in the eyes and two long horizontal stripes on the neck. They also had dark orange stripes and spots on the back and flanks, all with light brown outlining. They had dark yellow stripes on the arms and fingers. They had dark magenta stripes on the tail, the latter three outlining two light yellow spots.
For the most part they did not seem in hunting mode. In this drought, water is scarce, even more than food. Despite all that, the two Stegosaurus looked at them suspiciously.
Under the conifer, Nigel and colleagues observed weary the situation.
Nigel: « These aren't the same Allosaurus we rescued before. These are Allosaurus fragilis, the largest of the Allosaurus species. They are among the most abundant predators here; we aren't sure if they hunted in groups like lions today, but it seems unlikely. Many fossils shows evidence of hostility and even cannibalism among members of the group. But perhaps they could have formed large mobs to take down larger prey. »
As they were drinking, one Allosaurus grabbed a crocodile from the water, swallowing it whole.
Nigel: « Another thing one should know about Allosaurus, it's their jaws. They were designed to open extremely wide. It is believed that they do so to rip off large chunks of flesh from their prey, but I wouldn't exclude the possibility of them swallowing large prey whole. »
But whilst the Allosaurus were here to drink, they were undoubtedly hungry too. One of them attempted to test the Stegosaurus to see if it was possible an attack, but the large herbivore showed no intention of backing off.
Suddenly, however, the scene changed, as giants joined the Stegosaurus near the river. It was six individuals, almost 15 meters long. They had large naris, long forelimbs, and short tails. Their arched heads were remarkably square and the snouts were blunt. The necks were moderately long by sauropod standards. They were grey in colour.
They soon descended on the river, clearly thirsty. Nigel and the group watched in amazement at the huge herbivores, larger than any land animal today.
Nigel: « Here they are, the giants of the Jurassic. These animals right here, they are Camarasaurus grandis, the most common North American sauropods. The name means "chambered lizard", referring to the hollow chambers, known as pleurocoels, in its cervical vertebrae. Camarasaurus was named in 1877 by Edward Drinker Cope, during the period of scientific rivalry between him and Othniel Marsh known as the Bone Wars. Perfect animals for Prehistoric Park. »
The question, however, is how to catch them?
But as the humans tried to work on a plan, the Allosaurus switched targets, from the Stegosaurus, to the Camarasaurus. The two walked slowly towards the large animals, who stomped their ground to show that they weren't welcomed. But as the herd focused on drinking, they failed to notice one of the Allosaurus getting close enough.
With one massive lunge, it charged at one of the Camarasaurus, biting it on the side, ripping a sizeable chunk of flesh off of it. It then wiredrew from the scene, carrying the large piece of flesh, and then started feeding.
With a weak bite, but sharp, serrated teeth, Allosaurus could not crush bones like T-rex. It could, however, rip off large chunks of flesh from living animals, to take "small bites" off of large herbivores to feed on them while they're still alive, and avoid direct confrontation with the giants.
But while the attack was not fatal, it had caused panic in the herd, as the group started to flee.
« C'mon! This is our chance! » Nigel exclaimed, as he got on his car to chase after the Camarasaurus. In full panic, the Stegosaurus had also joined the sauropods in their stampede. The cars, being faster than the herbivores, got in front of the herds. Quickly, Nigel and the crew activated the time portal, with the fleeing dinosaurs charging right in.
Xxxxxxx
Meanwhile, back in the 21st century, Bob is greeted by several giant dinosaurs, all running for their lives. « All right, lads! Lure them in their temporal enclosures! » Bob yelled at some of the staff, who moved some of the walls in the corridor to lure the giants away. Soon, the two herds were separated, just before Nigel and the crew returned.
Clarkson: « And there you are! How to successfully capture a herd of giant dinosaurs, 80 tons of giants. We have made it! »
« You think you could avoid getting animals to always stampede? » Bob complained. « Well, it's not easy to hand capture a sauropod. Causing a stampede like that is the best option to capture them, when we're dealing with giants. » Nigel explained.
« So, what do we have? » Bob then asked. « A herd of sauropods, Camarasaurus grandis, and a family of Stegosaurus, Stegosaurus stenops. » Nigel explained. « I've got a couple of ideas where to put them. » Bob then said, as he planned his next move.
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Prehistoric Park is not my propriety, otherwise I would have continued the series. It belongs to BBC and Impossible Pictures.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please comment so I can learn your opinion. I'm willing to accept suggestions, so stay tuned. Also remember to like and follow. See you on the next chapter.