There is something missing from this world. The amazing creatures that time has left behind. But what if we could bring them back?
What if extinction…didn't have to be forever?
We're going back in time on a safari with a difference, as wildlife adventurer Nigel Marven plunges into prehistory to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. His plan is to bring them back to the safety of the present, and give them a second chance.
This time, Nigel travels back to Oligocene to rescue the tallest mammal that ever lived, along with the ferocious creatures that hunted it.
Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Kingdom!
XxXxX
With the success of the first mission of phase 2, Nigel has added a variety of new creatures to Prehistoric Kingdom, including its first abelisaurs, noasaurs, and terrestrial crocodilians. Of course for Nigel, that's only the start of what the park can now hold. Now, his sights are set on mammals, specifically some of the biggest to ever walk on land.
Parked atop a hill, Nigel gazes down upon an open savannah. In the distance, the park's elephant herd, among whose ranks is the park's sole female wooly mammoth, Martha, have come to a riverside to quench their thirst. Nigel's attention, however, is focused far closer on a different variety of thick skinned African herbivore - just a short ways down the hill from him is the unmistakable form of a southern white rhinoceros. On the edge of the treeline, meanwhile, is a black rhino, nursing a calf.
"Rhinos might be famous for their horns, but they're actually the last of a far more diverse group. Among their numbers were unicorn rhinos like Elasmotherium, hippo-like forms in North America that sometimes lacked horns, and horse-like breeds found across North America and Eurasia. But one genus eclipsed the rest - Paraceratherium. It was the tallest mammal to ever live, and was so large that nothing but another Paraceratherium could challenge it. We already have plenty of rhinos living here, so I think a herd of two of these giants would be perfectly at home at Prehistoric Kingdom."
XxXxX
Some distance away, the staff was putting the finishing touches on one of the Paraceratherium exhibits - one that was on par with those used to house the park's Morrison sauropods. A mixture of desert and scrub forest, this would house the largest individuals, ones that belonged to the type species, P. transouralicum. Another species had also been earmarked for rescue, P. bugtiense, but its exhibit was located further away, and included more tropical scenery, befitting that species' preferences. A third exhibit was being prepared for another species of paraceratoid, but that was hardly the last enclosure being prepared today - Nigel's targets had quite a few contemporaries that were also excellent rescue targets, and since some were predators, separate housing was a must.
"Come on, we're almost done," said one of the more experienced keepers - a sweet yet stern and elderly woman. "Just a few more things and then you can go onto the next part of your training."
"Yes, Mrs. Jones," intoned one of the new hires - Lauren, as it happened. "Just didn't expect that this work would be so back-breaking."
Mrs. Jones let out a chuckle upon hearing that. "I suppose you're right - working here is quite a bit more physically intensive than any other zoo job. Of course, it has a more exotic set of residents than any other place in the world - you can't see non-avian dinosaurs anywhere else, can you?"
"...I suppose not," conceded Lauren. "How did you end up working here, anyway?"
"An invitation from one of the board members - an old protege of mine, as it happens."
Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Really? Any other surprises coming here?"
"Well, I would say there was one - someone else I knew was already working here as a keeper."
"Who might that be? Another former trainee?"
"No - my husband."
It was fortunate that Lauren had managed to finish raising the feeder, because she froze up upon hearing that statement. "Seriously? Your husband works here, and he never told you?"
"We're…not exactly the most communicative," admitted Nancy as she nervously scratched her head. "And after our children moved out, we mostly focused on our respective work in the zoo-sphere. It's made our marriage difficult at times, but we've soldiered on."
"I see. So, what else do I need to do?"
Glancing around the exhibit, Nancy shrugged. "Just finish setting up that rubbing pillar, and I think you'll be good to go."
"Thank you."
XxXxX
While the finishing touches were placed on the exhibits, the rescue team was prepping up for the day's mission. With a new hire onboard, things were taking longer than normal.
"So, rope, first aid kit, emergency escape gear, flares, guns with rubber bullets, radio, knives, and, of course, extra fuel," said Michelle. "And extra rations. Is that right?"
A man dressed in safari gear glanced at Tristan. "Where'd you find this girl?"
"Arizona. Why'd you ask?"
"I was expecting her to make at least five mistakes getting supplies ready. She hasn't made one yet."
"Well, if it makes you feel better, my mom had a thing for making sure I was prepared for the wilderness," admitted Michelle, letting out an embarrassed laugh as she did so.
"Why? Big camping fan? Or was she worried you'd need to leave home for whatever reason?"
"Bit of column A, bit of column B."
"Hmph. Were you born with a silver spoon-"
"No. My mom works for the police."
"…oh. Well, happy to have you on the team."
"Arlo. Arlo Martin."
XxXxX
To rescue Paraceratherium, Nigel will have to travel across the entirety of the Oligocene. A safari spread across ten million years, it will take the rescue team across Asia, to lands teaming with giants. Hopefully, the carnivorous ones don't find him too appetizing.
XxXxX
Exiting the portal, the team finds themselves in a dry scrubland. The sun is already near the zenith of its climb, and the heat of the days proves oppressive. Aside from some darkness on the horizon, there were no clouds to mitigate the heat. It's only a matter of minutes before a break is called to rehydrate.
"It may be hot in Prehistoric Kingdom," noted Nigel as he finished down a gulp from his canteen, "but the humidity helps a bit. Here, though, the dryness makes things worse. We're at the edge of the land that can support animals like Paraceratherium - they can live in the desert, but only if they're active at night. Big animals tend to have trouble dispersing heat compared to smaller ones." Taking another sip of water, Nigel gestures to the land around him. "We're in the Oligocene, just before grass really hooked its roots into the ground. Today, this part of Mongolia would be steppe, but right now, it's desert and scrubland. Animals are in a state of transition now, as open landscapes allow for faster prey and pursuit predators."
Glancing to the south, Nigel finds a welcoming sight. "There's a small river just a short way south of us. I'm certain that if there are any animals nearby, they'll head there to drink. And that, of course, means we need to head that way."
Taking their cue, the team starts driving south.
XxXxX
Back in the present, more of the new hires were acclimating to working at the park.
"...Something on your mind?" asked an older keeper.
His protege, a brown-haired teenage boy whose nametag read Omar, nodded. "Yeah - why are we giving the dinosaurs hay to rest on? I mean, I know that grass showed before dinosaurs died out, and seems to have been more common in the Cretaceous than we thought, but why do they get it as bedding material? Wouldn't they prefer leaves?"
The older worker, a man named Dennis, let out a small laugh. "Asked the same question when I started working here. Apparently, most animals here just like using hay. We usually give them some choice of bedding material, but they always seem to take some amount of hay if offered the choice between it and other plant matter. It might not be the majority of what they use for bedding, but they always want some of it mixed in when making a place to sleep."
"I see."
The pair were on one of the park's transport trucks, taking a new shipment of organic resources - a mixture of fertilizer, food, and bedding materials - to one of the onsite storage depots. From here, items would be distributed internally where they were needed. Animal food was stored separately from edibles intended for human consumption, lest either become contaminated and poison those eating it. Along the way, they'd passed multiple other staff, including a Japanese girl running toward a Talos exhibit while carrying large blocks of ice, though why was unknown.
"So, how much money do they spend on ordering food for this place?" asked Omar. "Must be expensive to feed so many big bellies."
"Not as much as you think."
"Really?"
"Yeah - most of the food for animals is grown on-site. We have dedicated farming areas away from most visitor areas and animal enclosures. It helps cut down on expenses, plus we can sell excess food for profit as needed. Growing food here also helped cut down on the need for secrecy, because it helped hide how much money was being sunk into the park."
"Good point. Am I going to end up on farming detail?"
"Do you want to? You weren't specifically hired for that role."
"Just curious."
XxXxX
In Oligocene Mongolia, Nigel and his team had been traveling for a few hours. In that time, the dark clouds on the eastern horizon had rapidly surged across the sky, providing some relief, but now, the sky had grown gray, and lightning crackled overhead. While there was little danger of a fire with how sparse vegetation was, being struck by lighting was a fate worth avoiding.
A sudden gesture from Nigel brought the group to a halt. Looking forward, they found the reason for their stop - a robust, wolf-sized carnivore with very prominent fangs. Its body was covered in fur, colored black around the shoulders, extremities, and tip of the snout, while the midsection and majority of the head was covered in white fur. Stripe-patterns occupied the midsection, producing a pattern vaguely similar to a leopard or a cheetah. The carnivore briefly glanced at the team, letting out a hiss, before continuing on its way.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," noted Nigel. "The body plan doesn't lie, that's a hyaenodont. Hyaenodon itself, if I'm right, and the size doesn't lie - this is probably a Hyaenodon gigas, the biggest species to have ever lived. These are the apex predators of the region, as while they're not the biggest carnivores of the time, we don't have fossils of bigger predators from this formation. Despite what you might have seen, this is as big as these hunters get. Now come on, let's follow them."
The team picks up the pace, but doesn't need to travel far before the hyaenodont comes to a stop. There, under an old tree, are over a dozen of its kind, jaws tearing into a colossal, desiccated carcass, the animal it had once been long dead. On the outskirts of the corpse stood smaller, weasel-like creatures, waiting patiently for an opening to tear a morsel or two from the cadaver to fill their own stomachs. A few smaller animals milled about, occasionally glancing at the corpse to make sure that the carnivores had not turned their attention to them.
Nigel couldn't help smiling. "Looks like it's a group of Hyaenodon. That corpse has to be a Paraceratherium - there's no other animal in the same size range from this area. It's a shame we weren't able to save it, but this one has clearly been dead for a while. As for the smaller creatures, I'm not quite sure what they are, but the shape matches up with amphicynodonts- the missing links between bears and the pinnipeds. They're not the animals we're looking for, but we have plenty of room for them back at the park."
Several netgun shots later, and the smaller fauna of the clearing had been caught and put into holding terrariums. As for the hyaenodonts, Nigel had a familiar plan in mind.
"It's a big risk, but I don't think anything will be able to get those Hyaenodon off the carcass except for a very aggressive rival. So I'm going to have to use a special bait to get them through the portal - myself. If I can get close enough, that mob should try to chase me off, and hopefully, I can bait them through the portal."
Michelle raised an eyebrow, then turned to Tristan. "Is he always like that?"
"Have you watched his shows?"
"...Point taken."
Before Nigel could implement his plan, though, a sonorous bellow filled the air. Instantly, the Hyaenodon were alert and turned their attention East. There, emerging from the brush, was a long-necked, thick-skinned form. The creature briefly pulled back its lips, revealing a pair of pronounced canines on its upper jaw. It was soon joined by another of its kind, then another, along with several smaller individuals. Soon, a whole herd of them were visible, ambling toward the Hyaenodon.
It seemed that Nigel would not need to go far to find his targets.
For a moment, the herd of giant rhinos came to a halt, the presence of the carnivores making them hesitate to go further. Then the crack of thunder filled the air, and their resolve was strengthened - there were rock formations behind both the scavengers and the rescue team that offered protection from the lightning.
It only took a look for the team to mobilize, setting up the portal so that both predator and prey would enter it. The portal whirred to life just moments after the Hyaenodon abandoned the carcass, with none of them having time to react before they were sent to the present. The paracerathere herd, however, was more cautious of the strange light, but a massive surge of lightning eliminated the doubt from their minds, and they ambled forward, toward a new future.
XxXxX
Half an hour later, and the animals had been settled into holding pens while the park made the finishing touches on their enclosures. Bob, in particular, was watching the giant rhinos take a moment to lie down and rest their legs.
"Eh, hope you don't mind the humidity."
The animals offered no answer, too busy enjoying the chance to lie down. So it was that Bob turned his attention to Nigel. "Got all the smaller animals settled in?"
"Yep. Already getting ready to go back for our other rescue."
"You want some fruit for that?"
"No," denied Nigel. "That's for afterwards."
"If you say so."
XxXxX
While Nigel had already rescued one type of Paracertherium, the park certainly had room for more. Thus, he had the team prepared for a second destination - Pakistan. There, at the end of the Oligocene, lived the type species of the genus - P. bugtiense, from the Chitarwada Formation in Pakistan's Bugti Hills.
Of course, that would force them to face an entirely different set of creatures, bringing with them their own problems. But that just made the rescue even more appetizing to Nigel.
XxXxX
Stepping through the portal once more, Michelle found herself in a more familiar setting - while her previous visit to the past had taken her to the desert, this time, she was in a tropical forest not unlike the park's.
Seeing her surprise, Tristan smiled. "Not what you were expecting?"
"Nope. Keep forgetting how long these rhino relatives lived for."
"Well, you'll have time to brush up on this stuff later. Just focus on the mission."
"As you wish."
Nigel paid the duo a small glance, before turning his eyes to northward, where a river was distantly visible. On its shores were a herd of large, dark-skinned herbivores, body shapes very familiar.
Nigel had a feeling this was too easy. But he really hoped it was wrong.
XxXxX
"Wait, we have two types of abe…abelisaurs here?" Asked Sharon.
She'd been sitting just outside the Microraptor aviary, alongside a group of children - mostly those who had been living with their parents in the park's residential areas, though some were part of the first 'focus group', if you could call it that. Another chaperone was busy trying to keep them from throwing food into the enclosure as if the raptors inside were petting zoo creatures. There was a petting zoo being worked on, but this was not it! Why couldn't they recognize that - most of them had been to other zoos, they should know better than this!
Besides, these guys were supposed to be feedable by guests in the future, but only with special kibble. Which still hadn't been delivered.
Times like this emphasized why the park needed these stress tests - if they couldn't handle just a small number of young visitors, what would happen when opening day came?
That, however, was not her current concern.
"Yes," confirmed one of the keepers - a Frenchman with red hair, green eyes, and a surprisingly soft voice. His nametag identified him as Louis. "Apparently, we brought back a second species when the titanosaur herd was taken into the present. We also found another species of titanosaur that doesn't quite match up with any named one."
She'd only meant to ask him where the Carnotaurus exhibit was, but since she'd asked him where the abelisaurs were, he'd asked her for clarification on which one she wanted to see. A few questions later and here they were. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. Has this happened before?"
"Not really - there were a few species that weren't quite described yet when we rescued them, but they'd at least been assigned to an existing genus. Do I need to explain that-"
"So it was a case of, to use an example, knowing you had a big cat but not knowing if it was a lion, tiger, leopard, or jaguar?"
"...yeah, pretty much."
"Great. So, what are you going to do? Invite scientists to come over and name them? Use that timeportal to go into the future in a timeline where our mystery rescues have been named?"
Louis stifled a laugh. "Really? Go to the future?"
"Can't you do that with a time portal?"
"Yes, but we've only tested it up to one month into the future. After that, everyone agreed to not use the portal to travel to the future to avoid messing up the timestream."
"I thought the orientation said that the portal created alternate timelines whenever it went into the past?"
"Sometimes, you need to know when to not press your luck."
"...Fair enough. Do you know when the kibble for feeding these guys will be delivered?"
"I think it'll be here in half an hour."
Glancing at the aviary, Sharon could see that the tiny black raptors were trying to fit through the fence mesh to reach the morsels the kids were offering them. "Not soon enough, it seems."
XxXxX
Back in the past, Nigel and his team had finally reached the river. Along the way, they had encountered and caught a group or three of what looked like lemurs, but it was at the edge of the water that they saw the true variety of life here - piglike animals waded through the shoreline, pulling up reeds to satisfy their hunger. Horse-like animals, meanwhile, feasted on shrubbery, with what looked like mouse-deer darting around to feed on seeds. Squat-looking rhinos also browsed on the shrubbery, occasionally using their bulk to force the horse-like animals off of their fodder. But all of them were dwarfed by a familiar sight: a herd of paraceratheres. These ones were smaller than the ones already at the park, and had a darker skin shade, alongside pink undersides. This group was smaller than the one the team had encountered in Mongolia - given the weather when they had visited the Hsanda Gol, it was likely that the congregation was composed of several herds united in the search for water. This group, however, is likely just a single herd, enjoying the good times.
There was also a strange looking log on the far end of the river, though most of the group wasn't paying attention to that.
Nigel couldn't help admiring the scene. "You can see how different things are here - there's so many new animals living that weren't around during the Oligocene. True rhinos have started to evolve, like the ones before us, as have mouse deer. Those horse-like creatures are actually giraffes, if I remember right - horses are stuck in North America right now, as are camels. Those piglike creatures, though, don't have any living descendents - they're anthracotheres, and they are closest to whales and hippos. These creatures, be they through descendents or relatives, are the shape of life to come - they're the blueprints for life in the Miocene and beyond. Of course, that means they won't live to see all these changes, so they're perfect targets to rescue for the park. Now then, let's see about getting them to the present."
Before he can start preparations, though, Nigel notices that Michelle's eyes are focused elsewhere - something in the distance has her attention. When he tries to call out to her, she simply points toward the herd of giant rhinos…or rather, behind them, where several large forms are slowly ambling closer. They resemble a cross between bison and hippos, having a humped body with hoofed limbs like the former, but with the hairless skin and large skulls of the latter, which just happened to be red-faced. Oh, and the teeth - they had very nasty looking teeth, but the biggest appeared to be fangs instead of tusk.
It seemed Nigel had forgotten about one variety of mammal in this area - the region's largest predator.
"Those are entelodonts, aren't they?" asked Michelle.
Nigel merely nodded. "Yes, they are. The ones in this region are classified under the genus Paraentelodon, but we don't yet have a name for the species. Entelodonts are often called the hogs from hell, but that was back when they were depicted as being unnaturally lean. They're actually closest to whales and hippos, just like anthracotheres, which is a lot more obvious seeing them in the flesh." Taking a breath, Nigel pulls out his binoculars. "Even from this distance, I can tell they're trying to avoid being seen - looks like they're on the hunt."
After a moment, Nigel glances back to his team, Michelle and Tristan included. All of them glance at him, then at the time portal, before wordlessly starting to set up the device. As they finished digging the portal into the ground, Tristan looked back toward the river, where he noticed something odd - the log on the far bank had vanished. Confused, Tristan tried to find where it had gone, only for a loud bellow to turn his attention back to the giant Paraceratherium - they had finally noticed the arrival of the hell pigs. Realizing they had been had, the…bloat…dale…drove decided to abandon subtlety and began to bumrush the giant crash. Instantly, the other herbivores reacted, running in the opposite direction of the carnivores - which, of course, took them right through the portal.
On the other side, Bob was hastily trying to count the new arrivals, with the smaller ones having serious close-calls as they darted about to avoid being crushed by their larger contemporaries. Suzanne was already dividing up the medical team to help handle the rush of newcomers, which was not the worst undertaking, but still taxing.
Back in the past, the number of animals surging into the future decreased until finally it was just the giant rhinos. But then, things took a turn for the worst - one of the three calves in the herd had wandered too close to the riverbank while trying to retreat and slipped in the mud. While they were soon able to stand, the charging entelodonts seized the opening and surrounded the baby, causing one of the older animals, presumably its mother, to turn as fast as she could to try and save her offspring. Nigel, unwilling to abandon the young animal to the carnivores, started trying to fish out a flare gun from his pack, while Michelle, who had already fished out her own flare gun, took aim. Tristan was about to join her, but an errant looking toward the riverbank revealed another surprise - a large surge of water was about to hit the near side of the river.
Right by where the young rhino was trapped by the entelodonts.
Within moments, things clicked together in Tristan's head, and he put his hand on Michelle's shoulder to grab her attention. "Don't shoot. Not yet."
Puzzled yet trusting of her friend, Michelle acquiesced. Nigel, meanwhile, had also glanced at the river and realized what was about to happen.
At the riverbank, one of the entelodonts had knocked over the young paracerathere, leaving it defenseless. Just before it could attack, though, a huge, scaly form shot out of the water, missing the juvenile by inches. Two more followed, and it quickly became apparent that they were massive crocodiles - smaller than the park's Deinosuchus, but still larger than even the longest saltwater crocodile in the present.
Michelle glanced at her friend. "Is that-"
"Astorgosuchus. One of the largest crocodilians to ever live. Biggest predator in the region, if I remember right."
"It's not the apex of crocodilians in the Cenozoic," added Nigel, "that honor goes to the not-yet-evolved caiman Purusaurus, but it is the largest Cenozoic crocodilian to have evolved up to this point. It's one of the only creatures known to have fed on Paraceratherium."
On the shoreline, a fourth crocodile joins those already on the hunt, slightly evening things out against the five entelodonts on land. The nine carnivores bellow at each other, maws opened and teeth bared. In their efforts to try and repel one-another, though, they have forgotten about their prey, which has finally reached its mother. Moments later, she is joined by a second adult of her kind, and together, they growl at the hunters, who finally realize they have lost their target. While the crocodiles decide to cut their losses, the entelodonts charge forward, using their smaller size to outmaneuver the giants. By this point, though, the juvenile has escaped into the present, leading the hogs from hell to follow suit. Nigel barely manages to get a call out warning Bob about the new arrivals before the giant rhinos stomp through the portal in pursuit of the hell pigs, leaving the group alone once more.
There is nothing left on land for Nigel and his team to rescue, but they are not yet ready to leave - their eyes have fallen upon the river. There, the four crocodiles have neared the portal, but refuse to leave the water.
They may not be Nigel's target, but they too will die out soon.
Michelle glanced at Nigel yet again. "Should I get out some meat and a rope?"
"No, I think Tristan has this."
Confused, Michelle looked back at her ex, and found him holding some flat looking stones. Before she could ask him what he was doing, he threw one toward the river. It skipped across the surface, breezing right past the crocodilians, who swiftly fixed their attention on the humans.
Tristan threw another stone.
XxXxX
Bob couldn't help laughing as the team surged through the portal, followed by four panting crocodiles. Just what had they done this time?
Also, why did Nigel need three wheelbarrows full of fruit, and only those? What was he planning for his final target?
XxXxX
Eocene China
The ancient giraffe rhinos watched as the strange bipeds came toward them, weird fruit holders in their forepaws.
The herd had been minding their own business when a strange shimmering light appeared, revealing a group of bipedal mammals with funny-looking skin and sparse fur except on their heads. Some didn't even have the sparse fur, just the head fur. The bipeds had frozen up upon seeing the rhinos, causing them to retreat back into the light. Moments later, they returned with the fruit holders, which they then held out toward the rhinos, apparently as an offering. The rhinos, for their part, were utterly confused, but soon curiosity got the better of them, and they started approaching the fruit holders. It wasn't long before they were eating out of them, and then they found themselves joined by the claw hands.
Then the bipeds decided to be strange and pulled the fruit holders away. Not wanting to lose their new source of fruit, the rhinos and claw hands followed.
And that was how they ended up walking through the shimmering light into the strange new forest.
XxXxX
"So, Paraceratherium transouralicum, P. bugtiense, and Juxia?" said Tristan.
"Just like you promised."
The new arrivals were settling in nicely to the present. With plenty of food and space, getting them adjusted hadn't been too hard. More problems were likely to come up with them in the future - such was the nature of this park - but that could be managed in due time.
"Is this how rescue days normally go?"
"Yes," affirmed Tristan. "You mind?"
"Not really."
XxXxX
AN: Okay, done!
So, a couple of things to get off my chest.
First off, regarding the cast of this episode: since I'm basing most of the animals in this story off their appearances in Prehistoric Planet and Prehistoric Kingdom first when applicable, I knew from the get go that I wanted both species of Paraceratherium from PK in this chapter, as well as Juxia. When I looked into the fossil record for the formations they are known from, this line of thought was cemented because there are not many animals known from their respective formations. I had to do a lot more research than normal to find a companion animal for Juxia, because its formation doesn't even have a wikipedia entry (or it does and its really barebones, can't remember which) to give me an idea of what it lived alongside. So that was annoying.
Next, since I won't be able to state it elsewhere: this episode was intended as my adaptation of Land of Giants from Walking with Beasts. While I was looking up the Hsanda Gol Formation (where Land of Giants takes place), I found out that the only members of the cast that are known from the area are Paraceratherium and Hyaenodon (the beardog is also known, but it isn't really known well from the area, so I changed them into amphicynodonts). Also, WWB exaggerates Hyaenodon's size a lot, as the biggest species, Hyaenodon gigas, only gets as big as a wolf, not rhino-sized like in the show. The entelodonts, meanwhile, aren't even known from the area, but are found in the Chitarwada Formation in Pakistan alongside P. bugtiense, hence their appearance there.
Nancy and Lauren both come from different series that are still relevant to this story. I'll reveal where in a future chapter.
Regarding the conversation Sharon had with Louis, this is a problem I ended up running into while I was working on everything after chapter one of this story. See, when I started, the only dinosaur described from the La Colonia Formation in South America was Carnotaurus. This year, though, scientists finally described two more dinosaurs from the region and erected new genera to house them: an abelisaur called Koleken and a titanosaur named Titanomachya. I've got plans for naming them in the future, but the specifics would spoil too much of what I already have planned, so that will wait for a full explanation until a ways into the story. The naming will probably be handled in the next chapter, though.
The kibble for the Microraptor is another reference to Prehistoric Kingdom, where mini-exhibit animals primarily eat kibble.
As a final bit for Land of Giants, Chaolicotheres aren't known from either the Chitarwada or Hsanda Gol formation, which is why they don't show up in this chapter. The creatures mentioned in the Juxia segment are ancestral chaolicotheres known as Eomoropus, so they're subbing for their more famous cousins.
Animals rescued this chapter:
Paraceratherium transouralicum - 4 males, 12 females, 5 calves of unknown gender (one is the focus individual from WWB Land of Giants)
Paraceratherium bugtiense - 2 males, 4 females, 3 calves of unknown gender
Hyaenodon gigas - 5 males, 7 females (PK Lupine skin for Hyaendon for appearance)
Paraentelodon sp. - 2 males, 3 females
Astorgosuchus bugtienssis - 2 males, 2 females
Microbunodon silistrense - 5 males, 5 females, 1 male calf, 2 female calves (identified as Anthracothere)
Progiraffa exigua - 3 males, 4 females (identified as early giraffe)
Brachypotherium perimense (identified as early rhino) - 4 males, 4 females
Bugtilemur mathesoni - 18 males, 24 females, 6 babies of unknown gender (identified as early lemur)
Juxia sharamurenensis - 2 males, 4 females
Eomoropus minimus (identified as claw hands) - 2 males, 4 females
Amphechinus berkeyi (not named) - 2 males, 5 females
Tsaganomys altaicus (not named) - 5 males, 24 females (it's a prehistoric naked mole rat)
Amphicteps shackelfordi (identified as amphicynodont) - 4 males, 6 females
Finally, I want to leave you all with a schedule of missions planned for the future, mostly so I stop trying to make things up as I go along. Park focused chapters between these missions will not be named unless important.
Next few missions are as follows:
The Terrible Heads (Karoo, South Africa. Tappinocephalus Assemblage Zone. Target Animals: Anteosaurus, Moschops, Tappinocephalus, Rhinesuchus, Alopecognathus, Styracocephalus, Bradysaurus)
Swift Thieves and Early Horned Faces (Djadochta Formation, Mongolia. Target Animals: Velociraptor, Protoceratops, Pinacosaurus, Oviraptor)
Forgotten Bloodlines (Agate Springs, Nebraska. Target Animals: Daeodon and Moropus)
Ancient Pharaohs (Kem Kem Beds in Morocco, Bahariya Formation in Egypt, and Eckhar Formation in NIger. Target animals: Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Kaprosuchus)
The Great Snake (Titanoboa)
The First Sabers (Inostrancevia, possibly also gorgonops)
The Cruel Sea (Liopleurodon, Opthalmosaurus, Eustreptospondylus, Cryptocleidus, Lexovisaurus)
Whale Killer (Basilosaurus isis)
Cambrian Explosion (Burgess Shale - too many good creatures to list)
Folley of Man (recently extinct animals)
To Be A Hero (Back at the Park episode after Folley of Man)
Read and Review at your leisure! This is Flameal15k, signing off!