Chapter 5 - Oozing From the Pit
Drew Luczynski and Alice Denham were sitting in Drew's office, waiting for Leon Gilbertson to arrive. Drew was checking his watch and tutting, whilst Alice flicked absent-mindedly through the info-packs, saying monotonously, "He said he'd be here around about now." Suddenly, a voice said, "I'm here". He turned to see Leon walking towards him. "Where were you?", Drew asked, "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago". In response, he shrugged and replied, "I was busy; that was all. Anyway, what are we going after?"
"We're going back to Pleistocene California, after a creature you should both be familiar with", Drew smiled and pulled out a picture of a large cat; it was immediately recognisable to Leon and Alice, Drew smiled at them before continuing, "Smilodon fatalis, the more famous species." Leon looked at Drew, "Thank you for letting me come this time." Drew looked around the room, "Don't mention it. Anyway, let's get heading off!"
They walked to the portal site and got in the Jeep; Drew got in the driver's seat, Leon in the passenger seat and Alice in the back. An employee entered the co-ordinates into the portal and the portal whirred into life. The Jeep drove through, ready to bring back the deadliest mammal predator…
. . . . .
As the blinding light from the portal died down, Alice couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the landscape around her. "Geez, deja vu," she said out loud – it reminded her of Santa Cruz, several million years and six thousand miles away.
"Yeah, not much really changes," Drew agreed. "I'll take your word for it," Leon muttered.
Drew chuckled, and rubbed his hands anticipatorily. "I wonder what we'll see first," he stated, more to himself than to his teammates.
The sound of a low, bellowing snort split the air from somewhere ahead, and the entire trio directed their gaze in the direction. The team went rigid – they'd all heard this noise over the course of the last two weeks. "Sounds like we've got some ground sloths up ahead," Leon pointed out.
"Well that's as good of a start as any," said Drew, smile still on his face. "Let's get a move on!"
The trio did exactly that, and eventually came to a stop outside of a small circle of barren trees. And within the center of the area surrounded by these trees were four giant ground sloths. At six feet tall, they were slightly shorter than the glossotherium at the park and had dark chocolate brown fur. At that moment, all four of them were either digging in the earth or eating the last leaves from the denuded trees.
Leon pointed his finger at the four sloths. "Judging by their size," he explained, "those are Megalonyx or the Jefferson's ground sloth. And right now, my best guess is they're digging for food."
Alice couldn't help but nod her head, a small look of approval on her face. "If they're hungry and haven't found anything to eat yet, then that should make it relatively easy for us to lure them into the portal."
"Read my mind," Drew agreed. He looked to his two companions. "Let's see if we can find some twigs and fallen branches with leaves on them for these sloths to eat. Right now, I get the feeling that an offering like that." He then pointed at the broadcasting device in Leon's hands. "Plus a round or so of the appropriate recordings from that device, should be enough to get their attention and attract them into coming to us and going through the portal."
Once the trio had managed to find and gather up a sufficient number of appropriate plant matter for the sloths to consider a worthy treat, they returned to the circle of trees, with Drew and Alice holding a sizable bundle of twigs and fallen branches each in their arms while Leon had the broadcasting device primed and ready to emit a recording of one of the giant ground sloth vocalizations. So far, the plan was simple- Leon would get the sloths' attention by playing glossotherium vocalisations, with Alice and Drew further gaining their attention by offering the food. So far, the sloths were still patiently digging around, still oblivious to the presence of the three humans. Drew nodded his head, looked to Leon, and gave his friend a thumbs up. Leon nodded, and pressed the 'play' button on the broadcasting device. Seconds later, the sound of the bellows and snorts made by the giant ground sloths already at the park started playing.
The four megalonyx paused, letting out snorts and grunts, before looking in the direction the noise had come from and paused in confusion at the sight of the three humans standing nearby. Then they noticed the branches and twigs, at which point they started to slowly shamble over to Drew and Alice, wary, but with hunger outweighing caution. The instant all four sloths were thoroughly engrossed in eating from the branches and twigs on offer, Drew whipped out his portal remote and summoned the portal. The four sloths lifted their heads away from the plants, staring at the portal, completely transfixed. Then Alice got their attention back on the plants, which she subsequently sent through the portal. The four sloths slowly shambled their way through the portal after the food. Once the sloths had vanished through the portal, the brilliant bright vortex of light closed. Drew flashed a thumbs up to his teammates. "We're off to a good start."
The sound of a low, purring growl and a shrill squeal attracted the trio's attention before Leon and Alice even had a chance to respond to Drew's latest comment. The team leader's smile widened. "And it looks like things are already about to get even better." He started marching his way over towards where the noises were coming from. "Let's get a move on."
Alice briefly shook her head. "He doesn't slow down, does he?"
"That's Drew for you."
Alice rolled her eyes. "Well we'd best not keep him waiting." She and Leon followed after Drew.
After about five minutes, the trio came across the source of the noises - a small pack of sabre-toothed cats with lynx-coloured fur stalking a herd of tapirs. The leader of the cats snarled, teeth bared and ready to pounce, whilst the tapirs stamped their feet and squealed at the carnivores.
"The cats are homotherium," Leon stated, "better known as the scimitar cat. And they're currently hunting a herd of California tapir."
Alice looked to Drew. "What's the plan?"
Drew chuckled. "First we'll take care of the cats and, once they're out of the way, we'll move on to the tapirs." He looked to Leon. "Recording?"
Leon nodded, already getting the broadcasting device primed. "Let's do this."
The seven homotherium preparing to lunge at one of them when the sound of another roar split the air from behind them. The cats tensed up, alerted and confused, and then looked behind them in time to see a human holding a strange object in its hands before it abruptly started running. Their chase instincts triggered, the cats turned around and rushed after Leon, exactly as planned. Once Leon run right between the nearby waiting Drew and Alice when Drew activated the portal in time for the homotherium to come rushing right through, moving as if a single entity. Once the seven cats were gone, the portal was closed and the trio headed over to where the tapirs had been.
At that moment, the small group of California tapirs, two of which were young calves, were now staring inquisitively at the three humans, curious at both their presence and why the homotherium were now suddenly gone. The tapirs let out sliding squeals of lower frequency and shorter duration than the ones before. Alice, who'd worked with tapirs before, recognised those sounds, "They make those sounds when communicating with each other," she explained. "They're curious about us."
"Well in that case," Drew said, pulling out some leaves, berries, and shoots from nearby bushes. "Let's make our move."
Leaving a trail of food, they waited for the leader of the herd to approach the trail, sniff at it tentatively, and start eating, before it indicated to the rest of the herd that the food was safe to eat, at which point the rest of the herd joined in. The trio patiently waited as the tapirs gingerly ate their way through the trail, waiting until the herd was close enough to the end of the trail before opening the portal. After the tapirs had briefly reared back in confusion and slight nerves at the vortex of light, Alice got out from behind the portal, lifted the food at the trail's end and threw it through the portal. One by one, the herd all plodded along through the portal and into the present.
Once the portal was closed, Leon and Alice looked to Drew. "Now what?" Leon asked.
Drew thought to himself, scanning the area. "Right now," he carefully stated, "I think we should split up – we can cover a little extra ground."
Leon thought to himself, and then nodded his head. "I suppose that makes sense."
"In that case," Alice stated, "how should we proceed?"
"Leon can come with me going that way," Drew stated while pointing towards the left. "You can head that way," he then finished while pointing to the right.
"In that case," Leon said while drawing out what appeared to be some sort of small audio player device and handing it to Alice. "This could be useful – I had the animal vocalizations recorded on this as a failsafe. Take this with you – in case you need it."
" I'll keep this in mind," Alice stated as she slipped the device into a pocket in her knapsack. "Best of luck, guys."
Her two companions agreed, and the trio split up.
. . . . .
Back at the park, Tina Cheng couldn't help but smile, dark eyes agleam, as she watched Raul and Carlos feast upon what looked like the carcass of a large deer. The carcass was, really, a specially designed fiberglass dummy, something she herself had suggested for the mammal predators, based on something she had read in a Hal Markowitz book. Designed to look like a stag, Raul and Carlos would knock the dummy down and, when one of them clenched their jaw around the stag dummy's throat, a pressure pad within the dummy's neck would be activated, causing the upward facing side of the 'carcass' to open up and reveal a hidden compartment filled with specially prepared 'meatballs' for the brothers to eat.
She nodded her head as she watched the two sabre-toothed cats ravenously feast upon the meatballs. Even now, she remembered just how excited she'd been when she found out that Smilodon was the target, a week before – she'd begged Kyle to allow her to work at the holding pens that day. Aside from the fact that Smilodon was a personal favourite of hers, she'd never felt happier to finally get to work with the animals she was used to working with – this was what their division had been waiting for.
For a brief moment, her smile faltered. From a young age, she and her sister had never really got on, with the mild-mannered and soft-spoken Cass and the outspoken and prideful Tina clashing. Their parents had only made things worse by openly encouraging the divide between them. To this day, there was still tension between the two sisters – they loved each other, but there was still that rivalry, compounded by the fact that Cass had managed to start work in her area of expertise (well, what were ornithiscian dinosaurs other than reptilian hoofstock?) almost immediately while she'd had to wait several weeks before she could start in hers hadn't helped.
She shook her head side to side. Now was not the time to dwell on her and Cass's troubled dynamics, especially not while she was working. Working with incredibly dangerous animals, you needed to keep yourself focused - complacency got you killed. She needed only look at the sheer ferocity by which Carlos and Raul had gotten the meat to understand just what they were capable of. Immediately after this, she remembered that she still needed to check up on Broken Fang and his pride and then the arctotherium. As she left, her grin returned at the idea of how today's mission would see more mammal predators joining the park's roster. Aside from more Smilodon, she couldn't wait to see what she'd be working with.
At the same time Tina was still busy watching Carlos and Raul, young hoofstock keeper Horace Northup was observing the ground sloths, peacefully browsing. Over the past week, Horace had noticed that, one of the male megatherium, who had been named Sid, had gained a habit of shaking the branches in order to get more leaves. The six glossotherium were feeding nearby.
The young Nigerian born keeper nodded to himself, a smile on his face as he watched the sloths go about their business. He had to admit, times like these certainly made it easier to understand why some considered hoofstock easy to look after. He frowned briefly and sighed – the staff didn't view the work of the hoofstock keepers in much regard. He was aware how people (even administrators) viewed hoofstock keepers – good for feeding and shovelling dung, but generally no different than farmhands. It was exasperating to be completely honest. To make matters worse, the most glamourous animals – the notiomastodon – were only under care of the hoofstock division because it was all one enclosure.
He took a brief look behind him. "At the very least," he thought to himself. "I shouldn't be meeting any security people today.". Part of him felt bad for feeling the way he did about the security division – their work was very important for the safety of everyone at the park, human and animal alike and a few were quite nice. However, Nikolai, the head of the division, intimidated him greatly – and it was clear that Kyle hated his guts, a feeling that was mutual. And Nikolai's number two, Colette, with her icy and unfriendly demeanour, honestly seemed like a bitch.
He shook his head furiously to clear his thoughts. "Forget about that," he whispered under his breath. "They're inspecting the paddocks for the big theropods today. Besides, you need to focus on your work right now."
At the sound of grunting and snorting, he turned his head in time to see that the doedicurus were now feeding nearby. As he observed, he couldn't help but notice one of the males, named Dermot, was there. At the sight of this, Horace smiled – he was rather fond of those animals, and had gained an affinity with Dermot in particular.
Then he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned his head in time to see a young Vietnamese woman about the same age as him sitting down on a nearby bench. He recognized this keeper. This was Cassandra Cheng, one of the ornithischian keepers. He'd seen her several times around the park and had worked alongside her older sister Tina at the holding pens for the previous week's mission. He let a small smile come to his face – most of the ornithischian division had been recruited from the ranks of hoofstock keepers, so there was common ground – besides, Cass seemed to be a very pleasant person overall. Maybe he could have a chat. "Certainly worth a try," he thought, before glancing back at the sloths and glyptodonts and slowly making his way over to her.
. . . . .
Meanwhile in Pleistocene California, Alice was standing behind a large boulder, as she took a break from her patient efforts at searching for animals to rescue. For the past hour, she'd only found something small, which she'd sent back to the park (and made a mental reminder to tell Adrian about) – however, her luck was about to change.
She tensed up upon hearing what sounded like panting coming from somewhere ahead. Moving carefully and quietly as possible, she looked out from behind the boulder in time to see a cheetah practically dragging itself into the clearing. From its appearance, she guessed this was an American cheetah – despite the name, it was only distantly related, the similarities being due to convergence.
Alice noticed that the cat was standing on uneasy legs before, suddenly, with a final wheezing hiss, it collapsed onto its right side, too weak to move. Looking closer, Alice saw a bleeding scratch wound down its right flank. At the sight of this, her heart sank. "Poor thing," she thought to herself, saddened to see this creature in pain – however, she was also curious as to what could have inflicted the wound. Her thoughts were interrupted by a low squawk coming from the sky above the cheetah. At once, she and the cheetah both looked up towards the sky, the latter hissing weakly at the sight of a pair of birds flying towards her. Alice also couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the new arrivals. The two birds resembled gigantic California condors, only with dark-brown feathers rather than black, with bare heads and necks. Based on their size, they were likely teratornis – the largest bird in the area.
As she continued to watch, the teratornis came to a landing, looming over the cat like undertakers. The downed American cheetah hissed, gritting its teeth in a silent snarl at the sight of the large birds. The two vultures advanced towards the cat, hissing in anticipation. The cheetah hissed, snarled, and swung her front paws weakly – however, the teratorns advanced, unbowed, a hungry look of triumph in their yellow eyes and hissing in anticipation.
Luckily for the American cheetah, Alice was already carefully making her way out from behind her hiding place. "Oh no you don't," she whispered as she then slowly made her way towards the scene, drawing out the audio player Leon had given her as well as a megaphone. Careful not to make any noise, she attached the megaphone to the audio player, picked the sound of a lion's roar, and set the machine to maximum volume before placing it down by her feet in the tall grass at least six feet away from where the cheetah and two teratornis were positioned. With the device at the ready, she carefully made her way around the two scavengers and their would-be prize in a half circle, making sure to keep her eyes on the scene. Thankfully for the cheetah, the birds were still in the mood to draw things out a little bit longer long enough for Alice to get into position directly in the area opposite. From there, she drew out the portal remote and the remote for the audio player, pointing the latter device towards where she'd set up the audio player, noticing now that the teratornis were getting closer. She had to act now. "This had better work," she whispered to herself before then pressing the appropriate button she needed for her plan.
A second later, the sound of a lion's roar abruptly burst out from the tall grass right behind the American cheetah. The two teratornis went rigid in shock, squawking in surprise and fright at this unexpected noise. Alice caused the recording to go off a second time, which caused the birds to scan the air nervously – an American lion was an intimidating prospect. Fortunately for Alice, they were disoriented enough to allow Alice to send them through the portal. Once the teratorns were gone, Alice shut off the portal and started to carefully make her way towards the American cheetah, still on alert from the roar.
The cat turned its head as Alice approached, at which point it hissed in suspicion tensing in fear. Instead, Alice cautiously extended her hand towards the injured cat, looking concerned. "It's ok," she said in a soothing voice. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Everything's gonna be alright." The American cheetah tensed further as Alice moved closer. After a few minutes, the cat relaxed, allowing Alice to place her hand on its forehead. "Easy there," Alice said soothingly as the cheetah grumbled softly at the touch. "Just relax. Everything will be alright." As she said this, the cheetah calmed down further, and Alice carefully drew out her communicator and began to call Linda. She had a feeling that Linda was going to have a new patient.
. . . . .
Whilst this was happening, Drew and Leon had managed to come across six American cheetah confronting four bears near the remains of a dead mammoth. The bears resembled the arctotherium back at the park – only slightly smaller and with brown fur as opposed to the arctotherium's black.
"Something tells me these cheetahs aren't going to win this one," Leon stated. "After all, the arctodus have the advantage."
"Then we'd best get working," said Drew, already drawing out his portal remote. "Because that way, we can get two species for the price of one."
Sure enough, as a bear stood on its hind legs and roared threateningly at the American cheetahs, the cats turned around, hissing in defeat, and started running straight towards Leon and Drew's location, as Drew summoned the portal to allow them to run through the portal.
They had barely time to catch their breath when, suddenly, one of the bears came charging towards the portal itself with a roar. The other arctodus came following close behind; within seconds, all the bears had vanished through the portal as well. Drew closed the portal the instant all the predators had gone through. "That worked even better than I thought."
"I'll say," Leon agreed.
At the sound of avian squawking, the two boys looked up and at the carcass to see seventeen Egyptian vulture-like birds descending down from the sky to feast on the abandoned mammoth carcass. They resembled Egyptian vultures, covered in white feathers, grading to grey on their wingtips. Their bald heads were all yellowish, although one of the females had a burn on the left side of her head.
As they watched the feasting birds, Leon and Drew nodded their heads, clearly happy at the sight of yet another potential rescue opportunity. "My best guess?" Leon stated while subtly pointing towards the flock. "Those are neophrontops." He looked to Drew. "I'm guessing now's a good time?"
"Read my mind."
Quietly, Drew pulled out a whistle and blew it, to which the vultures tensed up, turned their heads and narrowed their amber eyes at the two humans. The female with the partially burned face shrieked viciously and spread her wings out to intimidate the two strange creatures before her, her brethren joining in the display. And when this didn't work, the entire flock started rushing towards the duo while shrieking and squawking threateningly... and all ended up rushing through the portal.
Once all of the neophrontops had vanished through to the present, Drew closed the portal and nodded at Leon. "Let's see if we can meet back up with Alice." He looked up towards the sky, noting how the sun seemed to be slowly starting its path down towards beneath the horizon. "It will be probably getting late around here soon."
"No argument from me," Leon agreed.
. . . . .
Seven people stood by the meeting area. He recognised Collete, but the others, five men and one woman, all wearing identical uniforms, were unknown to him. They all had the angular features and ruddy skin of athletes and there was a certain poise about them that Jack found himself envying. He wasn't unfit per se – he wasn't in good shape as some, but he didn't consider himself out of shape in any way. Compared to these newcomers, however, he felt as fit as a sack of lard.
The man who appeared to be their leader approached Jack and stuck out his hand. "Jack Denham, I presume?" Jack nervously took the man's hand and shook it. It felt like it was made of muscle and steel wire. "John Willoby." He met Jack's eye. He was of average height, sandy-haired and square-jawed, with a crescent shaped scar running from the corner of his left eye. Action Man in person, Jack thought. He decided to enquire, "I-I thought I'd be hearing from Nikolai, if I was going to be hearing from anyone at all".
Willoby turned to Jack and smiled, "Captain Koshkin has other duties in this park; in particular, preparing for the animals that will be brought back from today's mission. I'm his first officer". Jack relaxed a little; Willoby's manner hadn't been in the least confrontational. "Let me introduce my team", Willoby continued.
"Corporal Peter Farnsworth, structural specialist". A small, well-made up, shaven-headed man with a humourless face. Farnsworth nodded curtly as he was introduced. "Erm… clarification?", Jack asked.
"Basically, engineering and repair – I make sure the fences are fit for purpose", Farnsworth explained, in that patronizing tone an enthusiast uses when they hear ignorance of their chosen field. "Ah", Jack responded, wishing he hadn't spoken.
"Private David Doody, team medic". Doody was a young black man with a badly broken nose and a broad smile. Jack smiled; he liked him instinctively.
"Sergeant Calum Fox, our field expert. An experienced mountaineer and tracker – he grew up in the Scottish Highlands". A tall, rangy dark-haired man with grey eyes. "Pleased to meet you", he said in a broad Scottish accent.
"Whereabouts?"
"Skye."
"You'll know the Cullins then." This was an attempt to make conversation; an attempt to break the ice a little.
"Aye, I was brought up at their feet". He was about to continue, when Willoby interrupted. "Private Joe Bristow, heavy weapons expert". Bristow was a small, squat man who looked like he was a professional weightlifter. His shaved scalp gleamed and he had the cocky air of a man who had been in a dozen barfights – however, his smile was fairly friendly.
"Our communication expert, with several years' experience with, Lance Corporal Anita Watts." Watts was a slim, dark-haired young woman, quite pretty and rather waifish-looking standing next to the hulking Bristow.
"And I think you've already met Collete Dubois." Collete extended her hand and coldly said "Charmed." Jack shook it and stammered "O-of course. The feeling's mutual." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Farnsworth whisper something to Bristow. Whatever it was, it was evidently funny, as they both snorted, barely concealing a laugh.
Willoby looked around Jack, curiously, as if expecting more people to turn up. He said, quizzically, "Are you the only keeper Taymor could send? I think I was expecting more people". Jack smiled. Now it's my turn to be clever, he thought, and responded "Kyle figured someone with first-hand experience of the big theropods' capabilities would be able to contribute most effectively; I was the only one he could spare. I've also helped with Khatin's behavioural research."
Willoby gave him a quizzical look, one eyebrow raised, and simply said "Very well. We're going to go to the Morrison theropod paddocks first."
. . . . .
Back in the Pleistocene, the rescue trio setting up a temporary campsite to spend the night on the rolling plains. "Pity we couldn't find any other animals before going to sleep," Alice said, part of her mind still focused on the American cheetah she'd saved.
"Here's hoping we'll find a lot more," Leon agreed.
"Regardless," Drew broke in. "Who wants to take first watch?"
Immediately after he said this, the silence was split by the sound of owl-like hooting. Intrigued, the gang looked in the direction the noise was coming from in time to see nine large owls. From the way their bodies were shaped, the birds resembled great grey owls, only with dark black feathers, and noticeably longer legs. For a few seconds, the owls and the rescue trio stared intently at each other, neither side making any noise or movements.
Alice eventually directed a small glance towards her companions from the corner of her eye. "Adrian mentioned these before we left," she whispered. "These are oraristrix brea, otherwise known as La Brea owls. To the best of my knowledge, they aren't flightless, but they do go on the ground more often."
"Wonder how we can get them through without scaring them off," Leon stated.
"I think I know just the trick," Drew whispered.
Sure enough, after earning the owls' trust with some dead mice and making a quick call to the park to fill one of the nocturnal aviaries, the trio were able to get all of the La Brea owls through the portal. Once this was taken care of, Alice and Leon went to sleep and Drew started his shift for the watch that night.
. . . . .
The very next morning, Alice had to fight with all her willpower to stay quiet as she woke up Drew and Leon. Near the end of her shift, she had noticed an entire flock of passenger pigeons roosting on the branches of a nearby tree – despite the fact that their extinction date was thousands of years away, it was a golden opportunity. Working as carefully as they could, the trio used a mixture of food offerings and recorded pigeon vocals to slowly coax the entire flock down from the tree and through the portal. Once the birds had gone through, the trio finally released the breaths they'd been holding.
"Phew," Leon panted. "Man, for a moment I thought we'd end up losing them."
"You said it," Alice agreed.
"I'll say," Drew agreed, likewise panting from the ordeal. "Come on, let's see if we can get ourselves energized."
After a quick breather, the trio struck camp and set off to search for more animals to rescue. It wasn't long before an opportunity presented itself, when they came upon several creamy tan furred lionesses chasing after a herd of immensely stocky-looking bison with noticeably large humps on their backs and shoulders.
"American lions," Leon whispered, a clear tone of awe to his voice at the sight of the cats, "And they're currently hunting a herd of bison antiquus."
Drew clasped his hands together, his usual confident grin on his face. "Let's get moving," he stated. "If we get into a good position in time, we could have two for the price of one."
At lightning speed, the trio went into position. Drew summoned the portal just in time for the bison to start charging right through the portal, the desire to escape the predators outweighing all other drives. Unfortunately, an old male at the very back of the herd was unable to reach the portal before the big cats killed it. The rescue trio were still observing the scene when, suddenly, a creamy tannish furred male lion with a jet-black mane come into view from behind some large bushes and confidently strut his way over to the carcass. The lionesses stepped back to give their leader room, before then he leant his head down and begin feeding from the bison. As the rescue trio watched, the lionesses patiently waited until the male was finished, before feeding themselves. Once the entire pride had finished, they walked a few paces away from the remains of the carcass before lying down and starting to rest. Realizing that this was an opportunity, Leon drew out the broadcasting device, set it to the lion's roar recording, and pressed play.
The resulting noise instantly alerted the male American lion. It snapped its head up, yellow eyes widened and alert, snarling threateningly at the assumed rival. Another roar echoes, at which point the resident male of the pride jumped onto his feet and charged towards this perceived challenger. It was at this point Leon opened the portal, allowing the male to dash through. The rest of the pride, alerted at the sight of the male vanishing through the portal, charged off to see what had happened, at which point they ended up vanishing through the portal.
Leon turned to face Drew and Alice once the portal had closed. "How did I do?"
"Good," Drew stated. "Surprised you had it in you."
Alice nodded her head in agreement. Like Jack, she had a low opinion of Leon's skill when on active missions – especially after his faceplant in the Jurassic. This came as a pleasant surprise.
Leon nodded his head, taking careful note of his teammates' expressions. "I think I did pretty good," he thought to himself. "Right. However, I've still got a long way to go."
Suddenly, Alice sniffed the air, before gagging. "Eugh," she groaned. "Do you guys smell that?" Seconds later, Drew and Leon got a whiff of the same scent, at which point they heaved, eyes widening and retched disgustedly at the smell.
"Good grief," Leon retched, panting and gasping from the odour. "What is that?"
"We are in Southern California," Drew groaned, trying to hold his breath from the stench. "I wouldn't be surprised if the La Brea tar pits weren't somewhere nearby."
Immediately after Drew said this, Alice and Leon went silent. Drew gave them a puzzled look, "What?". His companions continued gaping at him, clearly waiting for the wheels in his brain to turn. At this, Drew's eyes widened as he finally realized the significance of what he'd just said. "Wait...the La Brea tar pits! Of course!" He snapped his fingers. "They could be a perfect place to rescue more animals!"
"I knew you'd remember," Leon managed to say.
"Glad that I didn't disappoint," Drew stated, without missing a beat. Smiling confidently, despite the smell, he pointed his finger in the direction. "Let's get a move on!"
Alice and Leon promptly gulped, grimacing nervously as they realized that they'd now have to go towards the disgusting smell.
"This ought to be fun," Leon growled.
"You said it," Alice hissed, "This had better be worth it."
. . . . .
Meanwhile, back at the park, Jack and the security team were at the Ceratosaurus naiscornis paddock, watching the large male and the three slightly smaller females basking in the sun. Freed from the stresses of the Jurassic drought, the Ceratosaurus had bred in their new home – the vets had recently done an ultrasound of the ceratosaurs and all three of the females were now gravid.
After watching the theropods, Willoby turned to the group and addressed them like an officer, "Right, with only one lethal weapon, Captain Koshkin thinks that, when it comes to the larger theropods, prevention will be better than cure". Bristow snorted, "Doesn't surprise me. The lot of 'em are built like tanks. You'd need bloody bazookas to bring one down. Not the pea-shooter we've got." With this remark, he gave Jack a disdainful look, as if blaming him for that fact. Willoby, noticing this, immediately said "Denham, your input is desired. These animals are your area of expertise." Jack scanned the air – what on Earth could he say?
As if reading his mind, Watts turned to Jack and said, "Given that these dinosaurs have a harem-style social structure, am I correct in assuming that the male would be a greater risk than the females, especially during the breeding season?"
At this surprisingly complex question regarding the theropod social dynamics, Jack turned to Willoby and said, "I'm impressed that she thought to ask that." Willoby shrugged, "We all did some research on animal social systems – a crash course, if you will. However, that's no substitute for actual expertise…"
Jack nodded, "Yeah, I would say that the male's going to be the dangerous one – we increase security precautions during the breeding season." Willoby nodded, "Noted – we'll do the same for the European Ceratosaurus, given they have a similar social structure. Now for the Allosaurus…"
. . . .
Standing by the Allosaurus fragilis paddock, Jack and the security team watched the pack basking in the sun, after having been fed a large meal. Unlike the Ceratosaurus, the Allosaurus fragilis pack was built around a single breeding pair and their offspring. They were also more intelligent - having a more complex social structure, organised in a loose hierarchy based on size, age, sex, facial features and behaviour, with older, larger individuals having bolder, larger head adornments and being dominant over other pack members.
It was the latter fact that was clearly Willoby, and, by extension, Nikolai's concern. Turning to Jack, he asked, "Captain Koshkin was worried about whether their intelligence and social co-ordination could cause any potential containment issues..." Jack gave Willoby a look - it was clear that he'd done more research than he'd let on. He was asking whether the Allosaurus could be "cage-breakers".
Every zookeeper knew that certain animals were more likely to get free of their enclosures than others. "Cage-breakers" spanned the animal kingdom, however there was one unifying factor; they tended to be active, intelligent, curious animals. Monkeys and raccoons were particularly notorious escapologists; their mobile, skillful hands were perfect for unlocking doors when a keeper wasn't looking. However, "cage-breakers" also included more dangerous animals. The notoriously aggressive (and surprisingly intelligent) honey badger was a natural "cage-breaker", as was the incredibly venomous black mamba. These highly curious and alert snakes were always getting out; they had a talent for it.
It was clear that Willoby wanted to know whether Allosaurus could have the same talent. Jack said, "Possibly. However, this enclosure is their territory and they're not going to leave it unless they've got really good reason to."
Their last port of call was the torvosaurus paddock - according to Willoby, this paddock was high on Nikolai's priority list, since the torvosaurus were significantly more aggressive than the other large theropods.
Looking at the two reddish-brown theropods, Willoby put a plan on the table, "Given that the Torvosaurus are significantly more agressive than the others, the fences significantly stronger, but with the same voltage. However, the key to keeping them in is a dry moat, approximately 30ft deep, surrounding the entire paddock. The torvosaurus can't jump or climb, so they won't be able to cross it. To prevent them approaching the moat, high-voltage electric wires have been put at ground level – enough to give them quite a shock. These wires have also been put on all potential viewing areas."
Jack walked up to the map. He said, "Uh, nice plan, Willoby, but you're missing something. The moat is 30ft deep, right? And pretty steep. So, what happens if one of the torvosaurus falls in? It could seriously injure itself."
To this, Farnsworth and Bristow gave barely suppressed chuckles; as if to say, "Can you believe this guy?". It was Bristow who spoke next, "So, basically, we're trying to worry about these things getting out and destroying the place and you're concerned about one of them accidentally scraping its knee. Why are you even here?" Willoby calmly went "Easy, Joe." Jack snarled and said, in a terse tone, "I'm here to do my damn job. The last time I checked this was a team effort that we were co-operating on. Not for you to lord it up over me and treat me like a bunny-hugging idiot. Translation; My input matters."
The security team's eyes widened at this sudden show of confidence. Jack suddenly went rigid, as a moment of silence, which felt like an eternity, passed through. Suddenly, they relaxed and Bristow even smiled, as if to say, "You've got some backbone after all".
Farnsworth boredly said, "So what course of action would you recommend, Denham? A second layer of fencing?" Jack shook his head, "Logs. Large, thick, logs packed closely together. They have to be extremely thick and extremely strong; so that the theropods can't break through. It serves the purpose of both escape prevention and animal safety". Willoby, still broadly grinning, said "Excellent- we can erect them in the paddock using cement. I'm impressed, Denham; this is a simple and reasonable solution to an issue that was staring us in the face. I'll send this off to Captain Koshkin." Collete was smiling – they'd solved the problem.
. . . . .
Meanwhile, back in Pleistocene California, Drew, Leon, and Alice stood completely still, eyes widened and mouths agape in horror at the sight that now lay before them.
When they'd arrived at the La Brea tar pits, cringing from the smell, they'd only expected one or two animals in need of rescue. However, they'd underestimated the scale of the problem quite significantly.
The pit was absolutely swarming with animals, all panicking, writhing, and screaming as they struggled to escape the tar. So far, the trapped still-living animals consisted of a pair of large eagle-like birds, nine immensely large bison (three of which were calves) with longer horns, six birds resembling turkey vultures with golden orange-skinned heads, a pair of secretary bird-resembling birds, seven greyish-brown furred camels, twelve large grey-furred wolves (with four pups), thirteen coyote-like creatures, a herd of small pronghorn-like antelope, eight caracaras, a pair of black feathered and red skinned griffon vulture-like birds, twenty-seven white feathered and yellow billed storks, a small herd of dark brown onager-like horses, a larger herd of dark orange and black striped zebra-like horses, thirteen steely-grey furred musk-ox-like creatures, nine grey feathered whooping cranes, two large condor-like birds, seventeen long legged llamas, ten brown-furred woolly elephants (including one calf), two grey-skinned and hairless male mammoths, five turkeys, a pair of large black-feathered eagles, eight rust-coloured giant ground sloths, a female orange-gold-furred sabre-toothed cat with black rosette spots, two birds that looked like large black vultures and a pair of birds that resembled black chested buzzard eagles.
After about a few seconds of gaping in horror at the scene, the rescue trio looked each other nervously in the eyes. "We've got our work cut out for us right now," Leon managed to say.
"Really?" Alice responded. "What gave it away?"
Drew silently whistled and directed a sheepish look towards his two companions. "We might need to get extra help." Alice nodded her head in agreement.
"Um, guys?" Leon said, nervously. "It's about to get worse."
Alice and Drew looked at Leon, and then the direction he was pointing, only for their hearts to sink at the sight of an entire herd of mammoths marching directly towards the tar pit – thirteen in all, ten females, two calves and one large bull. The rescue trio looked nervously into each other's eyes once more. At this rate, they would need to hurry.
Without a second to lose, the trio ran around the tar pit all the way to the other side, at which point they started screaming, waving their arms and hands, and (in Leon's case) playing prerecorded elephant and notiomastodon vocalizations a couple yards or so to the right of the herd. After what felt like an eternity, the herd of mammoths came to a stop and the matriarch turned her head towards the noise, confused. Her interest was further piqued when a peculiar vortex of light suddenly popped into view directly in front of a trio of humans. Curious, the matriarch heading toward the vortex, the herd following her and, after what felt like an eternity, the matriarch reached the portal and headed through, with the rest of the herd gradually following suit. After the mammoth herd went through the portal, the trio hurried through themselves – they had no time to lose.
. . . . .
Once informed of the situation, it didn't take long for Kyle to get things ready and a group of keepers – including Horace and Tina – and auxiliary security personnel were recruited, with Kyle himself staying behind to help take care of the Columbian mammoths. The team, now with reinforcements, hurried through the portal to the tar pit.
From there, they got began extracting as many animals as they could, with Leon, Alice, and Drew identifying the species. After what felt like an eternity, every still-living animal was extracted from the tar pit, before being loaded up in preparation for being sent through the portal. One by one, the pair of Woodward's eagles, nine bison latifrons, eight Clark's condors, pair of Daggett's eagles, seven American camels, the twelve-strong dire wolf pack, thirteen Pleistocene coyotes, the entire dwarf pronghorn herd, eight La Brea caracaras, the pair of cathartornis gracilis, twenty-seven La Brea storks, the herds of Mexican horses and western horses, thirteen euceratherium, nine Page's cranes, the gymnogyps amplus pair, seventeen stilt-legged llamas, ten American mastodons, two male Columbian mammoths, five California turkeys, four neogyps errans, eight Harlan's ground sloths, the female smilodon fatalis, eight coragyps occidentalis and a pair of Grinnell's eagles were loaded up and carted away through the portal. No sooner had the portal closed, the trio walked tiredly over to a nearby boulder and sat down to rest, panting and gasping from their exertion.
"Man, that was intense," Leon managed to say between gasps.
"Understatement of the century," Alice agreed, panting.
"Quite the story, though" said Drew, to which Leon playfully smacked his shoulder.
After a few minutes of rest, the trio was ready to move again. "So," Alice said. "Do you think we need to spend any more time here?"
"I don't see any reason why not," Drew admitted. "I mean, I'd like at the very least to see if we can find a male Smilodon for a breeding pair." Leon agreed, "However, we'll need to get more eventually."
Alice nodded her head, "Fair point".
Drew chuckled, before turning his head behind him...
...only go rigid in fear. "Guys… We might want to get back into hiding for a while."
"Why?" Alice asked as she and Leon looked confusedly in Drew's direction; at which point their own eyes widened. "OK, yeah," Alice agreed. "Good idea."
In a flash, they dove back into hiding behind the boulder in time to avoid being seen by a large group of Cro-Magnons, dressed like Plains Indians, making their way slowly towards the tar pit while carrying the wrapped-up body of a woman. For about an hour, the rescue trio remained in rapt silence as the tribe arrived at the tar pit and began to lower the body into the inky depths. For a brief moment, their hearts all sank at the sight of a young girl that they soon realized was the deceased woman's daughter, only to smile slightly when they saw the girl's father come into view and place his hand comfortingly on the little girl's shoulder. Once the woman's body had disappeared into the tar pit for the next fourteen millennia, the tribe turned and departed, disappearing like wraiths. Once they had gone, the rescue trio came out of hiding once more.
"Wow" Leon asked.
"Wow is the word," Alice agreed, nodding her head at the enormity of what had just happened.
Drew nodded his head in agreement, a look of clear wonder in his eyes. Eventually, with a nod of his head, he said "Well guys, think you've got it in you for one more rescue?"
Leon and Alice barely had time to speak, when the sound of roaring, as if two creatures were battling, split the air. At the sound of this, Leon and Alice looked each other in the eyes, before nodding.
"Yeah," said Alice.
"Absolutely," Leon agreed.
Drew smiled, "Just what I wanted to hear."
. . . . .
"Alice was not kidding", Linda Eberhart breathed out, regarding the anesthetized female American cheetah, "She's in a bad way."
Stepping back, she turned towards a tech standing near the magnifier, "Excuse me, can you move the lamp over so I can get a closer look?" The tech nodded, "Yes ma'am" and moved the device over; the cheetah's body was illuminated in the glow, revealing the wounds on her side. A spearpoint, most likely from a Cro-Magnon had been found lodged in the wound - however, the vets had managed to remove it - all they needed to do was disinfect and clean up the wound. Linda looked through the loupes at the wound and said, "The wound's infected and she's probably lost a lot of blood – but the cut is pretty clean. Right, before we do anything, we need some antibiotics". She looked over at one of the surgeons and said "Harry, antibiotics?" Harry handed her some big cat antibiotics, and she gave the American cheetah the injection needed, "Alright, time to get to work". She turned to Yolanda and said, "Yolanda, pass me the swab will you?". Yolanda nodded and passed Linda the swab, to which Linda replied "Thank you", as she wiped the wound with it, before flushing the wounds , turning to a nearby vet tech and saying "Sutures, please ", as the vet tech handed them over, "Keep the light on the bite; this will require utmost care". Linda worked meticulously and carefully on stitching up the wounds; after what seemed like an eternity, the operation was finally over. Linda breathed out "There, that should be enough", before nodding, "Alright everyone, good work. Let's get this girl to one of the recovery pens.
As the cheetah was transported away, Linda started reflecting on what would be a busy day – apparently, Drew, Alice and Leon had brought back a massive amount of animals trapped in a tar pit, many of which were in varying states of heatstroke, malnourishment and dehydration. But even with the massive influx of patients they had so far, little did Linda know that there would soon be one more.
. . . . .
After what felt like an hour, the rescue trio finally reached the area where the noises had originated. Right at the top of a large grassy hill, a single adult male smilodon fatalis was fighting against a single adult male arctodus. Judging by the lack of any visible carcasses, it appeared that this was a territorial battle. Whilst the smilodon was putting up quite a fight, roaring, snapping and slashing at its opponent, it was seriously wounded. The short-faced bear barely even had a scratch on it, a few wounds on its left shoulder. The smilodon roared, revealing its magnificient fangs, as the short faced bear roared in reply, as it stood upright on its hind legs and allowed the viciously sharp claws on its front paws to gleam in the light of the sun. When the smilodon abruptly leapt at the bear, it was smacked aside by the bear's right front paw, sending it flying, before it crached against a large tree with a sickening crack.
The smilodon fell to the ground, groaning and hissing in pain as it proceeded to struggle to get back on its feet as the bear charged towards it. The smilodon barely had time to breathe before the bear smacked it back down onto its belly, causing it to snarl from both the impact and the fact that its opponent had returned. The bear snarled in triumph as it lifted its right front paw for the killing blow... only for the sound of another bear roaring to echo from behind the tree.
The short-faced bear halted, seconds away from the killing blow and turned away from the downed smilodon, confused as it tried to identify where the unexpected roar was coming from. The apparent rival roared again, and the resident bear's eyes narrowed, its teeth now forming a silent snarl. It got onto all fours, glaring intently in the direction the sound had originated. With the smilodon beaten, the bear felt it could afford to leave it where it was in favour of going after this extra challenger. Roaring to challenge this new opponent, the bear charged towards the direction of the sound, eager to prove its might even more. So focused was it on what it was expecting to be another territorial battle that it barely noticed the burst of light, before it disappeared through the portal into the present.
No sooner was the bear gone and the portal closed when Leon impulsively rushed past Drew and Alice, towards the wounded smilodon, his broadcasting device now lying on the ground. By the time his two companions had fully registered this fact and rushed over to join him with the broadcasting device in their grasp, Leon had gotten on his hands and knees and started trying to talk the beast into calming down.
"Easy now," Leon stated in as soothing a tone he could muster, "The fight's over. You're safe now." The sabre-toothed cat snarled, yellow eyes narrowed warily at the human that now knelt before it. "It's alright, no need to be afraid," Leon stated, trying his hardest to keep his voice calm and soothing. "I'm here now. Everything's going to be fine. Just a little bit of time, and we'll take you to a safe place – and you'll be feeling a lot better, I promise you."
The smilodon snarled, half wary and half confused. Leon reflexively snarled back without thinking, hoping like mad that he'd successfully recreate the reassuring tone he'd occasionally heard some of the females of Broken-Fang's pride use. The male grumbled and Leon reflexively used the 'reassurance snarl' once more, whilst drawing out a strip of raw meat from the bait bag he'd brought along, which he then dropped in front of the cat. The cat snapped its jaws around the meat before it could even hit the ground, chewing and swallowing it within seconds, just as Leon drew out a second strip, which the beast grabbed. Whilst it was eating, Leon drew out a large water bottle, preparing for what he now hoped to do to gain the beast's trust, at least for now.
His luck continued as he was able to successfully get the beast to start lapping up water from the bottle. As this happened, Leon turned his head to face his companions, a look on his face that indicated his current mixture of emotions. Alice gaped incredulously at him. "Who does he think he is? Indiana Jones?"
"Does it matter?," Drew responded. "Right now, he needs our help."
And so, Drew and Alice helped the smilodon laboriously get back on its feet as Leon managed to keep it focused on him and the water bottle through a mixture of soothing words and a 'snarl of reassurance' every now and then. After what felt like an eternity, the trio were able to get the smilodon to the portal, at which point Drew broke off from them to reclaim the broadcasting device before following them through. No sooner had Drew made it back to the present and closed the portal when the newly rescued male smilodon collapsed once more, the last of its energy used up. The cat closed its eyes, groaning once more in pain from its injuries.
The trio briefly winced at the sight and sound of this, only to then look up towards the viewing catwalk at the sound of a meaningful 'ahem'. They now saw Kyle and a bewildered team of keepers gaping down at them and the injured smilodon. The head keeper had his eyebrow raised in half amusement and half concern. "Do I even want to know?"
Upon hearing this, the now sheepish Drew, and the half-nervous and half-relieved Alice and Leon looked uncertainly in each other's eyes, all of them silently asking each other what to say. One thing they all could agree on is that this'd be a long story.
Nevertheless, once the dust had settled, all the new arrivals were transferred over to their new homes in what had been dubbed the La Brea Grand Vista. Par for the course, all the herbivores now lived together in a single giant paddock. The animals rescued from the tar pit had all managed to recover quite well from their experience and, all the rescued prehistoric bison, camels, pronghorns, horses, oxen, llamas, ground sloths, and tapirs were either roaming around, resting, grazing on the grass, browsing from the trees, or drinking or bathing from the large water hole in the centre of the paddock. The mastodons and mammoths also seemed to be doing fine in their new surroundings. The seven female mastodons, along with all twenty of the adult female Columbian mammoths, plus the six mammoth calves and the mastodon calf, were drinking and bathing at the massive water hole while the male mastodons were engaged in a mock fight and two of the adult male mammoths, named Maximus and Titano, were browsing from the trees, whilst the largest male mammoth, named Babar, was currently browsing from a tree nearby.
The birds had all been placed in a large aviary complex, with the five California turkeys and the flock of passenger pigeons sharing a mixed savannah and forest exhibit. The storks and cranes currently shared an exhibit that came with a small lake, whilst the owls were all kept in a nocturnal aviary. The smaller birds of prey all shared one large aviary, whilst the large teratorns (the teratornis and Cathartornis) had two large aviaries of their own.
Finally, the carnivores had been given their own paddocks, with the paddocks designed for rotation, for the future.
In the short-faced bear paddock, themed after a mixture between a forest and a savanna, the bears had all divided their area into territories, with the largest male, Smokey, claiming an area near a large tree. He was now rubbing himself against a rock.
The dire wolf pack were currently gathered around the large stationary rocks in front of their dens within their grassy paddock, with the six younger adults positioned in a circle, whilst the four pups played in the middle and the alpha male Nero and his melanistic mate Lara stood atop the stationary rocks. Nero let out a loud howl, with Lara and the rest of the wolves joining in mere seconds later.
The Pleistocene coyote pack were similarly gathered in their identical paddock, but were too busy feeding on some sheep carcasses that had recently been tossed in for them to care about the howling wolves next door to them.
The remaining four paddocks were home to the various Ice Age big cats. The seven homotherium were feeding within their own savanna-themed paddock, with the four females calmly and patiently eating their own portions of the meat while the three males engaged in a half serious and half playful tussle over their own portions.
Six of the American cheetah were currently resting peacefully in the sun in the centre of their paddock, with the one single female Alice had rescued from the teratornis, who had been named Eshe, was currently still resting in her recovery pen at the veterinary facility.
The American lion pride was gathered around their 'main lair' within their current paddock, with the twelve lionesses lounging around napping and the male, named Lafcadio, standing tall in front of the main entrance to the cave and roaring to announce to non-existent challengers that this was his turf.
Finally, the smilodon fatalis pair were scoping out their territories in the paddock they had been given. The female, who had been named Shira, had been rescued from the tar, whilst the male, who had been named Diego, had been rescued after fighting Smokey. The two had spent a considerable amount of time interacting together and had become rather tolerant of each other – each keeping a good distance, however. At the sound of Lafcaido's roar, Diego let out an earthshaking roar of his own to announce dominance over his own territory, followed by Shira letting out a roar of her own.
And late that evening, even as all the animals settled down for the night, the staff were likewise hard at work on activities of their own. Linda, Yolanda, and the rest of their vets were wrapping up work on some checkups before going to bed, with Yolanda briefly checking on the now sleeping Eshe. Meanwhile, Kyle and the keepers were finishing their duties for the day before checking out for sleep and Khatin and the rest of the research division members made some finishing touches on their projects for the day before similarly checking out to go to sleep.
Whilst this was happening, Nikolai, Colete, and the rest of the guards, along with Jack, were taking a few minutes or so off duty to celebrate having resolved the current issues involving the theropod paddocks. Colette couldn't help but smile, partly because of the current issues and partly because she'd met the surprisingly sweet and enjoyable Jack Denham. Jack himself was also feeling very happy indeed at what had been done today - such was the power of co-operation, he thought. Although he'd never let Kyle hear this, he thought some of the security members were actually alright.
Adrian, meanwhile, was hoping to figure out a way to make it easier to handle the incredibly aggressive teratornis, whilst Leon was trying to squeeze in just a little bit of extra practice for today in his work with animal vocalization recordings and impressions before bed. Meanwhile, Drew was relaxing on his bed, thinking about what Theodore had told him about the planned mission for next week. Everyone was grateful for the brief lull and acclimatizing to the new status quo – however, they knew this would only last to the next mission.
Rescue Tally
* Amplibuteo woodwardia/Woodward's eagle (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)
* Arctodus simus (5; all adults; 2 male, 3 female)
* Bison antiquus/ancient bison (39; 30 adults, 9 calves; 12 male, 27 female)
* Bison latifrons/long-horned bison (9; 6 adults, 3 calves; 4 male, 5 female)
* Breagyps clarki/Clark's condor (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Buteogallus daggetti/Daggett's eagle (4; both adults; 2 male, 2 female)
* Camelops hesternus/western or American camel (7; all adults; 3 male, 4 female)
* Canis dirus/dire wolf (12; four pups, eight adults; 5 male, 7 female)
* Canis latrans orcutti/pleistocene coyote (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)
* Capromeryx minor/dwarf pronghorn (54; all adults; 27 male, 27 female)
* Caracara cheriway grinnelli/La Brea caracara (9; 8 adults, 1 youngster; 4 male, 5 female)
* Cathartornis gracilis (2; all adults; 1 male, 1 female)
* Ciconia maltha/La Brea stork (27; all adults; 13 male, 14 female)
* Coragyps occidentalis (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Ectopistes migratorius/passenger pigeon (43; all adults; 21 male, 22 female)
* Equus conversidens/Mexican horse (19; 13 adults, 6 foals; 7 male, 12 female)
* Equus occidentalis/western horse (27; 20 adults, 7 foals; 8 male, 19 female)
* Euceratherium collinum (13; all adults; 4 male, 9 female)
* Grus pagei/Page's crane (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)
* Gymnogyps amplus (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)
* Hemiauchenia macrocephala/still legged llama (17; all adults; 7 male, 10 female)
* Homotherium serum/scimitar cat (7; all adults; 2 male, 5 female)
* Mammut americanum/American mastodon (10; 9 adults, 1 calf; 3 male, 7 female)
* Mammuthus columbi/Columbian mammoth (15; 13 adults, 2 calves; 4 male, 11 female)
* Megalonyx jeffersonii/Jefferson's ground sloth (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)
* Meleagris californica/Californian turkey (5; all adults; 2 male, 3 female)
* Miracinonyx inexpectatus/American cheetah (7; 3 male, 4 female)
* Neogyps errans (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)
* Neophrontops americanus (10; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Oraristrix brea/Brea owl (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)
* Panthera leo atrox/American lion (13; all adults; 1 male, 12 female)
* Paramylodon harlani/Harlan's ground sloth (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Smilodon fatalis (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)
* Spizaetus grinnelli/Grinnell's eagle (2; all adults; 1 male, 1 female)
* Tapirus californicus/California tapir (19; 17 adults, 2 calves; 9 male, 10 female)
* Teratornis merriami (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)
Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:
All hands are on deck.
(All five members of the team stand confidently within a prehistoric forest, determined glares on their faces.)
To save the king of the dinosaurs.
(A mated pair of t-rex roar in unison.)
In their most challenging mission yet!
(A comet hits the Earth as Drew and a group of tyrannosaurs watch.)
While also being forced to deal with rising tensions.
(An annoyed Alice stands between an angry Leon and Jack and glares at them both)
And an unexpected crisis at home.
(A torvosaurus charges down the 'main street' towards the park's main gate, snarling and hissing as it does so.)
All next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Return of the King!