Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello everyone.

This story is my take on the docu-series Prehistoric Park. For this, I will rewrite the story with scientifically accurate prehistoric life and a modernized version of the park. As a result, there will be plenty of changes in each episode or arc in this case. Some changes include Tyrannosaurus rex living in a volcano-dominated landscape, a cave bear alive at the end of the last ice age, Phorusrhacos and Smilodon populator coexisting one million years ago in South America, and much more. Times are different, and much of what was considered accurate in 2006 is now considered outdated.

I'm making Prehistoric Park more modern because of how inefficient it is to have large prehistoric animals contained behind wooden fencing that has been broken through multiple times. That's in addition to how a fully functioning zoological facility would not allow large animals to roam around. I understand it's for fun and to set up a massive breakout at the end, which I do plan on doing, but even then, the park did as little to keep them contained as possible. Plus, making the park more modern allows for more significant species expansion.

However, since I'm focusing on accuracy, there will be changes regarding episodes. There will be additional and potentially removed episodes. I will include Terror Birds, but they will get their separate adventure since they were extinct one million years ago. The Bug House is a favorite among many, and while I do like the episode, I might be avoiding it since I wouldn't say I like bugs. Sorry to disappoint you guys, but due to my preference for accuracy, I don't want to research the insects and arthropods of the Carboniferous. If I do the episode, I might only focus on the four species shown rather than any others that would have lived alongside them (specifically those giant spiders). Some parts of specific episodes will be changed, such as the fight between Terrance and Matilda, since they aged way too fast for a Tyrannosaurus rex, although I might find workarounds.

Also, I am not from the UK, so if I misrepresent any character's mannerisms or manner of speech, I want to apologize in advance and welcome criticism. Finally, I am open to suggestions of where and when to go and what species will be the main focus. Keep in mind that I might not do all of them, and I'll only accept them if they are accurate, so please leave out any Primal or Jurassic Park/World media along with outdated or very controversial research.

I hope you all enjoy it. The next chapter will be a review of the park and the time portal, explaining the layout and how they work.

Chapter Text

Hello again.

As stated, I will change how each of Nigel's expeditions plays out along with Prehistoric Park itself.  I also intend to modernize Prehistoric Park.  I have acknowledged that the show was not meant to be taken seriously and that the decisions regarding how the animals were contained helped set up the big breakout for the show's finale.  While I plan on setting up the breakout, the idea that it was caused by the titanosaurs being allowed to walk free was one of the most irresponsible things any zoological facility could do.  As a result, the fencing and buildings will be what you would see in modern zoos and sanctuaries.  Regarding the size of the park, it's as big as it needs to be.  Yes, the show showed that the park had limited space, but it would work out better if I made it as big as it needs to be.

There are no changes regarding the time portal.  How it functions works perfectly for the story.  The only reason I bring this up is to establish that time travel in this story, like in the show, has no consequences.  Time travel in Prehistoric Park works the same way as time travel in the MCU, minus the super shrinking and creating a multiverse (maybe just the former, but no, I'm not doing a multiverse).

With that said, I will be posting chapters soon.  There's currently no schedule for when the chapters will be posted, but that might change later.

I hope you all enjoy it, and stay tuned for Nigel's first adventure and the return of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Chapter Text

"Normal Text" = Character speaking

"Italic Text" = Narrator

Bold = Time, location, name

The sun rises over a vast, beautiful land as a Land-rover drives towards buildings with thatched roofs.  All around, staff are moving urgently as today will be the day everything changes.

"It's a big day at Prehistoric Park.  Throughout this huge reserve, everyone is preparing for the first arrivals."

A large construction crew carefully runs wires through rows of large, 15-foot-tall metal poles sticking out of the ground.  Thick layers of concrete and metal supports already connect the poles, but these wires will add reinforcement and channel an electric grid to ensure that whatever will live behind this fence cannot get out.

"Come on, lads, quick as you like." Prehistoric Park's headkeeper, Bob, calls out.  Bob is overseeing the paddock's construction, as he has done with previous paddocks, and he will continue to do so in the future as more species are brought in.  While the constructions of the previous enclosures were done quickly and without issue, Bob is nervous about this one, primarily due to its planned occupant.  As such, he's pushing the crew hard to ensure this one is sturdy and secure.

"Can you get those wires through that pole at the bottom of the paddock?" he asks a group of crew members as he walks around inspecting the fence.

"They're almost finished building the enclosures for everything from giant insects to dinosaurs."

"Remember, check everything!  This is home to a dangerous creature!"

Driving through the reserve is wildlife adventurer and Prehistoric Park's founder, Nigel Marven.  He is the most excited and anxious of everyone.  Nigel has dreamed of bringing extinct animals back to the present day, and today, that dream will become a reality.

"If Nigel can make extinct animals feel at home anywhere, it's here."

After reaching his destination, an elevated overlook of the land, Nigel pulls out a map showcasing the entire park.

"The natural geography will help us contain the animals.  There's an ocean to the south, and to the north, there's a mountain range.  Everything I need in terms of habitats: there's savannah, there's forests, there's rivers, there's even a waterfall.  Perfect environments for keeping prehistoric animals."

"All they need now are the prehistoric creatures themselves."

Nigel is now walking through a museum, gazing and admiring its collection of fossils.  The fossilized skeletons offer a vast variety of potential species for Nigel to bring back, some of which Nigel has already selected.  Nigel plans to select more species, but for now, he wants to start small, relatively speaking.

"One day, Nigel plans to breed extinct animals in captivity.  But his first step is to only bring a few of each species back, to see how they get on in the 21st Century."

While it's easy to assume that any extinct animal would do well in the present day, Nigel also knows that assumption is quite reckless.  Some animals will require specific requirements to care for them.  While he does have the species planned out, he'll only bring in a few individuals to see how they handle the modern world.  If all goes well, he plans to collect more individuals to bring back to the park.

As he moves through the museum, he stops at a couple of displays, one with the skull of a large horned dinosaur and the other with the skeleton of a swift dinosaur about half his height.  However, Nigel eventually finds what he's looking for: a massive skeleton of the world's most famous dinosaur species.  This is the one that Nigel would say anyone would be foolish not to bring back from extinction- the largest and most powerful terrestrial predator ever to live.

"And Nigel knows exactly what he wants to start with- the meanest and scariest of them all, Tyrannosaurus rex!"

Back at Prehistoric Park, Nigel is now in his office.  He has been packing his supplies and equipment for the mission ahead.  After finishing, Nigel pulls a map and places it on the wall.

"Finding a T-rex is more challenging than simply traveling back in time.  Luckily, Nigel's already worked out when and where he'll have to go to track one down."

"The most widely accepted theory about why dinosaurs became extinct is that a meteorite smashed into the Earth,"  Nigel says, pointing to the map before him.  "This is a map of the Earth 66 million years ago.  This is where the impact was, in the Yucatán Peninsula, here in Mexico.  You can still see the crater today.  Around that time, there were masses of T. rex here, somewhere in Montana, and I need to go back there to find them."

With that, Nigel places his things in his Land Rover.  He then proceeds toward the holding facility, which will hold the animals he brings back and where the time portal is situated.

"To rescue the last of the T. rex, Nigel is going back to the very end of the age of dinosaurs, as close to the meteorite impact as he dares."

Nigel drives through the portal, ready to bring back the most powerful land predator ever and facing a ticking clock to one of Earth's most devastating extinction events.  Let's hope he hasn't bitten off more than he can chew.

Chapter Text

Time: Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 66 MYA

Location: North America, Montana, USA

Mission Log: Day 1

Days Until Meteor Impact: 4

Bird and insect calls echo throughout the lush environment of late Cretaceous Montana.  Trees, ferns, and bushes sway in the breeze blowing along the forest's edge.  However, the calm and gentle sounds of prehistoric nature are interrupted by the engine of Nigel's Landrover.  As he drives, Nigel can't help but take in the awe and wonder of this ancient world.

"66 million years ago, Montana looks very different from the semiarid Great Plains state.  Despite the lush environment, this is a world before grass, which won't appear for another ten million years.  Here, T. rex is king.  Now, all Nigel needs to do is to find one."

Nigel eventually reaches his destination, a campsite being set up by a large team.  These men had arrived before Nigel to ensure everything was safe before beginning the mission.  So far, the team has not encountered or seen any of the local wildlife.  Despite being there to collect prehistoric species, it's a good thing that they haven't.  None of the animals have seen humans before and never encountered primates since they won't appear for another ten million years.  As a result, some might become curious, which could endanger the team.  While dinosaurs aren't monsters, herbivores could view Nigel and the team as threats, and predators could view them as prey.  However, the wildlife here is the least of their worries.

"In a place with so many potential dangers, Nigel and his team know the sooner they accomplish their mission, the better."

Nigel parks his car at the campsite and quickly looks over it being set up.

"I just hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew; we've got so little time."

Nigel is right.  Some on the team brought telescopes and spotted the meteor.  Based on their assumptions, they have about four days until it hits.  The team is scrambling to get everything set up as quickly as possible, but Nigel doesn't plan to wait for them to finish.

"There's a wonderful forest over there, perfect habitat, and I think that's where we'll begin our search for T. rex."

It's been a few hours since Nigel began trekking through the forest.  Unfortunately, he has not found any dinosaurs or other signs of wildlife.  To some degree, it's a relief to Nigel.  However, traveling through a late Cretaceous forest likely dominated by a T. rex or two is unsettling.

"T. rex is a monster.  At a staggering 45 feet long and 10 tons, some would think it shouldn't be too hard to track one down."

"Tyrannosaurus rex was the apex predator of this time.  The adults were so large and bulky that they could only run up to 10 miles per hour, though some speculate they could top out at 17 miles per hour.  Therefore, they likely relied on ambush tactics when hunting, which wouldn't have been difficult for them since fossilized tracks of T. rex showed evidence that their feet were padded.  Thick pads on the bottom of their feet allowed T. rex to move silently, even when they weren't actively trying to.  Modern animals like elephants and tigers have these on the bottom of their feet, and you rarely hear them when they walk.  Far different from the ground-shaking, bellowing monster you've seen in the movies.  What I'm most concerned about is the juveniles.  They fill out a niche of their own compared to the adults.  They are significantly faster, speculated to approach speeds of about 30 miles per hour.  Not even Usain Bolt could outrun that.  Juveniles would have specialized in smaller and faster prey while the adults preyed on the large and armored ones.  And I would make more of a meal for a juvenile than an adult.  But despite that, I would be ecstatic if we find a T. rex, regardless of if it's a juvenile or an adult."

"What he'll do when he does find one is not exactly clear."

Nigel continues through the forest.  He can hear birds and possibly pterosaurs and dinosaurs in the distance.  He reaches a small creek and crosses it by walking across a fallen log.

"T. rex are not the only creatures around."

Nigel spots something up ahead and darts toward it.  He sees the vegetation in the spot was disturbed.

"This must be a trackway.  And look - you can see here these leaves have been nibbled, these twigs have been snapped off, there's been a vegetarian browsing here.  And here - the first evidence of dinosaurs.  Hard to see, but you can see this footprint here.  Three toes.  This is the classic theropod dinosaur - the same family the T. rex is in.  They stand on two legs; they're bipedal.  It looks like there's a whole group of them here, not as big as T. rex, of course, and vegetarians, you can tell by the leaves that they've eaten.  And they've gone this way.  This is a big trackway; there must be quite a few of them."

As he investigates, he sees the footprints heading into the dense underbrush nearby.

"And they've gone down this way."

"His hunch is right."

As Nigel approaches the brush, he sees the branches and leaves shaking.  But it's too rapid and random to be the wind.

"That bush is rustling.  And this is what normally happens when you're searching for large animals- you hear them before you see them, hidden scurrying away through the bushes.  They're still moving around there.  These could be our first dinosaurs."  Nigel whispers.  He grabs his binoculars, hoping to get a closer look at whatever is running around, hidden in the bushes.  However, just as he is about to look through them, he hears a squawking sound from his right.  He quickly looks over and sees something walking out of the bush towards him.  Its appearance reminds Nigel of an emu as it was similar in height and covered in feathers like one with similar coloration.  However, this one had pronounced blue feathering along the throat, resembling a cassowary, and a small crest of feathers on top of its head; its arms, which had white feathers at the edge, had three digits with small claws at the end and a long tail.

"You see that?"  Nigel asks as the dinosaur makes another, more muted squawk.  "Ornithomimus velox, I've seen the fossils in museums.  Ornithomimus velox means swift or rapid bird mimic, and you can see why exactly like ratites such as ostriches, emus, rheas, and cassowaries.  See how close we can get."  He takes one step closer, and the ornithomimus lets out a hiss as it spreads its wings, making itself appear bigger and more dangerous.  Nigel retreats behind a tree to not make the animal any more uncomfortable.  "Woah, that hiss felt like it went right through me.  That was a warning.  And look."  The heads of other ornithomimus began popping out from the bushes.  "All of the others, all of them, are up; he must have been the sentry.  Their heads are looking at us, heads popping up all over the place."  The emu-sized theropods were staring at him, wondering what he was but also out of caution.  "They're mostly herbivorous, but they won't turn their noses on insects, crustaceans, or small animals.  They're completely the opposite of what you'd imagine a dinosaur to be like.  These beaks at the front have ridges inside, just like modern ducks and geese, and they use those to crush their food.  This is terrific, our first dinosaurs."

Though still wary of Nigel, the ornithomimus had calmed down enough to start foraging on the plants around them.  Nigel watches in awe and admiration at these magnificent animals.

"Look, look.  You can see differences between some individuals in the flock.  The ones with the blue feathered necks and white-tipped wings, like the one that hissed at us, are likely the males, while the rest with all brown coloration are likely the females.  In many modern birds, including ratites like ostriches, the males have colorful feathers, while the females have more dull colors.  This is likely to help attract potential mates and ward off rivals.  It's amazing to see sexual dimorphism in dinosaurs."

"Sadly, these Ornithomimus will soon be extinct too, unless, of course, Nigel can save one."

"I'd love a breeding flock of Ornithomimus at Prehistoric Park,"  Nigel says as he sits down and removes his boot and sock.  "But we need a technique for catching them.  And I think this will work; I've done it with ostriches.  And what you do is slip a sock over their head.  As soon as you cover their eyes, they calm down."  Nigel explains before putting his boot back on and standing up.  "The only troubles what I've got is these things can run up to 45 miles per hour, and if they're anything like ratites, they've got to have a powerful kick, and the claws on their feet could likely disembowel someone like me.  Ostriches have been known to kill lions, and cassowaries are considered the most dangerous birds in modern times because of how powerful their kicks and sharp claws are.  However, unlike ratites, these things have claws on their wings.  There are so many in this flock, though, and they don't know what to make of me, but if I get in the midst of them, there'll be commotion, and hopefully, I can grab hold of one of them without being kicked or clawed at."

Nigel slowly walks toward the flock of Ornithomimus.  Some stare at him, but most continue feeding.  However, as he reaches his striking range, all of them are now staring at him, wondering what he is and what he'll do.  Nigel freezes and looks at the flock, carefully scanning to select his target.  He quickly finds one, a female which happens to be the one closest to him.  With his sock in hand, Nigel lunges.  The Ornithomimus, startled by this strange creature lunging at them, panic and run.  The female he is targeting gets slowed down by several other Ornithomimus getting in her way, allowing Nigel to grab her.  Once he has a hold of her, he attempts to get his sock over her head while the rest of the flock scurry off into the brush.  Nigel struggles to get the sock on, but the female Ornithomimus makes it very difficult.  However, as he struggles to get the sock on, something in the distance has sensed the commotion.  Just as Nigel is about to get the sock over the Ornithomimus' head, the flock returns.  However, instead of engaging with Nigel, they run right past him.  Feeling that something isn't right, Nigel lets the female go, and she joins them.

"Now there's something else to contend with.  Something much, much bigger."

"Something is either chasing them or scared them back this way."

Nigel stands up and looks where the flock had come from, only to see the cause of the flock's change in direction—much to his amazement but also dread.

"It looks like the T. rex had found Nigel before Nigel could find them."

Standing before Nigel were three T. rexes.  They appeared to be sub-adults, almost fully grown.  They were a mottled brown color with a cream underbelly.  There are streaks of brown down their mouths and snouts, resembling stripes.  Above their eye were crests that appeared prominent.  The three looked down at him, surprised by what they were staring at.  He smelled like a mammal to them, but he was much bigger and looked vastly different from any mammal they'd ever seen or smelled before.  Unfortunately, despite being much larger than Nigel, the three Tyrannosaurs began hissing and grumbling at him, baring their massive teeth, unsure what to make of him.  Nigel, however, is trying to remain calm during this ordeal.

"No sudden moves," Nigel says as he slowly backs up as the three theropod predators inch closer.  Many thoughts run through his head as he considers every possible way to escape this situation.  Unfortunately, Nigel realizes that there is only one option.

"RUN!"

Nigel bolts toward the trees in the same direction as the Ornithomimus.  The three massive predators were briefly surprised by Nigel's sudden decision but quickly regained their composure and chased after him.  Nigel sprints as fast as he can through the forest, desperately trying to escape the three T. rexes, all while they hiss at him, reminiscent of crocodiles and alligators.

"Nigel's attempt at finding a T. rex didn't go as planned.  Luckily, Nigel does have two advantages.  Despite T. rex being speculated to run up to 17 miles per hour, Nigel's smaller size in this dense forest allows him to move faster.  The only downside is that the predators don't need to move at top speed to catch up to him.  Thanks to their size and long legs, an adult Tyrannosaurus rex can cover more ground while moving than a human can.  In addition to their elongated posture, the predators are getting dangerously close to catching Nigel.  Thankfully, the other advantage is that T. rex is so top-heavy that if they trip, the fall could kill them."

Nigel manages to duck and run under a fallen tree- not a moment too soon, as one of the rexes reaches its head over and snaps at him but misses.  The dinosaur releases one last hiss, this one more powerful.  Nigel, however, keeps running until he finds a large bush.

"Get down, mate, get down,"  Nigel orders as he stares at the three from behind the bush.  The treeline and brush are too dense for the three Tyrannosaurs to get through.  Eventually, they realize the chase is not worth it, turning and walking away.  Once Nigel sees they're far enough away, he gets up from behind the bush.

"That was a close one,"  Nigel panted, looking back and seeing that the three were long gone.  "The predators don't like confined spaces like this.  That's why, I think, they're staying back there.  I don't think they chased after me because they saw me as food or a threat, but it was because I ran.  That likely triggered their chasing instinct; all predators have it.  They also likely did it out of curiosity.  They could have eaten me had they caught me, but I doubt that was their goal when they first saw me.  *Pant* I think what we got to do now is head back to camp."

With that, Nigel begins his hike back to camp.

As the day shifts to evening, Nigel is still hiking back to camp.  He begins reminiscing about today's events: traveling back in time, encountering his first dinosaurs, a flock of Ornithomimus, almost capturing one of them, and then being chased by a trio of Tyrannosaurus rex.  Unfortunately, this has Nigel feeling slightly down.

"Day one over, and there's no T. rex to take home.  At least there's no sight of the meteor, either.  But it can't be far away."

Chapter Text

Time: Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 66 MYA

Location: Montana

Mission Log: Day 2

Days Until Meteor Impact: 3

At the camp, the team is cleaning up a bit while Nigel crouches over the creek nearby to wash his face.  As he does, he's still a bit disheartened that his first encounter with a T. rex was not how he planned.  While he knows that the mission's first day is not guaranteed to end with bringing one to Prehistoric Park, he hoped he could have found a way to strategize a plan to catch one, especially since he has about three more days to do so.

Luckily, his disheartenment won't last much longer.

"The following morning, the camp has some visitors."

Nigel continues to wash his face but stops when he hears grunting sounds approaching.  He quickly wipes the water away from his eyes and sees a herd of dinosaurs approaching.

"More creatures in the last throws of their existence."

Nigel gazes in awe as the herd approaches the creek.  The dinosaurs have large frills and three horns, two from above their eyes and one on their snouts.

"A glorious sight to wake up to a big herd of Triceratops," Nigel says.  "This is a tremendous sight.  These are Triceratops prorsus, which means straightforward three-horned face.  They're believed to be the descendants of Triceratops horridus, a species whose name means horrid three-horned face.  But how could they?  They are gorgeous."

The team, who had stopped what they were doing, came to join Nigel as the Triceratops gathered around the creek.  Some of the herbivores were coming for a drink, and others were browsing on the plants around them.  Most of the herd doesn't seem to notice Nigel and the team's presence, but the ones in front do and stare at them.  Like with the Ornithomimus and Tyrannosaurus rex from the day before, the three-horned herbivores are stunned by what they see and smell.  The herbivores stared as Nigel motioned to his team to back away slowly and avoid eye contact in hopes of not causing them any stress.

"They're big too.  The females have got to be at least five or six tons while the males could be pushing at least eight to ten," Nigel states before pointing to a particularly large one.  "That one over there, a big male, must be at least 25 feet long, and look at how long his horns are.  Fossils have shown variation in both the shape and length of horns between individual Triceratops, and the males likely used them to impress females and ward off and fight rivals and predators.  And the frills, each individual has has different colors and patterns-" However, he's soon interrupted by a loud, honk-like sound.  He and the team turn to their left and see a herd of other dinosaurs approaching.  These were taller than the Triceratops, and even the three Tyrannosaurs Nigel had previously encountered.  Their mouths were large, and their shape was reminiscent of a duck bill.

"This is terrific; we now have a herd of duck-billed dinosaurs, or hadrosaurs, called Edmontosaurus annectens.  When you see hadrosaur dinosaurs in movies and television, many assume they're the size of a horse or maybe a little bit bigger.  However, these blow that perception out of the water; they are huge," Nigel says.  The Edmontosaurus herd joins the Triceratops in feeding, but do keep their distance.  The ceratopsians don't seem to mind the hadrosaurs and vice versa, likely because they don't see each other as a threat.  "And the good thing for us is there is a lot of them.  They're both prey animals for T.rex, especially the Edmontosaurus.  I've seen tracks of the predator over there," Nigel gestures towards the forest on his left.  "Prey and predators are attracted to water sources, and what I'm going to do is follow the tracks to see if I can find one."

Nigel then begins to walk back towards the camp as some of the Triceratops and Edmontosaurus, who had just now noticed his presence, watch him leave.  The Edmontosaurs, while not necessarily afraid of Nigel since he wasn't threatening them and they're much larger than him, walk away a little to be as far from him as possible but stay in the area to continue feeding.  The Triceratops, however, have now let their guard down and drink from the creek, although they do look up every little bit or so to keep an eye on the strange creatures settled nearby.

Sometime later, Nigel has been following the Tyrannosaurus rex tracks.  He was walking up the hill of an open area overlooking a lake.  However, despite the beautiful view, Nigel is vigilant so that he doesn't have a similar encounter to yesterday's.

As he continues to follow, he briefly stops and crouches at one of the prints on the ground before continuing.

"The tracks are fresh, and it looks like a well-used trail.  T. rex, despite their massive size and build, can walk for long distances when they need to."

The tracks that Nigel had been following only represented one animal, but he's now just come across two more sets on this trail, all walking alongside one another.

"Nigel is hoping these ones aren't too far away."

As he continues to follow, Nigel spots a disturbance in the soil and quickly moves to investigate.

"The tracks are really beginning to tell a story.  Look here,"  He gestures to a large mark in the dirt.  "That was a big tail sweep, and there's impressions here of bodies.  There was a kerfuffle here, I think.  Another tail drag over there,"  He gestures.  "And the tracks are going on.  I think we're getting close to the center of their territory."

Nigel continues to follow the tracks of the three.  After several minutes of tracking, Nigel hears something.  He crouches down and moves closer to a large rock outcropping.  Once he reaches it, he sees something big moving and quickly realizes it's a T.rex.

"Crouch down."  Nigel quietly orders.  "Get over here."  He gets on his belly, hiding among the rock outcrop.  Before him are three Tyrannosaurus rex.  Two of them are biting and tussling with each other, while one is just walking around them, minding its own business.  However, they don't appear to be adults.  "Those three, I think they're the ones who chased me yesterday.  I noticed they didn't appear fully grown, but I didn't have the opportunity to examine them.  Now that I have a good look at them, my best guess is that they're around sixteen.  Paleontologists believe that Tyrannosaurus rex reached full maturity at around twenty years old.  These three must weigh around five or six tons.  Seeing these three together, I'm guessing they're siblings.  Fossilized tracks of Tyrannosaurus rex have shown multiple individuals walking alongside one another, but no one has determined whether they're social or solitary.  The leading theory is that T. rex was generally solitary but did work with others to hunt big prey from time to time.  The ones who hunted together were likely siblings or mates, which makes sense since they would be familiar with one another and could cooperate rather easily."

He ducks down a little more when the first T. rex, the one walking around, passes by the outcrop.  After it walked past, Nigel looked back up and watched the three.  "It's terrific.  That kerfuffle back there, it must've been those two over there,"  Nigel gestures to the two fighting.  "I don't see any food for them here, so they must have been fighting for practice.  Many animals need to learn how to fight, as it may help them one day take over another's territory, food, for mates, or to defend themselves and those three things."

"It's dangerous play.  T. rex has huge jaw muscles, giving them the strongest bite force of any known terrestrial animal at over 12,000 pounds of force, over three times that of a Saltwater Crocodile, and over twelve times more powerful than a lion's."

"I can't tell whether these three are male, female, or both.  But my guess is that they're males due to the crests above their eyes.  Tyrannosaurus rex had these crests on their postorbital bone above each eye.  These crests could have been used for display, but no one really knows what they were used for.  I've yet to see a fully mature T. rex of either sex, but given the size of their crests, they're probably male."

The one T. rex who had been walking stopped and stood still while its siblings continued to wrestle.

"They're a real mob, like a gang looking for trouble,"  Nigel says.  "And they really interact."  Suddenly, the one rex straightens itself up and looks to its left, sensing something.  Nigel notices its sudden change in behavior, but before he can say anything, the rex hisses at its siblings to get their attention.  The two stop their squabbling and quickly sense it, too.  The first rex begins to walk toward the outcrop where Nigel is hiding, with the other two following suit.  Nigel gets down to avoid being seen.

"Suddenly, they all started moving this way."  Thankfully, the three don't notice Nigel and walk past the outcrop.  However, they're all walking quickly, as if trying to follow or avoid something.

"It's one thing to find a T. rex, but it's another thing to take one home."

After several minutes, Nigel gets up from his hiding spot, the three T. rexes now gone.  Their sudden behavior change, however, has Nigel confused.

"I have no idea why they just left,"  Nigel states.  "I don't think it was something they smelled; the wind was moving downwind in the direction they headed, and they weren't sniffing the air.  It must have been something they heard.  Tyrannosaurus rex had an excellent sense of hearing, even picking up on low-frequency sounds.  It's possible that they heard another animal nearby and either went to investigate or get away from it."

Nigel, however, decides to avoid following them.  Instead, he goes down to where they were moments ago.  Climbing down from the outcrop, Nigel goes to the clearing and witnesses the footprints and disturbances on the ground where they walked and tussled.  However, he notices something else near the treeline.  He walks over and finds another T. rex footprint; only this one is bigger than the rest.

"Now I see why they left,"  Nigel says.  "This footprint is of an adult Tyrannosaurus.  It must belong to the ruler of this territory, and those three must have heard it.  They probably moved into this area recently, looking for resources or to establish their own territory, only to discover that it's already occupied.  This individual is likely to be double their weight, so even though those three have a numbers advantage, they won't chance an encounter with an adult."

Being in the territory of a larger T. rex may sound more worrisome, but for Nigel, it opens a new opportunity.

"If I can find that adult, I might be able to get it back to Prehistoric Park."

Two hours have passed since Nigel started his search for the adult T. rex.  The downside for T. rex hearing low-frequency sounds is that the adult is likely miles away.  Traveling several miles in one day is not a big deal for a T. rex, but it's long and exhausting for Nigel.

Nigel eventually sees something in the forest.  He moves closer to get a better look.  To his disappointment, it's not a T.rex, but it might just be something else to bring back.

"Fortunately, dinosaurs lay eggs and are much easier to transport."

"It looks like a nesting sight.  I'm going to go have a look now and see if I can find any eggs."  Nigel says as he moves towards the nest.

"Unfortunately, he's too late."

Nigel reaches the nest, only to see that it's mostly empty aside from a few eggshells.

"This is all I could find, empty T. rex eggshells,"  Nigel says as he examines the nest.  "They might have been broken into by a predator, or more likely, they're last season's eggs.  It's so disappointing; if we could have found a fresh T. rex nest, got the eggs, and taken them back to Prehistoric Park, that would have been the easiest option for us."

Nigel, finding no luck searching for the adult or a fresh nest, decides it's time to head back to camp.

It's now evening, and Nigel, who has already returned to camp, sits at a fire, enjoying his beverage.

"Another day, and he's still no closer to saving a T. rex.  And up above are the first signs that the meteorite is closing in.  Streaking across tonight's skies are shooting stars.  Huge boulders are entering Earth's atmosphere at 20,000 miles per hour.  They are the precursor of something much, much bigger."

"Look at this cosmological activity going on here; those are meteors.  Nothing to worry about; they burn up in the atmosphere.  But they're in the bowway of the meteorite.  When that comes through, that's going to smack into the Earth.  And that's the problem, we really got such little time here, and I'm hoping tomorrow will go better, and we can save a T. rex or two."

Chapter Text

Time: Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 66 MYA

Location: Montana

Mission Log: Day 3

Days Until Meteor Impact: 2

The moon is bright once the sun has disappeared for the night.  After failing to bring a T. rex back to Prehistoric Park these last couple of days, Nigel and his team are on edge.  They only have two more days until the meteor hits the planet, and once it does, the mission is over, T. rex or none.

However, Nigel and his team had devised a new strategy.  When Nigel returned to the camp yesterday, the herds of Triceratops and Edmontosaurus had already moved on.  Luckily for Nigel, their tracks showed that both herds were traveling toward the lake he had seen the previous day.  Both herbivores are prey for Tyrannosaurus rex, and water sources are excellent hunting grounds for predators.  If they could find the herds and wait and see if the three young or the adult T. rexes showed up, he could lure at least one in through the time portal.  After they agreed on the plan, Nigel and his team packed supplies and equipment for the morning before tucking in for the night.

The sun is up and bright as its light reflects across the lake below it.  The herds of Triceratops and Edmontosaurus have been there all night and are enjoying the plentiful vegetation and water.  However, this peaceful moment was not going to last much longer.

"The next day, the trio of T. rex turn up, looking for trouble."

Just within the dense brush at the edge of the clearing, the three young Tyrannosaur siblings are stalking the herds, who are unaware of their presence.  Nigel and his team, who had arrived a few hours earlier, had noticed them.  They watched the trio carefully and kept a good distance from them to avoid gaining their attention.  After a long night of unsuccessful hunting and traveling far to avoid the adult, these herds are a blessing to the young Tyrannosaurs.  However, the three know they're risking a lot by hunting during the day in an open area and inside an adult's territory, but their hunger outweighs the risks.  The three theropods are examining the herds to select their target.  The Triceratops have a lot of meat on them, but even for a pack of three sub-adult T. rexes, one can cause serious injury or death to the hunters.  The Edmontosaurs are a safer option but are dangerously close to the Triceratops.  This hunt will be incredibly risky, and while they could wait until nightfall for a better chance, they're too hungry to wait any longer.

"It seems both the Triceratops and Edmontosaurus are on the menu."

Nigel and his team watch the T. rexes with their binoculars.  They see that the three are now beginning their hunt.  Having selected their target, the predators split up, with two going right and one going left.

"It looks like their strategy is to have those two burst out of the trees to distract and scare the herds into heading toward the third T. rex, who's waiting to ambush which animal they target,"  Nigel explains before returning his attention to the hunt.  "Now that they're on the move, we need to get ready to move in when we can."  Nigel puts his binoculars down and gives orders to get his team ready to move before he heads for the herds.

Meanwhile, back with the predators, the two are now in position to enact their plan.  They see their sibling off in the distance, waiting in his position.  After brief moments of peaceful silence, the two burst out of the brush and charge toward the herds.

"Charging toward the herbivores, right in the midst of the herds there!"

The Edmontosaurs and even the Triceratops panic from this sudden attack and run in various directions.  Both T. rex hiss at their prey to lead them toward their sibling.

"And what the T. rex are doing, they'll find the weakest."

The predators have selected their target, but before they can reach it, they're confronted by a pair of Triceratops.  The well-armed herbivores push back against the predators, defending their young.

"A fully grown Triceratops is far from defenseless.  While mainly used for display and communication, its frill is made of solid bone.  Unfortunately, its fill doesn't offer as much protection as one might think.  It's its horns, however, that are the biggest threat.  The horns of a Triceratops are also made of solid bone and covered in several layers of keratin, making them stronger.  One strike from those horns can be devastating."

Blocked and outmatched, the two Tyrannosaurs are unsure of what to do.  Their brother watches from the brush, just as confused as them.  One thing is clear, though: their desperation messed up the hunt.  But, when they think it couldn't get any worse, the two notice something else behind the Triceratops.  Much to their distress, it was another Tyrannosaurus rex.  This one, however, was at least twice their size; its crests were not as prominent, and while having the same patterning, it was lighter in color.  Drawn by the sound of intruders and panicking prey, the adult T. rex came to investigate.  To its displeasure, it finds a small pack of younger individuals attempting and failing at hunting in its territory.  However, instead of bursting out and chasing them off, the adult takes advantage of the situation.  It, too, is hungry, and the panic the young ones have caused has opened an opportunity to ambush.  The adult T. rex bursts out and charges toward the young Triceratops.  In a panic, the young ceratopsians retreat to escape the bigger predator.

"The younger Triceratops know better than to stand their ground."

The younger Triceratops had retreated toward Nigel, some nearly hitting him.  Nigel, distracted by the sudden appearance of the adult T. rex, manages to move out of the way in time, but in the process, he falls to the ground, his binoculars accidentally hitting him in the head.  What scared Nigel, though, was the force of the Triceratops running past him.

"Almost felt like I was about to be hit by a train."

Back with the hunt, the adult T. rex confronts the young T. rex brothers and the pair of Triceratops.  For the brothers, they are completely afraid and confused.  For the Triceratops, they're stuck between a rock and a hard place.  In front of them are two young T. rex, but behind them is an adult.  However, their predicament is about to end, but not in a good way.  Behind them, to their right, an adolescent Triceratops is running, but in its panic, toward the worst direction.

"The young Triceratops has run the wrong way."

The adult T. rex sees the young Triceratops and bites down on it as soon as it's in front of it.  The young Triceratops struggles in the adult T. rex's grasp.

"The more it struggles, the more trouble it's in as the T. rex's 12-inch long, thick and conical, serrated teeth sink deeper and deeper."

The young Triceratops cries out in pain and fear as the adult T. rex continues to bite down on its helpless victim.  All Nigel can do is watch, witnessing the sad and tragic end of such a young animal at the jaws of such a powerful predator.  However, one of the adult Triceratops hears the cries and spots the young Triceratops in the jaws of the adult T. rex.  It rushes toward the predator.

"Luckily, help is at hand."

"There's a Triceratops fighting back the adult T. rex!"

The adult rex sees the adult Triceratops charging and drops its prey to confront it.  The adult Triceratops lunges forward, pushing the T. rex back.  The adult rex lunges forward, but the Triceratops throws its head up to deflect the attack.  Then, the Triceratops rushes forward and manages to hit the Tyrannosaur with its horns.  The rex lets out a cry of pain before re-engaging with its opponent.

"The horn's gone right into the upper thigh!"

The Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops continue to fight.  The Triceratops lunges forward again, and its horns leave more wounds on the rex's side.  The T. rex attempts to go for the neck, but the Triceratops knocks the theropod back.  The Triceratops attacks again and lands a few more hits, causing the T. rex to cry out in pain.  The younger T. rexes, witnessing it all, finally decided to retreat.  They join up with their brother and head far away from the scene.

"And the young ones, they just skedaddled."

"So much for the hunt."

The adult Triceratops retreats, leaving the injured adult T. rex.  Blood drips down the predator's leg.  T. rexes are tough, but even they can succumb to injury.

"Now the injured T. rex has to attempt a new kill.  And it looks like it spotted its next victims: more youngsters."

Hiding poorly behind some bushes was a young Triceratops and a young Edmontosaurus.  Both were about half the size of the adults, and the Triceratops' horns were curved upward.  They're too scared to move, even as the adult T. rex, intent on hunting one of them, moves toward them.

"For Nigel, this is the chance he's been waiting for.  He sets up the time portal."

Nigel and his team set up the time portal as quickly as possible.  Once it's set, they head toward the two young herbivores.

"Maybe I can get three dinosaur species for the price of one,"  Nigel says as he takes off his vest and waves it in front of the two cowering animals.  The two look back and see that the T. rex is getting closer but are still too afraid to leave their hiding spot.  "If I can lure these two through the time portal, come on, then maybe the T. rex will follow."

Nigel waves his vest at the Triceratops and Edmontosaurus, almost desperately trying to entice them to run toward the portal.  The two refuse to budge, afraid and now confused by everything happening.  The Triceratops looks back and sees the Tyrannosaurus is getting closer, and now he has to decide: stay or run.  Ultimately, the fear of being killed by the predator gets the best of him, and he and the Edmontosaurus book it toward the portal.

"Come on!"  Nigel yells as the two herbivores move, not a second too soon as the T. rex finally reaches the bush.  The T. rex stops at the bush and gives a loud hiss as its two targets run through the portal, with Nigel and his team following behind.

"Come on, T. rex!"

The Tyrannosaur gives out one last hiss before going quiet.  The animal is perplexed by what it just witnessed.  Seconds ago, it saw a young Triceratops and Edmontosaurus running away from it, along with some strange-looking creatures, only to disappear into thin air.  The dinosaur decides it's not worth it and limps back into the forest.

Time: Present Day

Location: Prehistoric Park

Mission Log: Day 3

Days Until Meteor Impact: 2

Back at Prehistoric Park, Bob was at the holding facility.  He had spent most of his time there these last few days waiting for Nigel and his team.  He was up on the walkway above the holding pens when he saw the portal open.  He hurried over anxiously, thinking he was about to see Nigel and a T. rex.  But what came through first was different from what he expected.  He watched as a young Triceratops and Edmontosaurus rushed through, followed by Nigel and his team, much to his relief.

"Well, those are certainly not T. rexes!"  Bob calls out to Nigel, who looks up and laughs.

The two dinosaurs enter one of the pens together before the gate behind them closes.  They are confused by everything.  Moments ago, they were being chased by a T. rex in their forested habitat, and now they're in a weird and unknown environment surrounded by strange creatures.  However, despite it all, they've calmed down a little now that the T. rex is gone.

"With the Triceratops weighing in at five tons and the Edmontosaurus at four, both make a great start."

Everyone at the holding facility stops what they're doing and comes to see the two herbivores.  Up top, Bob grabs his radio and calls the whole Park.

"It's not long before news spreads that Prehistoric Park's first dinosaurs have arrived."

A car arrives at the holding facility and pulls up to the pen.  Inside the car is another employee and the Park's head veterinarian.

"The Park's vet, Suzanne, heads over to take a look for herself."

Suzanne walks up to the pen, looks through the gaps, and sees the two dinosaurs within.

"It's a Triceratops and Edmontosaurus; he's done it.  Our first dinosaurs, look at them.  They're magnificent."

Later that evening, two large trucks pull up to the holding facility.  These are transport trucks, and their first passengers are the Triceratops and Edmontosaurus.

"All the way, get back,"  Bob orders as the first truck backs up to the pen.

"Park Keeper, Bob, is keen to move the newcomers into a secure enclosure as soon as possible."

"Woah!  That's far enough."

The staff prepare the truck to be boarded.

Back in his office, Nigel is filling out some paperwork.  He wants to finish quickly because Bob is moving the two newcomers to their new home.

"Although they were an unexpected arrival, Nigel thinks he's got the perfect place to put them."

Nigel finishes filling out the paperwork before walking to the wall-mounted map of the Park.

"I need to have a look at that.  Up you go,"  Nigel gently says to a snake hanging from the top of the wall, blocking the map before lifting it out of the way.  "Triceratops and Edmontosaurus, our first dinosaurs; we need a good place to keep them.  I'm going to call the Triceratops Theo; that's a great name for him.  And I'll call the Edmontosaurus Edmonton; that's an appropriate name for him.  But we need some vegetation for them to browse on.  Bob and I have looked over here-"  He gestures to a large open grassland.  "... too much grass.  So Bob's found the perfect spot.  Down here by the river, and that's where their enclosure is going to be.  Bob's already had an enclosure built there long ago, just in case.  We're going to keep the two together.  We haven't seen any aggression from the two toward one another, nor any stress of them being together.  They'll cohabitate just fine in their new home, and I think they're just about to unload them."

With that, Nigel pins a small piece of paper labeled 'Triceratops and Edmontosaurus Creek' on the map, indicating the location of the new enclosure before he heads off to witness the release of Theo and Edmonton.

Nigel arrives at the enclosure just in time.  Bob and a few of the staff had just parked the trucks inside and were getting ready to let the two inside out.

"Hey, Bob!"  Nigel says to his friend as he exits his vehicle.

"Ah, Nigel!"  Bob says as he walks over and pats Nigel on the back.

"I'm thrilled to be here, and I can see you are; our first dinosaurs."

"A bit short notice, but I'll forgive ya' though.  Our new visitors are magnificent."

"And how's the enclosure?"

"It's a bit makeshift, but it'll do for the time being."

The two walk over to the perfect spot to watch the release.

"Let's take a look."

"Let's see."

"I've given them names as well."

"Uh-huh?"

"Theo the Triceratops and Edmonton the Edmontosaurus."

"Theo and Edmonton, good names.  Alright, let'em out!" Bob orders as the crew open the doors to both trucks.  "Here they come, here they come—whoa whoa, ha ha!"

Theo and Edmonton barrel their way out of the trucks, with Theo almost getting a little too close to Nigel and Bob.  Once on the ground, Theo and Edmonton gaze at their new surroundings.  It looked different from their old home, but it seemed rather peaceful.  There was a forest to their left, a creek to their right, and plenty of bushes, trees, and shrubs to feed on.  And best of all, no predators.

"Look at that!"  Nigel exclaims, witnessing the two dinosaurs take in their new surroundings.  "Plenty for them to eat; well done, Bob.  It's great."

"Alright, come on, lads.  Get the boards and the trucks out of here."  Bob orders the crew to begin the cleanup.

"I'm really pleased with this habitat for the Triceratops and Edmontosaurus,"  Nigel says.  "Grass is no good for dinosaurs; it hadn't evolved when they were around.  The Triceratops is not like a cow; it doesn't graze.  What it does is browse like a Black Rhinoceros.  It needs low shrubs and trees, and there are plenty of those for Theo here.  And he's got such a beak; he can snap off branches as thick as my arm.  The Edmontosaurs did graze on several types of plants, but again, not grass.  There are plenty of plants for him to eat here, but we'll have to plant things like cycads in here later for both of them to feed on.  Other than that, this is gonna be great for them to thrive."

Nigel hops in his car as Theo and Edmonton watch them leave.  Once Nigel, Bob, and the rest of the staff had left, the two herbivores began to feed.

"For Theo and Edmonton to reach their full size, they'll have to spend most of their lives eating."

Nigel is now back at his lodge.  He walks toward his office, passing a pair of macaws perched on the railing.

"With the Park's first dinosaurs settled, Nigel turns his attention once again to T. rex."

"And the pressures back on Bob to finish up the enclosure."

Construction is still underway at the site of the T. rex enclosure.  It's almost done, but Bob is anxious to finish it quickly, as there is only a short amount of time left.

"I haven't had a clue how to build a compound for a Tyrannosaurus rex; I've only seen a picture of one in a storybook,"  Bob explains as he walks around, inspecting the progress of the construction.  "But Nigel seems to think that this'll do.  There's lots of area for it to move around, there's lots of shade to get out of the sun, and I've built it at the bottom of the hill so that, if it wants to, it can stand up there and survey its domain."

The enclosure that will house the T. rex is perfect.  Its size, habitat, and setup will make a great home for the last of the Tyrant Lizard Kings.

Nigel, not wasting any more time, hops into his Range Rover and drives to the holding facility.  He has just over a day left to save a T. rex.

"The enclosure will have to be finished soon because Nigel is on his way back to where he left off:  66 million years ago.  And this time, he's promised to return with a T. rex."

The portal is opened, and Nigel drives through it, determined to bring back the king of the dinosaurs.

Chapter Text

Time: Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 66 MYA

Location: Montana

Mission Log: Day 4

Days Until Meteor Impact: 1

The powerful yet calming sounds of a waterfall echo through the forest.  The rushing waters of the river below drown them out the further down you go.  The calls of prehistoric life fill the air.  All these things are what Nigel hears as he makes his way downriver.  After returning to the late Cretaceous, he set off immediately to find a T. rex.  Nigel has at least less of a day left to accomplish his mission.  The meteor is closing in, and once it hits, the dinosaurs will be wiped from the face of the Earth.  The only survivors will be the birds.

"It's not just the dinosaurs that will be wiped out by the meteorite hit."

Nigel grabs his binoculars and looks up when he hears a call from the sky above him.  He witnesses a flock of pterosaurs flying overhead, and he can't help but feel sympathy for the doomed creatures.

"Nigel knows that everything he sees around him will be devastated."

As the pterosaurs fly away, Nigel takes in his surroundings.  This lush forest, rushing river, and clear skies will soon be gone.

"What a magnificent place.  Pterosaurs swooping overhead, you can hear them calling all of the time," he says before taking a quick sip of water from the river.  "And sweet water.  But it's hard to believe this stream will be choked with ash and dust.  The meteorite is going to hit not too far away, and time is running out.  This is my second rescue mission, and I'm determined to rescue some T. rex for Prehistoric Park."

The devastation particularly hurts Nigel.  Not only can he not save every prehistoric animal he sees, but some species, like pterosaurs, can never be brought back to Prehistoric Park.  While Prehistoric Park is built with many prehistoric species in mind, many other species would be too difficult or dangerous to bring back, contain, or care for.  Many pterosaurs, for example, require massive amounts of space to fly, and they can easily get past the natural geography surrounding the Park.  Many marine species, like mosasaurs, grow to large sizes and also require massive amounts of space, making them impossible to contain and care for.  As such, Nigel has to leave them to their fate of extinction.  However, Nigel has vowed to save as many species from extinction as possible.

Nigel continues his way down the river, and after a little while, he can no longer hear the waterfall.  As he makes his way along the river bank, he checks the ground, looking for something.  There's a reason why Nigel decided to follow this river.  It's connected to the lake where he witnessed the failed T. rex hunts and saved Theo and Edmonton.  When he arrived at the lake earlier today, Nigel noticed some blood on the rocks at the mouth of the river, along with something else.

"There are lots of dinosaur tracks to follow, but Nigel's interested in one set in particular."

Before long, Nigel finds what he's looking for.  He crouches down to get a better look at a set of T. rex tracks.  However, these aren't the tracks of any random Tyrannosaur.

"There's something strange with these tracks,"  Nigel states.  "Look, this one here, the toes have been dragged along.  And I think it's the adult T. rex that was gored in the stampede."

The previous day, during the hunt, an adult Tyrannosaurus rex appeared and attempted to take advantage of the failed hunt enacted by the young trio Nigel had followed for the last couple of days.  The adult had managed to get ahold of a young Triceratops, only for an adult to come in and attack the rex.  The fight resulted in the Tyrannosaur becoming injured and the herds escaping.  The predator then attempted to hunt another young Triceratops and a young Edmontosaurus.  Nigel attempted to rescue the two young herbivores and use them as bait to lure the Tyrannosaur through the Time Portal.  However, while the Triceratops and Edmontosaurus went through, the rex didn't follow.

"We're pretty close to where the stampede was.  You can see where it dragged its toes through the mud.  It's injured, and if it's got an injury it'll be moving pretty slowly.  And if we head downstream and follow these tracks, we may be able to catch up."

Nigel makes his way downriver, following the tracks.  As he does, the river's edge becomes rockier and rockier, confusing Nigel.  Why would a T. rex, an injured one, travel down this part of the river?  Despite that, Nigel knows that he cannot stop and ponder.

"The track takes him downriver, where he's hoping to gain ground on the T. rex.  With any luck, her injury will make her slower and a little easier to catch."

Nigel marches on, and after an hour, something catches his attention.  He's walking along the river's edge when he hears branches and leaves being moved and crushed on the ground above him.  That can only mean one thing: the T. rex is here.

"Listen," Nigel says quietly.  "Its footfalls are reverberating; it's up there somewhere.  And an animal that weighs nine or ten tons, they can walk quietly but can make noise when they choose to."

"And look,"  Nigel points to a dead Triceratops in the river.  "There's a Triceratops corpse, and it can smell that.  That's why it's been moving so steadfastly along the river."

However, just above Nigel, the T. rex was moving toward where he was.  The predator was huffing hard, clearly in pain.  Its steps crunching the leaves and branches before touching the dirt.  Nigel hears it and quickly takes cover at the river's edge, hoping he won't be found.

"Get on your back."  He orders.  "We don't want it to see us."

The predator's head looks over the edge, hissing in pain.  Nigel keeps as low as he can; luckily, the T. rex has its eyes on something else.  It sees the dead Triceratops flowing slowly down the river.  It recognizes this corpse as the same young Triceratops it almost killed the previous day.  Despite being saved by the adult Triceratops, the injuries the young one received were too great, and they ultimately succumbed to them.  It had died in the river as it attempted to cross.

The T. rex moves on, following the carcass.  The Tyrannosaurus' injuries make hunting difficult, so it has to resort to scavenging.  The dead Triceratops would make for an excellent meal.

"It's starting to move away,"  Nigel says, rising from his hiding spot.  "I'm absolutely certain it was the one attacked by the Triceratops."

"The T. rex has been able to track down this free meal despite being badly injured because T. rexes have a superb sense of smell."

The T. rex moves downstream, following the corpse.  After a few minutes, the injured predator stops.  The dead Triceratops is now stuck between some rocks.

"It's in luck.  The Triceratops carcass has become stuck.  This is Nigel's chance to get really close to it."

Nigel does get close, and he examines the injured animal.  The T. rex's left leg shakes as it stops at the river.  Nigel also takes notice of the crests on its head.

"The crests on this one's head are not as pronounced as those of the three young T. rexes from before, and it's lighter in color.  This one is much bigger than them, thus older, so I believe it's a female,"  Nigel states.

As Nigel watches, the T. rex carefully attempts to reach over and grab the carcass.  The rocks are loose and slippery, so she must be careful if she is to get an easy meal.

"And she must be so hungry; she's desperate for an easy meal.  Even though T. rex is everyone's ultimate monster, you just can't help but feel sorry for her,"  Nigel says.  The female T. rex growls in frustration and pain.  Her leg hurts, and the easiest meal she could get is just out of reach, across a flowing river with loose terrain.  "She's a top predator, and they're so top-heavy, the T. rex; if she went in this fast-flowing water, she'd be flipped over easily.  But she's desperate to get at the meat."  The poor animal takes another shaky step forward, her mouth drooling out of hunger.  "I just feel so sorry for her.  She's desperate to get out there.  It's just across the water, but she's got no chance."

The female T. rex makes one last attempt to grab the carcass.  She takes one more step closer, but her injured leg causes her to hiss in pain once again.  Once again, she stops, but this time she gives up.  It's too risky for her to get ahold of the carcass.  Grumbling in defeat, the Tyrannosaur leaves.

"The T. rex limps off, leaving Nigel to figure out what to do next."

It has been a few hours since Nigel found the injured female T. rex.  After considering his options, Nigel decided to head back to camp to regroup with his team and devise an effective strategy.  The injured female is not too far from camp, and based on where she headed after giving up on the Triceratops carcass, she's likely to head in Nigel's direction since it's where her best chances at hunting are.  Nigel thinks that if she makes it to the camp, he and his team could lure her through the Time Portal.  How, though, is still a question.

"Upon returning to camp, Nigel is met with a peculiar sight."

When Nigel reaches the camp, he notices that his team are all standing at the edge of the creek below, watching something.  Curious as to what they're seeing, Nigel heads down to join them.

"Hey everyone,"  Nigel greets his team, who all greet him back.  "What's got all of your attention?"

"Over there," one of the team members points out.

Nigel grabs his binoculars and looks in the direction everyone else is.  What he sees fills him with joy because off in the distance is a herd of seven dinosaurs.  Most were grayish-brown, although a couple were green.  They were bipedal, with no feathers, spikes along their heads' backs, and stripe-like patterns along their bodies.  Most importantly, the tops of their skulls were dome-shaped.  Nigel knows exactly what these are.

"This is so exciting.  It's a herd of Pachycephalosaurus,"  Nigel says, ecstatic at what the team had found.  "They belong to a family of dinosaurs, the Pachycephalosaurs, whose main feature was the large dome on the top of their skulls.  Paleontologists originally theorized that they were used for head-butting.   However, over the years, some speculated that their skulls were too weak for it and instead were used for display because tiny fibers were found in the skulls.  Those fibers likely displayed bright, vibrant colors.  However, recent discoveries have shown that Pachycephalosaurs did, in fact, head-butt, and they could withstand a force similar to what American Football players withstand, which is a tremendous amount of power."

This herd of Pachycephalosaurus is not head-butting.  Instead, they are feeding on the vegetation around them.  The ones with lighter green coloration were the females, while the two darker ones were males.  What catches Nigel's interest are the males.

"Look, the big one with the yellow neck and bright red dome head has got to be the dominant male.  The other male has some of those colors, but they're not as pronounced as the leader's, and he's smaller.  My guess is that he's not reached maturity yet."

"These Pachycephalosaurs will become extinct as well.  But Nigel has other plans."

Wasting no time, Nigel rushes back to camp and grabs the Time Portal.

"I would absolutely love to have these Pachycephalosaurus back at Prehistoric Park,"  Nigel says as he heads toward the herd with his team.  "I think that if we corral them, we might be able to get them to go through the Time Portal.  But we must be careful because all of them, especially the males, could charge, and if they hit you, it could spoil your weekend."

Now, closer to the herd, Nigel sets up the Time Portal.  With it set up, Nigel and his team now come up with a strategy to get the Pachycephalosaurus through.

"What we're going to do is we're going to take our vests off and surround the herd.  We will expect the dominant male to become defensive, but if we manage to cause the rest to panic and run towards the Time Portal, he might follow them,"  Nigel says quietly as he and the team get into position.  They must be quiet, or the whole herd will become alarmed, and the trap might not work.  They all quietly surround the dinosaurs and get their vests ready.  On the count of three, Nigel signals to enact the plan.

The team jumps out, waving their vests at the herd.  The Pachycephalosaurs, alarmed, move close together for safety.  The dominant male circles his herd, keeping himself between the "attackers" and his herd.  He bellows out an aggressive call at Nigel and his team.  In the dinosaurs' minds, they don't know what they're dealing with.  They're used to their typical predators, but they've never seen anything as strange as the creatures surrounding them.  While stressed by all this, the dominant male keeps as calm as he can.  However, the rest of his herd are beginning to panic.

Seeing his moment, Nigel activates the Time Portal.  With the Portal open, the team advances toward the herd.  Sensing the panic in his herd, the dominant male makes a charge at one of these strange creatures.  He causes some team members to briefly back up, but they regroup and continue pushing on.  The dominant male Pachycephalosaurus had no intentions of attacking but had hoped that he could have scared this new threat away.  He snorts loudly and scrapes the ground, preparing to charge again, but before he can, his herd runs toward the Portal, too panicked to stand their ground.  The male whips his head back and sees his herd run through this strange-looking mist.  He turns back to his adversaries, and in his mind, he has to decide: stay and fight or follow after his herd.  Luckily for Nigel and his team, the male picks the latter.  The Pachycephalosaurus whips around and rushes through the Time Portal after his herd.

"Yes!"  Nigel shouts along with his team.  "Great job everyone!"

With another successful rescue, Nigel closes the Time Portal before he and his team head back to camp to devise a plan to rescue a T. rex.

Time: Present Day

Location: Prehistoric Park

Mission Log: Day 4

Days Until Meteor Impact: 1

"Back at Prehistoric Park, Bob receives word on seven new arrivals from the Late Cretaceous."

Bob, who had been busy somewhere else earlier, drives over to the holding facility.  Running through his mind is the thought that Nigel had brought back seven T. rexes.  Once he arrives, he walks over to the holding pen where the Park's new arrivals are contained.  Luckily for Bob, his worries disappear... mostly.

"Ah, I know you lot are going to be a handful,"  Bob states.

Chapter Text

Time: Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 66 MYA

Location: Montana

Mission Log: Day 5

Days Until Meteor Impact: 0

It's the final day.  In a matter of hours, the meteor will crash into the Earth, and the last of the dinosaurs will go extinct.  Nigel and his team know this.  After rescuing a herd of Pachycephalosaurus the previous day, they spent much of the night devising a plan.  Dozens of ideas were thrown out, and most were rejected because they were too complicated, would take too long to pull off, or would fail easily.  A few ideas were considered, but Nigel had doubts about them.  Nigel and the team decided to get some rest, but during the night, Nigel was thinking hard about what to do.  Early in the morning, Nigel burst out of his tent, excited, and got everyone up.

"Nigel has, at last, come up with a plan of his own."

After explaining his plan, the team quickly agreed and immediately got to work.  After a few hours, their plan was coming ahead.  Nigel and his team stacked logs and branches on each other to form a wall.

"What we're trying is a technique used by game capture teams for things like antelope,"  Nigel explains.  "We know the T. rex is working her way downriver; we've got ahead of her.  She won't go over onto this uneven ground; we know she doesn't like going near the water.  We've built this palisade of logs, and we're going to funnel her straight toward the Time Portal and back to the safety of the 21st century.  We hope."  With that, Nigel carries a large log over to the wall to help continue work on the trap.

After another hour, the wall was finished and just in time.

"The meteorite is getting ever closer."

After a short while, Nigel and the team spotted movement coming in.  One of the teammates managed to spot three types of dinosaurs.  The first to arrive was a flock of 13 Ornithomimus, followed shortly after by a herd of six Edmontosaurus.

"So has the T. rex, and a flock of Ornithomimus and a herd of Edmontosaurus are running scared."

Not too long ago, both groups of herbivores were minding their business.  The hadrosaurs fed on cycads and ferns along the river while the Ornithomimus walked by.  However, their quiet moment was interrupted by the injured female Tyrannosaurus rex.  The injured predator ambushed them, but her targets easily ran off.  Despite that, she pursued them out of desperation.  While it has only been a couple of days since she received her injury, the Tyrannosaurus rex knew that she needed food and fast to help her heal.  The Triceratops carcass in the river proved too difficult to get ahold of.  She could have followed the three sub-adult males that intruded upon her territory in hopes she could scavenge off a potential kill they make, but her injury was too great for her to take them on her own.  Because of these, she's forced to hunt.  There was no way she was going after a herd of Triceratops since she would receive even more injuries or possibly be killed in an attempt.  Her only option was the Edmontosaurus.  These were not fully grown, as they are likely to have been separated from the larger herd during the attack back at the lake a couple of days ago.  The Ornithomimus would not make much of a meal, but if she caught one, it would be better than nothing.

The T. rex makes her way downriver, following the herbivores.  She manages to catch up and sees that both groups are blocked on their left by a steep slope and on their right by what appears to be a tall pile of fallen tree pieces.  Despite the strangeness of this pile, she saw it as an opportunity to corner her prey.  Limping forward, the Tyrannosaur begins her attack.

"And there she is, the T. rex; that's why they're spooked,"  Nigel states as he watches the predator moving toward them.  The Tyrannosaurus rex lets out a hiss of pain as she limps forward.  Thinking quickly, Nigel activates the Time Portal at the end of the barrier.  The two groups of herbivores witness the Portal, confused by what it is but also panicking as their pursuer closes in on them.

"And if we're lucky, she'll chase them right through the Time Portal, and we could have a breeding colony of Ornithomimus and give Edmonton a herd of his own back at Prehistoric Park."  Nigel quickly gets down behind the barrier, waiting for the animals to go through.

"Trapped between the T. rex and the 21st century, they opt for the Portal."

"Yeah, one, two..."  Nigel begins to say as the herbivores begin bolting through the Portal.  "And they are bolting through, a whole frenzy of them.  Bob is going to get a real surprise."

Time: Present Day

Location: Prehistoric Park

Mission Log: Day 5

Days Until Meteor Impact: 0

On the other side of the Time Portal, the Edmontosaurus herd and the Ornithomimus flock are rushing through and into Prehistoric Park's holding facility.  Bob, on the walkway above, sees this and watches it all.

"Oh, my giddy aunt,"  Bob states in shock.  "Nigel, Nigel, what have you done?"

The staff had managed to close the gates enough in time to keep Edmontosaurs from running loose, but the Ornithomimus were too fast and got through.

"Suzanne,"  Bob calls over the radio.  "We've got a bit of a situation here!"

Time: Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 66 MYA

Location: Montana

Mission Log: Day 5

Days Until Meteor Impact: 0

Back in Cretaceous Montana, Nigel and his team are pleased that the plan has worked so well.  All that remains is the injured T. rex... and one straggler.

One of the Edmontosaurs had not gone through the Time Portal.  It lets out a call before looking back at the T. rex closing in on it.

"One Edmontosaurus is slower than the rest."

The Edmontosaurus moves as fast as it can but struggles to keep up in its confused state, cornered by its two barriers and the strange mist.  Luckily, it still has a head start on the predator and is getting closer to the Portal.  Nigel and the team watch anxiously; they are so close to having a T. rex in Prehistoric Park.  Nothing could ruin this moment.

"Hey!  What's that?"  One of the team members calls out, spotting something coming in.  Nigel and the rest look back and see two other dinosaurs rushing forward, passing the adult T. rex and Edmontosaurus.  Everyone is stunned by what they see: a pair of juvenile T. rex weighing around two tons each.  They block the hadrosaur, who stops in surprise at their sudden appearance.  The Edmontosaurus, unfortunately, stands in place for too long because the adult T. rex gets up right next to it and bites down on its neck, knocking down a portion of the wall in the process, forcing Nigel and his team to duck down.  The hadrosaur struggles for a moment before it goes completely limp, dead in the jaws of the Tyrannosaurus rex.  The rex then begins dragging its kill away from the river and into the forest, with the two juveniles following.  Nigel and his team get up and watch as the three predators walk away.

"That was close,"  Nigel says.  "I did not expect two more T. rexes to show, especially juveniles.  They must be her offspring; that has to be the only reason they would aid her and for her to allow them to follow her.  They took the Edmontosaurus right there.  It's likely to satisfy all three, but time's running out.  We must follow them."  However, before he heads off, Nigel turns to his team.  "All of you, grab everything and get back to Prehistoric Park.  I'll meet you there soon."

With that, the team quickly packs up to head home.  Meanwhile, Nigel follows after the three predators.

"With their catch still uneaten, the three hungry T. rexes head off back the way they came."

"They're probably looking for a secluded place to devour the Edmontosaurus,"  Nigel speculates as he keeps his distance while following them.  "And we just cannot afford to lose them.  I do not want to go back to Prehistoric Park empty-handed."

Time: Present Day

Location: Prehistoric Park

Mission Log: Day 5

Days Until Meteor Impact: 0

The Ornithomimus's hisses and squawks ring out as they run about their new home.  Bob and some staff managed to wrangle and herd them into a pen.  The five Edmontosaurus that had come through with them were back at the holding facility, where they will stay for the time being.

"Back at Prehistoric Park, Bob is settling in the flock of highly strung Ornithomimus."

With the last of the Ornithomimus running through the gate, Bob quickly closes and locks it.  Once he does, he looks on to admire the flock of ostrich-like dinosaurs.

"Alright, there,"  Bob says.  "They're still a bit stressed out from the capture, but they're just walking around and around the perimeter fence.  Suppose they're checking out their new home.  It'll be alright."

The Ornithomimus, meanwhile, are doing just that.  While some are standing in place, taking in everything around them and comprehending everything happening, the rest are roaming around to ensure they're safe.

"I'm not gonna feed them until tomorrow, though,"  Bob states.  "Just let them settle in a bit."

Time: Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 66 MYA

Location: Montana

Mission Log: Day 5

Days Until Meteor Impact: 0

Back in Cretaceous Montana, the injured female T. rex and her young are headed up a hillside with their kill.

"Nigel's still tracking the T. rexes."

Not far behind them, Nigel quietly follows the three Tyrannosaurs.  Throughout the trek, he's witnessed the two juveniles running around and snapping at one another playfully, their playful chirps and hisses, and their mother's pained grunts.  The adult female's limping has also gotten worse.  Killing the Edmontosaurus and carrying its carcass has put a lot of strain on her injured leg.

"She's almost on her last legs.  Moving so slowly now, Nigel's had a chance to catch up."

After traveling for so long, with each passing second making Nigel more and more anxious, the three finally reached their destination.  The female drops the kill on the ground before she and her young begin to dig in.  Not too far away, Nigel hides behind a fallen log.

"It's been a long climb, but worth it.  She was badly injured but got her young to aid her in her hunt.  Paleontologists have long suspected that dinosaurs showed parental care, but those two are too old to receive much care from their mother.  Normally, they would hunt animals like Ornithomimus.  However, juveniles may have aided their parents in hunts from time to time.  In return, they're allowed to indulge in the kills made and receive protection inside their parent's territory until they're old enough to establish one of their own,"  Nigel theorizes as he watches the three feed on the Edmontosaurus.  "And for us, it's fantastic.  We can get a whole family of T. rex back to Prehistoric Park."

"But Nigel's optimism is short-lived."

A series of loud hisses echo through the forest as Nigel and the family of three turn to see the three sub-adult male T. rexes have returned.  They have been starving since arriving in this territory, and after a failed hunt a couple of days ago, the smell of a fresh kill has drawn them here.  The adult female hisses aggressively at the three while the two juveniles hide in the forest.  The trio moves closer toward the female, but their eyes are on the carcass.  The male in the center lunges toward the carcass, but the female slams her head into his to force him back.  The young male hisses at her while she releases a loud grumble reminiscent of a crocodile's.

"Those three males really want that carcass,"  Nigel states.  "And the young are hiding.  If the three see them, they could be in trouble.  There's direct fossil evidence that T. rex was cannibalistic."

The young trio, realizing that going for the carcass is not an open option, moves forward to fight the adult female.  The female is nearly twice their weight, is much stronger, and has more experience.  However, despite being half her size, the young trio outnumber her, and due to her injury, the odds are a bit more favorable to them.  Had she been completely healthy, they wouldn't dare try her.  One of the males moves up and gets right in her face, which she responds by snapping at him.  He dodges the attack as his brother on the right charges at her and snaps at her neck.  She avoids the attack in time and quickly bites onto his neck.  However, before she can bite down harder, the other brother on her left rams into her side, hitting her wounded leg in the process and causing her to let go of her attacker.  The female staggers back in pain but still holds her ground as the trio moves in on her.  She lets out another angered grumble before she snaps at the one in the center, forcing him back, before turning her attention to the one on the right.  The young male backs away from her, but his brothers quickly move in.  The female hisses at them, causing them to stop in place and hiss back.  Unfortunately, this allowed the other brother to quickly bite down on her neck.  She shakes her head and neck in an attempt to break his hold.  The young male struggles to keep hold of her, but he's slowly losing it.  However, the other two come in and ram into her side.  This frees the female from his jaws, but it also causes her to hit her head on a tree hard.  The impact stuns her, allowing the two smaller of the trio to rush in and knock her to the ground, which allows the third and larger brother to rush in and bite down on her neck.  The female struggles, but it's not enough as the young male bites as hard as he can, crushing her throat.  The female lets out one last wheezing hiss before her body goes completely limp.  Once she's dead, the trio grab the Edmontosaurus carcass and drag it away.

After the three males leave, Nigel gets up from his hiding spot and slowly walks toward the dead female.  The fight was quick, and Nigel hoped the female would have chased them off or retreated herself.  The two juveniles had also come out from hiding, and they, too, were slowly walking toward their mother.  They stayed in her territory solely because she offered protection from intruders.  Now that she's gone, and those three male are likely to mark this territory as theirs, their chance of survival now dwindles.

"Sh-she's; the juveniles there.  There's no chance for her,"  Nigel says, saddened and shocked at what he's seeing.  "She's gone."

Nigel's optimism for bringing back a family of T. rex has been shattered.  Blood covers the ground, and the small chirps from the juveniles saddens him more.  The two don't need their mother for food, but they could be driven out or possibly killed by the sub-adult males.  Nigel looks up at them as they stare back at him.  A whole range of emotions runs through each of their minds.  However, a new one is about to take over.

The meteor is now careening towards Earth's surface.

"Hundreds of miles away, the meteorite has finally entered the Earth's atmosphere at 45,000 miles per hour."

The sound of the meteor rushing through the sky catches the attention of Nigel and the two young T. rexes, who look toward the sky; the Tyrannosaurs in surprise, Nigel in shock and horror.  Nigel can barely see a small glimpse of the meteor's burning tail as it careens towards the planet's surface.

"The sonic boom it creates is one of the loudest noises the world has ever known."

Indeed it was, and Nigel covers his ears to block the sound as the loud boom echoes across the world.  In minutes, the meteor finally crashed into the Yucatán Peninsula.

"As it strikes the Yucatán Peninsula, it causes an explosion ten billion times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.  It releases a blast front moving at a hundred times the speed of sound.  This devastation is just the start.  The cloud of ash will soar into the sky, and molten rock will start raining down, igniting global wildfires.  And as it mushrooms out, it will engulf the entire world in a blanket of darkness.  Earthquakes and tsunamis of enormous magnitude will devastate the lands, killing billions of lives.  Any of the lucky few that survive will face complete darkness, minimal food, poisoned water, and freezing temperatures for the next two to three years after.  All this is just minutes away.  Nigel will have to think fast."

Hurrying as fast as he can, Nigel sets up the Time Portal.  His only hope is to save the two juveniles, who are panicking at all the noise quickly approaching.

"Has anyone got any food, anything that smells?!"  Nigel desperately yells out.  "We need the odor to entice the T. rex juveniles through the Time Portal!  I just hope we can make it!"

The meteor's blast wave is moving ever closer as animals of all kinds—pterosaurs, marine reptiles, dinosaurs, and the future surviving lizards, turtles, crocodilians, snakes, birds, the only dinosaurs to survive, and the mammals that will one day dominate the world—flee and/or hide from the incoming danger.  Nigel, meanwhile, grabs a sandwich from his bag.  It has pieces of turkey meat, and Nigel hopes it will be enough.  He quickly but carefully moves toward the two juveniles, waving the sandwich in front of them.

"This must work; I've only got minutes or maybe seconds left.  They must be curious of the meaty smell of the sandwich.  Come on,"  he exclaims to the two young Tyrannosaurs.  "But they're more likely to lunge at me!"  One of the juveniles snaps at the sandwich, but Nigel backs up before it can get it.  "Attack me!  Come on!  You've gotta come; we've got to get you back!  That's it; come on!  Yes!"  Nigel then runs toward the Portal as the two juveniles chase after him.

The blast wave is now less than a minute away from hitting them.  Nigel activates the Time Portal and rushes through.  However, the two juvenile T. rex stop right at the Portal.  They're unsure of what to do.  On the one hand, they could follow that strange creature through the strange mist, but on the other, a big loud blast is coming their way.  They look back at the forest and their mother's body.  They now have one split second to decide: stay and risk the danger or risk running through.

The blast arrives, and the sky goes dark.

Time: Present Day

Location: Prehistoric Park

Mission Log: Day 5

On the other side of the Portal, back in Prehistoric Park, Nigel has already come through.  His team, Bob, Suzanne, and many of the Park's staff have been waiting for him.  Nigel doesn't pay them attention as he turns back toward the Time Portal, hoping that the two T. rex will come through.  Everyone watches the Portal anxiously.  Several quiet moments pass by as Nigel's fears begin to take over his mind.  However, they begin to vanish as a familiar warping sound comes from the Time Portal.  In just seconds, the two juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex burst through the Portal.

"YEAH!"  Everyone shouts in excitement.  Nigel runs toward the gate, telling them to open it.  Once he's through, he joins Bob and Suzanne.

"Nigel!"  Suzanne exclaims happily.

"They're only juveniles!"  He tells them.  "Our first T. rex!"

"Nigel has finally managed to rescue T. rex from extinction."

The two Tyrannosaurus rex then run toward the holding pens, with the gate closing behind them.  They don't know it yet, but their lives are going to change forever and for the better.

After all the excitement, the staff gets to work, making the Park's two young arrivals feel more comfortable.

"The two T. rex juveniles are now safely in the observation pen.  Suzanne is ensuring they're in good health before being taken to their permanent enclosure."

Suzanne peers through the gap to check on the two.  They have been here for just over an hour, yet are surprisingly calm.  Up above, four keepers are carrying two large chunks of meat to feed them.  Once they are in position, they drop them into the pen.  The meat catches the two's attention, and they move to feed.

"They look a little undernourished, but I'm sure we'll be able to sort them out.  They're eating really well.  They're not even halfway grown, but they're still so powerful, aren't they?"  Suzanne watches as the two hiss at each other as they each grab their own chunk of meat.  "They're cool, aren't they?"

"Prehistoric Park is now home to its first-ever dinosaurs, and Nigel wants to check in on some of the most recent ones."

Nearby 'Triceratops and Edmontosaurus Creek,' which had received its new inclusions not too long ago, Bob is leading Nigel and Suzanne toward another enclosure.  This one had some forest but was more open.  It was also connected to the same creek as Theo, Edmonton, and Edmonton's new herd mates had in their enclosure.  However, this enclosure is home to the Park's more hardheaded newcomers.

Nigel walks up to the fence and looks over to see the herd of seven Pachycephalosaurus he had rescued.

"After the Pachyecphalosaurs had arrived, Bob wasted no time finding them a home.  Luckily, Bob had a few enclosures built around the creek where the Triceratops and Edmontosaurus now call home.  Many species of prehistoric wildlife require specific habitats to keep them satisfied.  Luckily for Bob, Nigel had only brought a few species in."

"This enclosure is perfect.  Pachycephalosaurus are headbutters, and they need room to run around and headbutt.  Well done, Bob."

"Thank you, Nigel.  Should I be concerned about the headbutting?"

"Oh, no.  I don't think so,"  Nigel assures him.  "Headbutting, while it can be used in fighting, it's more likely to help establish dominance and maintain their social structure."

"Ah, alright then."

"I would stay cautious, though,"  Suzanne states.  "Fights and accidents could happen, so it should be important to keep an eye on them so that we can help avoid any serious injury."

One of the Pachycephalosaurus looks over and sees the three.  It gets spooked when it sees Nigel, somehow recognizing him.  It lets out a call, alarming the rest.  The alpha male gets in front and lowers his head a bit, hoping that he'll be able to intimidate these strange creatures this time.

"I don't think they're fond of us yet.  Let's leave them alone for now."

"Good idea.  Thankfully, they haven't caused too much trouble."

"Well, that's good."

The alpha male watches as the three walk away.  Once they are out of sight, the rest of the herd returns to feeding and exploring their new home.  The alpha male, however, stays alert.  Despite how calm and peaceful this new place is, he's not yet accepted it as a new home.  It may take some time for him to get used to it.  For now, his job is to ensure that his herd is kept safe.

"Nigel's dream of having a park full of prehistoric creatures he's saved from extinction is beginning to take shape."

The flock of Ornithomimus are currently roaming around their enclosure.

"The Ornithomimus are getting used to their new home."

Theo, Edmonton, and Edmonton's herd are eating, drinking, wallowing in the creek, and wandering around their new home.

"The Triceratops and Edmontosaurus have adapted well and are coexisting peacefully."

The Pachycephalosaurs are still showing caution toward their new environment.

"The Pachycephalosaurus are slowly getting used to their new place."

Finally, we take a look at the Park's newest enclosure.  After months of building, the enclosure for the Tyrannosaurus rex was completed and given the name 'T.  Rex Hill.'  Not only is it completed, it's already occupied.

"And the T. rex juveniles have been put into their new enclosure."

Nigel and Suzanne have driven down to the enclosure to check and see it for themselves and see how the two new Tyrannosaurs are getting on.  Bob joins them to show them the enclosure.

"This is fantastic; well done, Bob,"  Nigel congratulates his headkeeper.

"Thank you, Nigel.  Though it seems a bit big for the lads."

"It's overkill now when they're only two tons, but when they're bigger, it's a perfect enclosure,"  Nigel says, very happy with this enclosure.  "And have you seen them at all?"

"Not since I put them in there; they disappeared off the face of the Earth,"  Bob answers as he, Nigel, and Suzanne look into the enclosure, trying to see if they can spot them.

"There's places for them to hide; they're not gonna be stressed,"  Nigel says before he spots them.  "And look, there!"  He points to the two juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex running out of the trees.  The two have been exploring their new home ever since Bob moved them in.  Despite the strange new environment, they're getting used to it surprisingly fast.

"Why don't you give them some names to identify them?"  Suzanne suggests to Nigel.

"I've done that,"  He responds, excited to tell them.

"Ok, what?"

"Matilda for the female and then Terrance for the male,"  Nigel tells them.  "What do you think, Bob?"

"Terrance and Matilda, very nice Nigel."

"It's not bad; it's kind of cute, really,"  Suzanne says.

"I'll tell you what, they're not going to stay cute for long."

"Nigel's right.  The two are currently in the stage of their lives where they are transitioning from a fast and gracile build to a massive and robust one.  In just a few years, they will be as big as the sub-adult males that orphaned them, and in about ten years or so, they will reach full size at ten tons or more, turning Terrance and Matilda into the largest and most powerful killing machines to walk the Earth in 66 million years.  Let's hope Prehistoric Park knows what it's getting itself into."

Next Time

Next time, Nigel sets his sights on a mammoth from the ice age.  But he's going to have to overcome the cold climate and a hostile reception.  Managing the prehistoric creatures Nigel brings back will definitely not be as easy as they first thought.

Chapter Text

Time: Present Day

Location: Prehistoric Park

Current Species:

• Triceratops prorsus (1 male)
• Edmontosaurus annectens (1 male, 5 females)
• Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis (2 males, 5 females)
• Ornithomimus velox (5 males, 8 females)
• Tyrannosaurus rex (1 male, 1 female)

A new day begins at Prehistoric Park.  It has been over a month since Nigel's rescue mission to the late Cretaceous.  Things have been going well, and Nigel and his crew couldn't be happier.

"Prehistoric Park is starting to come to life.  Amongst the hills and valleys of this huge reserve, dinosaurs are getting used to their new surroundings." 

At the creek, Theo the Triceratops and Edmonton the Edmontosaurus and his herd are thriving in their new home.  The nearby herd of Pachycephalosaurus has finally accepted their new home and are thriving as well.  The Ornithomimus flock mostly watch the staff walk by their enclosure.

"One day, Nigel Marven hopes to breed extinct animals in captivity.  But for now, he's starting off by only bringing a few of each species back to see how they get on in the 21st century."

Speaking of Nigel, he is now beginning his day by driving down to one of the Park's enclosures: 'T-Rex Hill.'

"The Park's latest newcomers seem to be settling in well." 

"Alright, stop right there,"  Bob shouts to the man in the truck.  "Alright, keep tension in the back."

Nigel arrives at the enclosure just in time because Bob and a few other keepers are preparing two large pieces of meat for the residents inside. Recently, a large crane was placed just outside of the enclosure.  Bob installed it to allow easier feeding, especially since he and a few other keepers have been working hard to build a positive relationship with the predators.  However, it has proven quite difficult, which was no surprise to anyone at the Park.  Nigel, Bob, Suzanne, and the staff all hope that, in time, the T. rexes and the other dinosaurs at Prehistoric Park will become comfortable with their keepers and work with them willingly.  Until then, this is the best they can do.

"What an ingenious contraption,"  Nigel says, pleased with the crane.  "How are they doing?"

"Oh, not too bad, but they're big beasts with big appetites,"  Bob answers.  "Get that line under tension."

The keepers hook the first hunk of meat to the crane and lift it over the fence.

"Head Park Keeper Bob and his team are facing their first big challenge."

Terrance and Matilda rush out from the trees, hearing all the commotion and smelling the meat.  They stop briefly to examine the strange yet peaceful creatures preparing their food.  Matilda snaps at her brother, and he hisses at her in response.

"Keeping the Park's two juvenile T. rex happy."

"When Nigel found them, they had just lost their mother after she was fatally injured in a fight."

Their mother manages to free herself from the jaws of one of the sub-adult males, but it causes her to smash her head hard into a tree.  The impact stuns her, allowing the three sub-adults to knock her down and kill her.

"Nigel managed to save them from certain death just seconds before a massive meteorite hit."

The meteor crashes into the Earth, but before the blast wave reaches them, Terrance and Matilda rush through the Time Portal, taking them to the safety of Prehistoric Park.

"Take it away,"  Bob orders his team, who lifts the meat over the fence with the crane.  "Yep, alright, bring it around."

"Feeding the T. rex means meat and plenty of it.  When they arrived at the Park, the T. rex were half-starved.  But they've been making up for it ever since."

Upon seeing the meat rising up and over the fence, the T. rex siblings rush toward the fence.  Before these creatures arrived, they struggled to survive in their native environment.  After reaching adolescence, their mother never fed them and rarely shared her food with them despite being allowed to live in her territory for safety.  They hunted animals such as Pachycephalosaurus, Ornithomimus, and Leptoceratops, which they were relatively good at hunting.  But as they got older and grew bigger, it started becoming harder and harder for them to catch prey.  They only managed to survive for so long because they had each other.  They had no other siblings to rely on, and with their mother gone, all they have left are each other.

"I'm not telling Bob a thing about T. rex feeding habits; he'd be so depressed."

"T. rex juveniles grow incredibly fast.  Terrance and Matilda will add hundreds of pounds to their weight every year until they grow to the length of a double-decker bus and weigh ten tons."

Speaking of which, Terrance and Matilda have arrived at the feeding point. Both are attempting to reach the meat that is now hanging over their heads. They both snap and stand upright, which amuses everyone there.

"They're voracious, aren't they?"  Nigel says to Bob.  "Look at that.  Reaching for that."

The meat is then dropped, and both Tyrannosaurs begin to dig in.

"Woah"

"You see those teeth?  They've got blade-shaped teeth that are perfect for grabbing hold of smaller prey animals like Pachycephalosaurus and Ornithomimus, and they're just slicing off chunks of flesh; no wonder they eat so much."  Nigel explains as he, Bob, and the team watch them feed.  "I mean, they're polishing that off."

Matilda hisses at her brother, warning him to back off.  Normally, they've been able to share before, but each portion they've received have only been enough for either her or him.  Granted, they both receive their own portions, but it has caused some competition between them.  Matilda has been getting the first chunk of meat delivered since she and her brother arrived, showing she is more dominant than Terrance.

"I wouldn't like to be in there, I'll tell ya'."

Matilda drags her portion away as Terrance follows after.  The team begins to load the next portion of meat for him as he becomes agitated.  He calms down and eagerly waits once he sees his portion being prepared.

While Prehistoric Park is built with extinct creatures in mind, it is home to modern-day species.  Some are native species that migrated or were already established in the region, while the rest were brought in.  One of those is a herd of African Savanna Elephants.  African Savanna Elephants are endangered, and the park has allowed the herd to reside here.  They are cared for by the Park's staff and have formed a strong bond with their caretakers.  Currently, the herd is enjoying themselves with mud and dust baths to help keep cool in the intense heat.  Nigel has come to spend some time with the elephants, not only because he loves them but also because he is excited.

"Now Nigel's planning his next adventure. He's decided to rescue one of the most famous of all extinct animals: the Woolly Mammoth, a long-lost relative of modern-day elephants."

"I adore elephants,"  Nigel says.  "And, of course, they have a long history.  There were many different species of the elephant family in the past, such as the Deinotheres, Gomphotheres, Stegodonts, Mastodons, and Mammoths.  People think they have the same family life, the same social history.  But what I want to do is travel back in time and find out whether that's true, and maybe even bring a Woolly Mammoth or two back to Prehistoric Park."

Nigel then turns his attention to the elephant he has been petting.  "Would you like to meet a Woolly Mammoth?  You would, wouldn't you?"

Nigel is now walking into his office and pets a tortoise along the way before entering and picking a chameleon up from the phone on his desk.

"As with any conservation project, it's the most endangered animals Nigel wants to rescue.  So he's got to travel back to the time that mammoths were on their last legs.  That was at the end of the last Ice Age.  Freezing plains were home to huge herds of mammoth.  But 11,000 years ago, it all changed.  Their world was turned upside down because of global warming.  The ice was disappearing, and so were the mammoths."

Nigel is now back to the wall where the map of late Cretaceous Earth was hung, but now there is a map of Earth at the end of the Pleistocene.

"This is at the end of the last Ice Age,"  Nigle says.  "And what was happening, it was still cold, but the ice sheets, they were receding northwards, and the mammoths were going there too.  The last mammoths lived on the islands of St. Paul in Alaska and Wrangel Island in Russia.  The St. Paul mammoths died out around 5,600 years ago, and the Wrangel mammoths around 4,000 years ago, around the time the pyramids of Egypt were constructed.  As much as I would love to save those mammoths, both populations were too small to create healthy ones, and they died out due to a lack of resources and incredibly high amounts of inbreeding.  I would love to breed extinct animals in captivity one day, but I need individuals of each species to be physically and genetically healthy.  Which is why I'm going to search for the last of the mainland mammoths, and according to all my research, the last surviving ones were found here, just east of the Urals in Siberia."

Nigel grabs the gear he needs for his mission and gives the chameleon a little pet before leaving his office.

“By going back to the brink of extinction, he’ll see for himself what killed off these magnificent beasts.”

The Time Portal activates and is set to the time and location Nigel and his team are heading.

“And get his chance to save the Woolly Mammoth.  The Time Portal is set to take him back to the last Ice Age 11,000 years ago.”

Nigel slides on his dense winter coat.  This may be the coldest mission Nigel has ever done, but he knows it will be worth it.  With everything ready, Nigel and his team walk through the Time Portal.

Chapter Text

Time: Late Pleistocene, 11,000 BCE

Location: Asia, Siberia, Russia

Mission Log: Day 1

Cold and white.  That is the first thing one would notice if they were to travel to Siberia at the end of the Pleistocene.  Afterward, one would notice how quiet it is.  Aside from the chilling breeze and birds off in the distance, it is almost dead silent—a far cry from what was once a thriving biome.

These are all that Nigel and his team noticed upon arrival.  They knew it wouldn't be a vast grassland filled with life, but they didn't expect it to be so quiet.  It was hauntingly quiet.  Despite this, though, they got to work immediately.  There had to be mammoths out here somewhere, but with how quiet it was, Nigel and the others decided to split up.  They all hopped on snowmobiles and rode off into the wilderness.

After several hours of searching, Nigel did not spot a mammoth or any animal other than some small birds.  Nigel hopes he and his team can find at least one mammoth out here somewhere; if not, they'll have to travel elsewhere.  After a while, he spots a forest off in the distance.  While mammoths aren't adapted to forested environments, it was still worth exploring.

"Here in the Ice Age, the warming of the climate has already changed this world.  What once was rich open grassland covered in grazing mammoths has now been invaded by dense forests."

Nigel drives through the forest, avoiding trees left and right.  It will be tricky to find even something as big as a mammoth in this dense habitat.

"This is no place for a mammoth.  Finding the last ones alive on the mainland will not be easy."

"We've gone for miles, and this forest just seems limitless,"  Nigel says as he hops off his snowmobile to look around.  "And, you know, obviously, the climate's warming.  And caterpillars can survive off pine needles, but a six-ton mammoth, no way there's just not enough nutrition."

"It's this lack of good food that has brought the mammoth population to its knees."

Nigel hops back on the snowmobile and continues his search.  He keeps looking around, but all he sees are trees upon trees.

"It looks like there's nothing but trees here.  But at last, Nigel finds something to break the monotony."

A large rock formation catches his attention, and as he pulls up, Nigel spots a cave entrance.  While his chances of finding a mammoth inside are basically nonexistent, Nigel's curiosity gets the better of him.  He hops off his snowmobile and carefully moves up to the mouth of the cave.

"A prehistoric cave, he can't resist exploring."

Nigel slowly enters the cave but only gets a few steps in when a loud grunt and heavy footsteps force him to back out.

"No sudden moves," Nigel whispers calmly but nervously.  He takes a few more steps back before a massive brown bear walks out of the cave.  It huffs and lets out a roar at its cave's intruder.  Nigel, in response, hurries down the path quickly.  Running away from bears is a terrible idea, but humans were still considered regular prey to many predators, including bears, at the end of the last Ice Age.  Because of this, Nigel doesn't have much of a choice.

"Nigel has chosen the wrong creature to disturb."

The bear walks further out as Nigel hurries down.  It lets out a few more huffs before standing tall on its hind legs.  It lets out a growl, causing Nigel to not pay attention to where he's stepping, leading to him slipping and falling into the snow-covered ground.

"Brown bears stand over eight feet tall, weighing up to half a ton, and are generally more muscular than most other bears."

Nigel rushes into the forest, but the bear gives chase.  After his first encounter with the pack of three Tyrannosaurus rex, Nigel had been hoping he wouldn't end up in another similar situation.  While he's now dealing with a bear instead of a six-ton theropod, the situation is much worse.  The average human can run up to 15 miles per hour, but brown bears can more than double that at 35.  Nigel's best goal is to run into thicker patches of the forest to help escape it, a task far easier said than done.

"Get moving!"  Nigel shouts as he runs for his life.  The bear continues its chase as it begins to close in on Nigel.  Nigel can hear the bear's panting breaths and footfalls getting closer and closer.  "Run, run!  Drop the camera; move, move, move!  MOVE!"

The cameraman drops the camera, which causes the bear to stop and swipe at it as it lets out another growl.

Sometime later, the bear ceased its chase.  The cameraman collects the thankfully undamaged camera and searches for Nigel.  For a brief moment, Nigel is nowhere to be found.

"Brown bears may be huge, but luckily, they're poor tree climbers."

"There you are; I'm up here."

High up in a nearby tree is Nigel.  He managed to escape the bear by climbing up as high as possible.

"I'm sorry about that,"  Nigel apologizes as he descends the tree.  "I had completely forgotten that they would be here.  But what an exciting find."

Once on the ground, Nigel starts moving back in the direction he just ran from.  While it seems ridiculous to go back, his snowmobile is back at the cave.  It would also allow him to get a better look at the bear.

"We've got to go and see it,"  Nigel says.  "And as long as we don't startle it, it won't charge again, and we can watch it foraging."

A short walk later, Nigel is now back at the cave, and he's not the first.  The bear is walking back up the path to the cave's entrance.  It briefly stops and observes its surroundings, making sure that there are no other intruders that could disturb it again.

"There he is,"  Nigel points out.  "I can tell he's a male brown bear.  The females have much smaller proportions.  I'm certain he was hibernating in that cave.  And what he's doing is packing in anything he can consume, like fish, grass, roots, game, and berries in early spring.  They're not very carnivorous bears; they'll feed on anything.  As for hunting, he wasn't doing that.  We disturbed him; that's why he chased us.  And he is massive, absolutely ginormous.  Typically, brown bears in the 21st Century are smaller than this, but that's due to overhunting and habitat loss.  Here in the Pleistocene, they can average out at massive sizes.  But I wouldn't be surprised if he had a cave bear ancestor.  Cave bears are a very close cousin of brown bears and were even larger than this one here.  Even now, at the end of the Pleistocene, they're extinct, but recent genetic studies have found that some brown bears have cave bear DNA in their genes.  That means that, on rare occasions, both brown bears and cave bears interbred."

The bear, finishing its survey, begins to walk back into the cave.

"Brown bears are going to be just fine."

"Brown bears are still alive in the 21st Century.  While some subspecies and populations are endangered, they have the widest range of all eight bear species and the highest population overall, being found in Europe, Asia, and North America.  Nigel has no reason to bring this one back to Prehistoric Park.  So, it's best just to let sleeping bears lie.  It's time to get back to the business of finding a mammoth."

Once the bear enters its cave, Nigel quickly hops on his snowmobile and drives off, both to get as far away from the cave as possible and to continue the search for a woolly mammoth.

It has been some time since his bear encounter, and Nigel has yet to find a mammoth or even a sign that one is here.  This lack of progress is making Nigel more concerned by the minute.  Riding around on a snowmobile can cover ground quickly, but it only helps a little in a search from Nigel's perspective.  It's time for a change in tactics, and a nearby outcropping is perfect.

"Nigel decides the best way to spot a mammoth is to get up high to scout the terrain."

It's a bit of a climb, but Nigel manages to reach the top.  Once he does, what he sees around him only makes him feel disappointed.

"This is so disappointing.  I come back 11,000 years aiming for mammoth country, and all I can see is trees, trees; thousands of them, as far as the eye can see.  Mammoths, they need plains and grasslands, and there's none of that anywhere here."

Nigel pulls out his binoculars and surveys the land around him, hoping that he can spot something worthwhile.

"The changing habitat is not the only reason Nigel is struggling to find a mammoth.  He knows there's another factor that has driven them to the brink of extinction: mammoths are hunted by Ice Age man."

During the Pleistocene, humans hunted mammoths.  They used the mammoths for food and to make shelter, clothing, tools, and other materials.  Like elephants in the 21st Century, humans are the only species that posed a threat to adult mammoths and even herds.  From our modern perspective, it seems cruel and unjustified.  But to our Ice Age ancestors, it was necessary for survival.  It was a dangerous and unforgiving world for the mammoths and humans.

Nigel continues to survey the terrain but sees only trees, trees, and more trees.  After several minutes, he spots something promising.

"I think our only chance; there's a break over there, just at the base of the mountain,"  He points out.  "There may be some grassland, and maybe we can find them there."

Nigel descends from the outcropping, but something in the snow catches his eye once he reaches the bottom.

"And then a clue a mammoth might not be too far away."

"This is the most exciting find yet,"  Nigel states as he digs out what he spotted, which resembles a flute.  "I just saw it gleaming out of the corner of my eye.  This has been carved from a mammoth tusk."  He wipes the snow off it before blowing into it, releasing a brief yet beautiful sound.  "Some kind of instrument.  And if this hasn't been here too long, the hunters could still be around.  And if they're around, the mammoths could be too."  Now hopeful, Nigel heads back to his snowmobile to continue the search.  He also brings the flute with him since it was either lost or abandoned; it wouldn't cause any harm in keeping it.

Once back on his snowmobile, Nigel drives into the forest, straight toward the breaking he spotted earlier.  He still keeps a lookout for a mammoth or a sign of one.

"And before long, there's a sign that, at last, Nigel's getting warmer."

As he drives through the forest, Nigel spots something on the ground.  He stops just in time to get a better look at it.  What it is is the best sign he could find.

"Quick here; look,"  Nigel exclaims as he hops off his snowmobile.  "Ha ha!  At last, vital clues.  Look at these massive footprints.  They can only be a woolly mammoth."  He states as he examines the tracks.  "Bigger than that one there; this is the front foot going that way.  And look at this," he says as he spots something else on the ground along the tracks.  He kneels on the ground to show a brown blob before him and picks a ball of it up.  "A concrete clue, at last!  Mammoth dung!  Looks gross, but it's not.  The plant vegetation goes through the stomach virtually unchanged.  They're useless at digesting plant cellulose.  Cows can do it; elephants can.  That's why they have to feed for 16 hours a day."  He then pulls off his left glove to perform a rather... interesting test.  "And the crucial thing is-"  He sticks his finger into the dung.  "It's still warm!  So this is fresh; the mammoth can't be far away!"  He then places the dung back on the ground, but once he does, Nigel goes silent after something catches his attention.  "Shh!  Shh!"  He silently orders.  Suddenly, a series of trumpeting sounds echo through the forest.  "I can hear something.  From over there, I think."  He points in the direction he believes they are coming from.

Nigel hops back onto his snowmobile and follows the sounds.  He can tell that the sounds are very elephant-like, which means that the only animal out here that can make them is a mammoth.  Filled with excitement, Nigel cannot wait to finally find one.

"But he's in for a shock."

Nigel exits the tree line and spots the source of the call: a woolly mammoth right on the other side of a small river.

"At last, mammoth!"  Nigel says happily.  He hops off his snowmobile and begins walking slowly toward it.  However, as he moves closer, he spots something big on the ground that the mammoth is hovering over.  "And there could be more than one."  He pulls out his binoculars and sees that there is another mammoth, but it is lying on the ground, surrounded by branches.  "There's two.  There's one down, and it looks like there's a mammoth trapped or something there; the second one's not moving at all."  He continues to watch from his position while the mammoth hovering over the other makes sounds of desperation.  Nigel has a bad feeling about what is going on.  "What we'll do, we'll try to get in closer.  There's something not right."  He hops back on his snowmobile and drives it closer to the river's edge, and Nigel sees that his bad feeling is spot on.

"It looks like Ice Age hunters have beaten him to it."

Even from his side of the river, Nigel can see that the branches are spears embedded in the downed mammoth's body, with blood surrounding it.  He slowly gets off the snowmobile and watches and listens to the other mammoth desperately trying to wake the other.

"I thought as much,"  Nigel sadly says.  "This is a killing field.  The hunters they've dug a pit and covered it with snow; the mammoth's fallen in, and they speared her to death.  There's another one staying by her dead herdmate.  This could be one of the last mammoths remaining on Earth."

In another desperate effort, the standing mammoth releases a series of grumbles, trying to entice her herd mate to wake up, but anything she tries will not work.

"Listen,"  Nigel says.  "Ah, that is heartbreaking.  She's making these grumbling sounds; they do that with their stomach.  She's trying to communicate with her dead herdmate; it's a stomach rumble, which they do.  Of course, she's not going to get a response."  But Nigel sees that the living mammoth is not doing so well.  "And she looks sick.  Head held low, ears close against her head."

Nigel starts to move toward the mammoth, who stumbles a bit.  Her legs shake, ready to give out at any moment.  As she struggles to stay up, she sees Nigel approaching.  While Nigel is there to help her, she doesn't see it that way.  Humans killed her companion and many others throughout her life.  To her, humans are always a sign of danger, and Nigel is no exception despite the fact he is not carrying a spear or any weapon on him.  She wants to charge at him but is too weak to do it.  She just hopes that she can intimidate him enough to scare him away.

"Hello there, sweetheart,"  Nigel says gently to her.  "You're okay.  Okay, okay."  Then, at that moment, her legs finally give out.  She collapses to the ground and releases a weak trumpet.  Nigel watches in heartbreak as the mammoth's weakness finally takes hold of her.  Nigel slowly walks in front of her and crouches down to her level.  "We've got two females.  The dainty, straight tusks; bull mammoths have much bigger tusks with a corkscrew curve.  And what's happened is that this one stayed behind to defend her herdmate, but she's been injured as well."

The mammoth grumbles, warning Nigel not to get any closer.  Nigel keeps his distance but doesn't back away.

"Hello, girl,"  he speaks gently to her.  However, she is not happy with him being here and attempts to get up and swing at him but utterly fails at lifting herself even a foot off the ground.  "Oh, she's so weak.  She can hardly lift her trunk."

Nigel gets up and moves toward the dead mammoth.  He sees just how brutal the killing was.  Dozens upon dozens of spears are embedded in her lifeless body, and that excludes the sharpened sticks from the pit.

"And it's likely that the one that's been killed is this one's sister."  Nigel walks around the body, examining it.  He understands that humans needed to survive in the Ice Age, but that doesn't make this any less heartbreaking.  "Mammoth populations got smaller because of climate change.  But it was this that drove them to extinction: overhunting by early peoples.  The horrifying thing is that they didn't know any better, but we're still doing this sort of thing to rare animals in the 21st Century."

After examining the dead mammoth, Nigel walks back towards the weakened one.  As he gets closer, he notices a spear on the ground.  He picks it up and sees that the tip had been broken off.

"I'm pretty sure this is why she looks so poorly; it's a broken spear,"  Nigel explains.  "She was probably defending the one in the pit.  She was attacked herself.  You can see that there's a wound in the shoulder there, and it's starting to swell.  We've got to do something quickly; otherwise, it could flare up to a serious infection."

"Nigel is faced with a dilemma.  Right now, the mammoth is too weak to walk through the time portal.  But if he leaves, the hunters could come back to finish her off.  Somehow, he needs to get her back on her feet.  He calls in his team, who are scouting nearby."

"To all channels, do you read over?"  Nigel asks into his two-way radio.

"We read you, Nigel, over."

"We've got a mammoth down, a very sick mammoth.  She needs rescuing, so if you can get here as soon as you can, please."

"Copy, Nigel.  We'll be there soon."

Time: 21st Century

Location: Prehistoric Park

"Back at the Park, Bob's busy with problems of his own."

Bob, at one of the workstations, is exhausted after a long day.  However, he's more exhausted from frustration than hard work.  Caring for Prehistoric Park's animals, both modern and prehistoric, is not easy.  While some are not too difficult, others have proven to be a bit of a challenge.

"He's having trouble looking after some of the dinosaurs Nigel has already brought back."

The dinosaurs in question are the Ornithomimus.  While they haven't caused issues with Bob and the staff, they have presented a problem that has made them difficult to care for.

"He had decided to treat Ornithomimus like ostriches and put them in a paddock.  But they aren't doing well here.  They just won't eat the grass."

While Bob and the staff have been feeding the fleet-footed theropods, they would prefer that they feed on the plants inside their enclosure, like with the Triceratops, Edmotosaurus, and Pachycephalosaurus.  Not only would this reduce the amount of feed the Park would need to acquire, but it would also allow the animals to continue expressing natural behaviors.  Unfortunately, the paddock they have been staying in, while it provides plenty of open space for them to roam around, is not fulfilling its purpose.  Bob now has to figure something out.  After some research, he realized he made a mistake when giving them a new home.

"Well, I thought, 'Well, they look like an ostrich, and they got a mainly vegetarian diet,' so I put them in an ostrich enclosure.  Now, that was an easy mistake to make because, although an Ornithomimus might look like and in many ways act like an ostrich's prehistoric cousin, they don't like ostrich feed."

"But Bob's noticed that the diet of these dinosaurs is different than their large ratite counterpart."

At the moment, the Ornithomimus are inside a transport truck.  The truck itself was inside an enclosure, but not their original one.

"The answer lies in their native habitat,"  Bob explains.  "Ornithomimus lived in an environment that lacked grass, so they wouldn't be able to digest it like ostriches.  They fed on leaves, branches, insects, small animals, and crustaceans, mostly different than an ostrich's diet but somewhat similar to emus and cassowaries.  So, I figured they could do better with a habitat with plenty of brush, leaves, ponds," He gestures toward the pond behind him.  The enclosure that Bob and his team are moving the Ornithomimus into differs from the previous one.  It also provides plenty of space for the Ornithomimus to roam and run around, but it also has more bushes, trees, and, most importantly, a pond.  "Why don't I give them an enclosure with their own pond?  Then maybe they can find their own food."

This is a much better strategy.  While paleontologists still debate the diet of Ornithomimus, many agree that they were omnivorous.  This enclosure provides plenty of bushes, shrubs, and trees to browse on, and a pond can provide insects, small fish, and lizards.  If this enclosure proves to be a success, then Bob and his team would need to provide additional feed occasionally.

Bob's team moves a trailer piece to allow the dinosaurs to exit the transport once they're set free.  Once it's set in place, they open the door.  However, the Ornithomimus don't seem keen on exploring their new home.  Bob walks up the platform and spreads some feed to entice them out.

"All he has to do now is to convince them it's a good idea."

"Come on,"  Bob gently speaks to the flock of Ornithomimus.  Said flock is nervous about the sudden change.  They've only briefly been in this new land, especially compared to their natural environment back in the Cretaceous.  There have been so many changes over the past month, and while they've gotten used to it for a bit, they are still a bit stressed out by it all.  Nevertheless, Bob keeps trying to entice them out.  "That's it, now.  There you go.  Come on."

With a loud squawk, the Ornithomimus rush out at full speed.  Bob manages to get out of the way as the whole flock enters their new enclosure in a panicked frenzy.  Bob stands by and watches the spectacle in amazement.

"Look at them go."

"Hopefully, the Ornithomimus will love their new home.  If they can calm down enough to find it."

Chapter Text

Time: Late Pleistocene, 11,000 BCE

Location: Asia, Siberia, Russia

Mission Log: Day 1

Several people on snowmobiles arrive at the river where Nigel and the injured mammoth are waiting.  Not long ago, Nigel found the female mammoth and her sister, who had been killed in a trap by hunters.  Not wanting to risk leaving the injured female alone to retrieve his team, Nigel called them in and stayed with her while he waited.  When the team arrived, they all saw the same thing Nigel did.  Some crossed the river to Nigel and the mammoth, while the rest kept guard on the other side.  Nigel speaks to one of the team members, explaining what happened and discussing what to do.

"Back in the Ice Age, it's not long before the team arrives with some antibiotics.  It's the only way to fight the infection that is rapidly taking over the mammoth's body."

The sick mammoth attempts to lift herself off the ground but fails again.  She wasn't happy with Nigel around, even though he was not carrying a weapon and came alone, but now there are more humans.  The rest showed up on these strange, loud beasts.  She's never seen them before nor seen a human riding another animal.

All she's witnessing confuses her because humans would go straight for the kill if they confronted a mammoth in her position, but these ones aren't.  What's more, they're not carrying those dreaded spears.  Nearly every human she'd seen and encountered had one, and the ones that didn't were always accompanied by one that did.  However, the whole group around her now lacks a spear.  Despite this, though, she's terrified.  Humans are always bad news; to her, these are no exception.

"It's a really desperate situation; we're gonna lose her if we don't do anything.  Once they go down, one in four elephants never get up again.  So, just gotta hope that she's back on her feet in the morning.  We can get her back to Prehistoric Park and look after her properly."

One of the team members grabs a dart with antibiotics and loads it into a pistol.  Once ready, he walks toward the mammoth before kneeling a few feet from her and firing the dart into her upper hip.  The impact startles the mammoth, believing they had just stabbed her.  However, she calms down a bit when she realizes that whatever hit her barely penetrated her and that the human who shot her had walked away while the others kept their distance.

Nigel watches on, hoping that she will be better in the morning.  But he knows the difficult road ahead awaits them.  He and his team begin to set up camp and prepare for what nightfall may bring them.

As evening begins to turn into night, one of the men who had been patrolling the area comes running back.

"Nigel!  Nigel!  Nigel!"

He reaches Nigel's tent, and Nigel comes out.

"In the woods."  The team member points toward the forest with his flashlight.  He and Nigel look out.  They don't see anything but hear something moving through the dense terrain.

In the forest, a predator is observing the kill site.  They and their clan had been there a day before when they killed a mammoth that had fell into their trap.  After being driven off by the other mammoth, they decided it would be best to return when it had left or was too weak to fight back, potentially leaving them with more food and materials.  However, when this one arrived, it discovered that others had taken it.

"It's evening, and the hunters are back to claim their prize."

While the team monitors the forest, Nigel heads to the injured mammoth and kneels beside her.  Although she's too weak to move much, she still doesn't like that Nigel is right next to her, even though he and his group have not attacked her.

"Everyone's a little bit nervous.  We think the hunters are coming in closer.  We were gonna take it in shifts to watch her tonight, but I'm... she's just so sick, I feel like she needs some companionship."

The mammoth gently closes her eyes as exhaustion and weakness force her to try and sleep.  She hasn't slept since her sister was killed, and despite how much she doesn't want to, she comes close to letting it take over.  Nigel, meanwhile, watches in worry.  He knows there's a good chance she won't last the night, but he hopes she pulls through.

The night sky hovers over the river.  Wolves howl in the distance.  The two mammoths are attracting predators from all around.  Night is always a dangerous time in the wild, especially during the Pleistocene.

"As night falls, the prospect of easy meat attracts some more unwanted visitors."

Nigel shines a flashlight toward the forest edge, looking out for predators.  Luckily, nothing has come close yet.

"I'm glad we're here at the end of the last Ice Age.  If we had been here a few thousand years earlier, there would have been cave hyenas prowling around all over the place.  There may be some left, but I haven't spotted one.  You could tell by their yellow eyes shining in the light.  Cave hyenas have been on the decline in Eurasia for nearly 10,000 to 20,000 years at this point, and they're going to become extinct soon as well if they aren't already.  There's wolves farther away; if they come in closer their eyes will shine green.  What's terrifying is that, at this point in time, wolves would likely view humans as prey, and they'd be moving in absolutely massive packs, especially when compared to packs in the 21st Century.  And, of course, the worst predator of all, the human hunters, they know the kill is there."

"And humans have no eyeshine at all.  So they're the hardest to spot.  It's going to be a long night."

The distant howls carry on as Nigel continues his sweep across the forest's edge.  As he does, a bark catches his attention.  He quickly shines it towards where it came from and spots several pairs of green shining eyes.  The bark, in particular, scares Nigel because they're not coming from wolves.  Nigel quickly gets to his feet as several dogs charge toward the weakened mammoth.  Nigel charges toward the dogs, which causes the rest of his team to open their tents to see what all the commotion is all about.  They all quickly join in when they see Nigel fighting off the dogs.  Some grab sticks and broken spears and use them to push the dogs back.

"GET AWAY!"

The mammoth panics as she sees the dogs.  She can tell the difference between wolves and dogs.  Throughout her life, she only saw wolves as a threat to calves, so she didn't fear them as much as she got big enough to not be prey to them.  However, dogs terrified her.  The dogs themselves weren't much of a threat, but if they were around, humans were close by.  She uses some of her little strength left to lift her head and trunk and release a brief trumpet, hoping to scare them off.

"LEAVE HER!  LEAVE HER!"

The dogs attempt to fight back.  They've grown with and even been raised by humans, so they understand when humans don't want them around, especially when it looks like another tribe.  The dogs turn tail and bolt back toward the forest, finding themselves outmatched.

With the dogs gone, Nigel turns back to the mammoth to see if she was harmed in the attack.  Thankfully, she wasn't.

The mammoth looks back at him and his team and feels surprisingly calm, even with some of the humans holding the broken spears.  She's never seen humans fight off dogs before, especially if it meant protecting a fellow mammoth.  It confuses her to no end, but even so, she knows that more humans are coming, and so does Nigel.

"Nigel and his team have managed to ward off the dogs, but they know their job is far from done.  The mammoth is only safe if they can keep the rest of the predators at bay."

Nigel and his team immediately get to work on setting up torches around the mammoth.  Most predators fear fire, so it will keep them away from the mammoth and the camp.  But human hunters don't fear it.  They've long turned it into both a tool and a weapon.  The torches alone won't keep them away.

Nigel and his team finish setting up and lighting the torches and then focus on the forest.  Seconds passed before they could hear the crunching of twigs and snow in the distance.

"The hunters, they're skirting the edge of the forest; I knew... I knew they'd come back for the kill,"  Nigel states.  In the distance, the hunters are getting close to the clearing and can see Nigel and his team.  To the hunters, Nigel and the team are just another tribe.  They hope to either scare them off or possibly negotiate with them.  Either way, the mammoths are all they want.

Nigel knows he has little time, so he rushes back to his tent and grabs his flashlight.  He turns it on and shines it toward the forest.

The hunters stop, not sure of what they are seeing.  The light coming from the man across the river is vastly different from fire.  It looked like the sun but much smaller.  The sun, to them, was a sacred and powerful entity.  Seeing something like it in a man's hands filled them with fear.  Were the man and his tribe powerful entities themselves?  They quickly turn around and head back into the forest to get away from these entities.

As Nigel shines his flashlight across the treeline, he briefly spots the hunters as they retreat.

"Perhaps it's just the sight of Nigel, but fortunately, they don't come in any closer."

With the hunters gone, Nigel turns his attention back to the injured mammoth.  He walks up to her and crouches down in front of her.

"You're alright,"  Nigel gently says to the mammoth.  The mammoth, however, couldn't be more bewildered by this.  After the dogs had left and the humans around her set up sticks with fire on them around her, she believed that she was going to die.  She could hear the hunters coming in from the forest and was almost ready to accept her fate.  However, these humans managed to drive off the hunters, as she could hear them retreating back into the forest.

Why?  Why would these humans not kill her?  Why would these humans protect her?  This goes against everything she knows about humans.  Humans hunt and kill her kind, not protect them.  She's seen what humans do to mammoths.  She's lost her whole herd to humans: her matriarch, her mother, her cousins, her aunts, her sister.  After the hunters had killed her sister, they injured her and left her to die.  She thought she would die, but then these humans came along, and all they've done is protect her.

Nigel slowly and gently places his hand on her head.  The mammoth finds it a bit soothing.  She doesn't grumble at this human to warn him to go away.  She stays silent and welcomes the gentle touch.

Maybe there are humans that won't kill mammoths.

Maybe... she can trust these humans.

Time: Late Pleistocene, 11,000 BCE

Location: Asia, Siberia, Russia

Mission Log: Day 2

The sun shines on a brand-new day.  The dangers of the night are gone.  The songs of birds and the rushing water of the river fill the air.

The mammoth grumbles as she awakes.  Though still weak, she's feeling much better.  She sees the leader of these humans approach her.  While she's still cautious about him, she doesn't see him as an immediate threat, especially after he and his group protected her earlier in the night.

"Dawn.  She's still alive, but will she be strong enough to get back on her feet?"

"You can tell a dog's healthy by a wet nose, and you've got a wet trunk.  Look at that, urgh,"  Nigel chuckles to the mammoth as he gently caresses her trunk.

The mammoth manages to get a glimpse of her sister.  She knows her sister is dead, but she wants to go to her.  Using all her strength, the mammoth lifts herself while Nigel backs away from her.

"OK, keep calm.  Her ears are coming forward,"  Nigel says.  "Back off!  Back off!  Even though she's woozy, she could still charge.  Keep calm."

Nigel couldn't be more happy.  The mammoth had beaten the odds and is back on her feet.  The female mammoth takes a quick look at Nigel before turning her attention toward her sister.

"She's not showing any aggression at all towards us.  She's going back with her dead sister."

The mammoth walks up to her sister's dead body.  She flicks one of the spears off of her sister before caressing her, still mourning.  She doesn't know what she will do without her.  They were the last of their herd; now it's only her.

"It's so exciting she's up, but we've got to get her away from her sister to get her back to the Park, and that's gonna be difficult."

"The big question is, will the mammoth leave her Ice Age world and follow Nigel back to the 21st Century?  There's only one way to find out."

Nigel sets up the Time Portal as the mammoth releases another trumpet.  Once the Portal is set, Nigel slowly walks toward the mammoth, getting her attention.  She rubs her trunk on her sister's tusk one last time before she turns toward Nigel.

The mammoth can tell that this human wants her attention.  After everything he's done for her and showing that he is not a threat, she decides to see what he wants.  She walks toward him, even reaching her trunk out to him while he slowly backs away.  However, she can see that he's leading her toward the river.  Why though?  Does he want her to get a drink?  Does he want her to cross it?  Why is he leading her toward the river?

Meanwhile, Nigel does his best to lead her toward the Time Portal.  He hasn't activated it yet since he wants her close enough to walk through without scaring her off.  So far, she's cooperating with him very well.

"Good girl,"  Nigel says gently as he leads her closer to the Portal.  "Just a little further.  Come on.  Come on, you can do it."

The mammoth stops and watches him, unsure of what he is doing.  Nigel becomes a little worried that she will turn around and walk away.  He needs to urge her to continue following him and quickly.

"Please, come on," he gently urges her.  He grabs the remote from his pocket and activates the Time Portal.  The Portal's sudden appearance surprises the mammoth, who is shocked by this strange mist.  However, the human before her urges her to continue following him.  She doesn't know why, but the mammoth feels that she needs to follow him through this mist.  Nigel continues to back up and enter through the Portal, and the mammoth follows him.

Time: 21st Century

Location: Prehistoric Park

On the other side of the Time Portal, the Park staff watch in anticipation as they wait to see who or what comes through.  After a few moments, Nigel comes through with a mammoth in tow.  Everyone is excited when they see her, but their excitement quickly turns to concern when they see that she does not look well.

"She's made it back to Prehistoric Park, but she's in urgent need of help."

"Suzanne!  We got a mammoth, but she's injured!  Get here fast!"

Chapter Text

Time: 21st Century

Location: Prehistoric Park

It's been over an hour since Nigel and his team and a female woolly mammoth returned from the late Pleistocene.  The day before, Nigel found two mammoths after several hours of searching.  Unfortunately, only one was alive, as human hunters had trapped and killed the other not long before he had arrived.  The surviving mammoth wasn't doing much better, as the hunters had attacked and left her injured.  Fortunately for the surviving mammoth, Nigel and his team found her in time to save her from the hunters and the infection taking over her body.  This allowed them to earn some trust from the mammoth, and it was enough to get her to the safety of the 21st century at Prehistoric Park.  Unfortunately, her troubles are far from over.

One of the Park's jeeps pulls up to the holding facility.  Exiting the vehicle was the veterinary team.  When Suzanne first heard Nigel over the radio about a mammoth, she and her team were quickly filled with excitement.  However, just as quickly, they were alarmed when Nigel informed them that she was injured.  They wasted no time gathering what they needed before heading toward the holding facility.  Once they arrived, Suzanne ordered for the mammoth to be sedated.  After several minutes, the mammoth finally went down, allowing Suzanne and her team to get to work.

"Prehistoric Park's head vet, Suzanne, hasn't looked after a mammoth before, but she's hoping that what she knows about elephants will help."

Nigel had already informed Suzanne of what he had witnessed and pointed out where she needed to look.  Thankfully, when she was fully sedated, the mammoth had landed on the side Suzanne didn't need to examine.

"We've just given her a light sedative, so she'll lie here and let me do this.  She's got this really deep, horrible, looks like infected wound, and she's got this thing stuck in it.  I'm just seeing if I can try and get it out."

Embedded in the mammoth's shoulder is an object of sorts.  Suzanne won't be able to identify it until she gets it out, which is much easier said than done.

"An important difference between mammoths and elephants is the layer of fat beneath the skin.  In mammoths, it's an incredible three inches."

"She's got this really thick layer of fat, just, I guess, because she's an Ice Age creature just to keep her warm.  But it's making it really hard to get this out."

Suzanne continues to pull on the object.  The mammoth's thick layer of fat makes it difficult, but thankfully, the object is slowly coming out.  After several more pulls and more discomfort for the lightly sedated mammoth, Suzanne successfully removes the object.

"It's like a spearhead or something,"  Suzanne examines before handing it over to one of her teammates.  The spearhead is bagged up to be examined later.  Now that the worst is done, Suzanne moves on to clean the wound.

"We'll treat it like we would with an elephant wound.  We'll just leave it open, not stitch it.  Elephants, it's best not to stitch them; they'll just heal up, but it takes a long time.  But, she'll just form a scar there,"  Suzanne explains as she finishes cleaning the wound.  "We'll need to give her another shot of antibiotics in a couple of days."

Once Suzanne is done cleaning the wound, she and her team do a quick routine check on the rest of the mammoth to see if she has any more injuries or other health issues.  They even take a sample of her blood and hair for further examination.  The mammoth's infection is not gone yet, and Suzanne and the veterinary staff need to ensure that whatever infected the mammoth can either be cured or managed.  After a while, they finish their work and inject a reversal to the sedative before leaving the pen.

"The camera's working?"

"Yeah."

Elsewhere in the Park is the security center.  Inside is Nigel, watching the progress of the mammoth's medical examination.  After Suzanne and her team finished their job and injected the reversal, the mammoth was starting to regain full consciousness.  Not too long after, the mammoth manages to get back on her feet, no longer feeling any pain.  Nigel is very pleased to see her feeling better.

"With the spear tip removed and the mammoth back on her feet, it looks like she's on the road to recovery.  Nigel hopes that now she'll be able to start a new life at the Park."

"Later that day, she's moved to her enclosure."

The enclosure the mammoth is moved to, labeled 'Mammoth Mount,' is located in the grassy fields where the elephant herd resides.  The enclosure itself is a bit on the smaller side, but it's designed that way to let its new residents get used to her new home.  It is one of several enclosures in the area, but this one was built to hold large animals, such as the Park's new mammoth.  It comes with a soft soil to walk on, a shaded structure, a pool, a few large piles of dirt to help keep cool, and even a barn with air conditioning if the heat becomes too intense.  There's no grass inside the enclosure, but it's intentional since the staff want to ensure she doesn't eat anything that could harm her.  It's only temporary before the mammoth can be released into a larger field.

The move was a little difficult, given the mammoth's reluctance around humans.  Luckily, thanks to Nigel, they were able to move her quickly and with as little stress as possible.  When she arrived at her enclosure, she explored it for a bit.  Despite her only being in Prehistoric Park for only a few hours, the staff had already fallen in love with her.  They even gave her a name.

"The team decide to call her Martha."

"It's feeding time at Prehistoric Park."

All over the Park, keepers are bustling to get to work.  The two young T. rex, Terrance and Matilda, receive their portions of meat.

"The T. rex are putting on weight."

The new enclosure for the Ornithomimus, recently named "Ornithomimus Pond," has drastically improved the quality of life for the Park's emu-like theropods.  They feed on the plants inside the enclosure and the feed that head keeper Bob was throwing out to them.  After a short bit of trial and error, Bob finally found one they like.  He plans to experiment further on what to feed them, but this will have to do for now.

"And the Ornithomimus love their new pond and new feed."

"Oh, you like this, don't you?"  Bob chuckles as he throws more feed out to the Ornithomimus.  The flock, while still wary of their caretakers, are starting to like Bob's company.  This is great for Bob and the rest of the staff because it is a step closer to building a bond with these animals, which should help care for them more easily.

"Oh, I was right about the pond.  The Ornithomimus love it,"  Bob says happily as he watches some of the Ornithomimus wallow and search inside their pond.  "Look at them.  It's like they're in paradise.  We've given them a real home from home.  Oh, they'll love it."

Other animals throughout the Park are devouring their meals, both Prehistoric, like Theo the Triceratops, his Edmontosaurus roommates, and their Pachycephalosaurus neighbors, and modern, like the Nile Crocodiles, elephants, and a wide assortment of birds alike.

"Everyone is enjoying their food.  Everyone, that is, except for Martha.  There's a big problem; she hasn't eaten since she got here."

At 'Mammoth Mount,' inside her enclosure, Martha stands idly to the side.  Ever since she arrived here, all she's done is walk around her enclosure while occasionally drinking from her pool.  While this was expected, it's concerning due to her refusal to eat.  Currently, a couple of the keepers are at her enclosure, piling hay for her to eat.

"Just keep piling it in," one of them says.  While they didn't expect Martha to eat right away, they became concerned after several attempts over the past few days to get her to eat with no success.  They called in Suzanne to come over to assess the situation, and she's just now arrived.

"Vet Suzanne is very concerned."

"Hi, Suzanne."

"Hi.  How is she?"

"Not too well, unfortunately."

"What's happening?"

"Well, she's just not eating anything at all."

"Nothing?  What are you trying to feed her with?"

"We're trying her with new hay every day."

"And she's not interested.  She really should start eating.  Can you get Bob to get some fresh grass?  We'll try with that.  Is that ok?"

"Yeah, I'll go and see."

"Ok, thanks."

Martha releases a grumble, but it was not out of aggression.  It was a sound of depression.  Suzanne watches Martha, who huddles herself in the corner of her enclosure.  Martha turns around to look back at the humans bringing her food, but it's only briefly as she turns back into the corner.  Martha's behavior has Suzanne and the rest of the staff stumped.  Granted, Martha's relationship with humans has been complicated, especially over the past few days, but even when they leave her alone to feed, she refuses to do so.

"I'm not sure what the problem is at all.  We moved her up here because we thought it would be a suitable enclosure for her.  It's where the elephants are, and they seem to like it up here.  But she doesn't seem very happy.  Her clinical examines is normal, her blood test results have been fine, her temperature is normal, her wound is ok; it's not infected.  I just don't know what the problem is, and if she doesn't start eating soon, she's not going to be ok."

"Martha needs to eat well to regain her strength.  If she doesn't, the infection might take hold again, and that could kill her."

Suzanne sits at her desk at the surgery.  She's examining something on her computer when one of the vet staff comes in to have her sign a document.  Once she does, she turns her attention back to her desk.

"Back at the surgery, Suzanne does some more research."

On her desk were two teeth.  However, these teeth were as big as bricks, and both looked similar but different.

"This is a fossilized mammoth tooth, and this is a real elephant's tooth.  And you can see that they've got really similar grinding wear patterns.  So I don't think it's her teeth that are the problem.  I think it still might be the grass, or it might be that mammoths have a different digestive system to elephants.  I'm just not sure."

Back at 'Mammoth Mount,' Martha is becoming lethargic.  Elephants need to eat over 300 pounds of food per day throughout sixteen to eighteen hours a day and can go up to a week without food.  Martha, unfortunately, is about to push that last bit to its limit.  The longer she goes without eating, the more and more likely the infection will come back, and no amount of antibiotics will save her.

"Martha's getting weaker.  Something needs to be done."

Later that evening, over at the Lodge, Nigel is on the move.  Just like everyone else, he's worried about Martha.  She still refuses to eat the hay or the grass brought to her.  What's worse, she's getting weaker by the minute.  Earlier, he had talked with Suzanne, who had expressed her thoughts that Martha's problem may be dietary.  Her research showed that mammoths fed on grasses and sedges, but Martha won't eat what is here.  After hearing her theory, Nigel immediately came up with a plan.  Once he reached the Lodge, he hurries toward his office.

"Martha's seriously sick, and we've gotta move quickly.  My plan is to go back 150,000 years.  At that time, mammoth populations were flourishing.  There'd be lots of healthy animals.  I can get data, find out what they're feeding on, what makes them healthy, and maybe we can save Martha."

This plan is sudden, and assembling a team would take too much time.  In urgent need, Nigel has opted to go by himself.  While it's not ideal, they don't have much choice with the little time they have.  With Martha getting sicker and sicker, something needs to be done quickly.  Gathering his equipment, Nigel heads to the Time Portal.

"150,000 years ago, the world was in the full grip of the Ice Age.  Woolly mammoths were everywhere, from the east of Europe to the west of Asia."

At the holding facility, the Time Portal is activated.  Nigel slips on his dense coat again and prepares to go back even further into the Pleistocene.  He steps through the Portal, hoping to find what he'll need soon.

Chapter Text

Time: Middle Pleistocene, 150,000 BCE

Location: Asia, Siberia, Russia

Mission Log: Mission 2, Day 1

Cold and white.  That is the first thing one would notice if they were to travel to Siberia in the middle of the Pleistocene.  Another thing one would notice is the lack of dense forests, especially when compared to the end of the Pleistocene.

For Nigel, this is the perfect habitat for mammoths.  The Mammoth Steppe was once the most extensive biome on Earth, and he is now standing in the middle of it.  At this point, the Mammoth Steppe was filled with so much biodiversity that it was comparable to the modern-day African savanna, and Nigel is already witnessing it.  Massive herds of reindeer and steppe bison wander as he rides past them on his snowmobile.  The animals stop and watch as he rides past them, unsure what to make of him.  After a bit, Nigel stops to watch the animals.

"Look at this,"  Nigel says.  "These are just a taste of what you can see in this ecosystem.  Reindeer and steppe bison are some of the most common herbivores here.  They lived alongside mammoths for thousands of years and are still around in the twenty-first Century.  Although these bison will go extinct, their descendants in North America will live on, along with their European cousins."

However, he can't enjoy the view of the wide open plains for too long.  Because Nigel left Prehistoric Park in a hurry, it's still evening, and the sun is setting fast.  Nigel has to set up camp for the night, which makes him nervous.  During the Pleistocene, humans were viewed as prey by many different predators.  While that was still true during his mission at the end of the Pleistocene, most of the predators that posed a threat had either gone extinct or were dying out, and the surviving ones were beginning to view humans less and less as prey.  In the mid-Pleistocene, however, it was the very opposite.  To make things worse, our species, Homo sapiens, haven't even migrated out of Africa yet and won't do so for another 100,000 years.  Even our cousins, the Neanderthals, won't spread outside Europe for another 20,000 years.  None of the predators on the steppe have any reason to fear humans.

"These herbivores are common prey for many predators.  Nigel needs to find somewhere to set up camp quickly."

Grabbing his binoculars, Nigel looks around for a good spot to set up camp.  Eventually, he spots a site that could work.

"There's a patch of forest off in that direction."  Nigel points out.  "I can set up a camping spot there for the night, and in the morning, we'll look for mammoths."

Turning on his snowmobile, Nigel rides off toward the spot, the reindeer and bison watching as he leaves them behind.  Once he reaches the patch of forest, Nigel looks around the area.  While doing so, Nigel spots something watching him from behind a tree.  He sees that it has light-colored fur and large, round ears.  He reaches for his binoculars to get a better look, but the animal is gone as soon as he brings them to his eyes.

"There are predators all around, and night is fast approaching.  I'm going to set up camp here and surround my tent with this,"  Nigel says as he pulls out some collapsed fencing.  "This is a bear fence.  It's an electrically charged fence that you put up around a tent to deter animals from getting close.  There are brown bears and even cave bears out here, but there are also wolves, hyenas, and large cats.  Hopefully, this will keep them at bay."

After setting up his tent and the fence, Nigel turns in for the night.  Out in the distance, Nigel can hear the whooping calls of hyenas and the howls of wolves.  It's a terrifying place to be alone.

Time: Middle Pleistocene, 150,000 BCE

Location: Asia, Siberia, Russia

Mission Log: Mission 2, Day 2

"Morning arrives, and Nigel has made it through the night without an issue.  However, it appears that he's had visitors."

After exiting his tent, Nigel quickly surveyed the area.  While doing so, he spotted tracks in the snow surrounding the fence.

"Look at this,"  Nigel says as he kneels to examine the large pawprints in the snow.  "This is an incredible find.  These tracks belong to a predator, and given their size and lack of claw marks, they've got to belong to a cave lion.  It must have been the animal I spotted out in the trees yesterday.  Cave lions are believed to have been social from cave paintings, so if one was here, it and more might not be too far away."

Not wanting to say too much longer, Nigel quickly packs up his camp supplies and hops on his snowmobile.

A couple of hours later, Nigel is still riding his snowmobile, looking for mammoths.  While woolly mammoth populations peaked 150,000 years ago, finding them can still take time.  Luckily, the open plains do offer more than just mammoths.

Stopping his snowmobile, Nigel spots something out in the distance.  Grabbing his binoculars, he looks out and sees what they are.  What he sees excites him.

"Out that way,"  Nigel points out.  "It's a herd of Megaloceros, the giant deer.  I see five females and three males, and it looks like they are in a rut."

"Megaloceros were some of the largest deer to ever live, with males sporting the largest antlers of any deer."

Off in the distance, the Megaloceros were gathered around.  One of the males stands off to the side while the other two are fighting.  The sound of clashing antlers echoes out.  Like modern deer, this battle will determine which of these bulls will earn the right to mate with the females.

"Those antlers could span eleven feet across.  That's as long as a tiger.  Absolutely fascinating."

As Nigel watches on, an idea begins to form in his head.  These magnificent deer are not on the verge of extinction at this point in the Pleistocene, but they will be in the future when the climate changes and their steppe habitat gives way to forests.

"This is Nigel's opportunity to have a herd of Megaloceros at Prehistoric Park."

Pulling out his backpack, Nigel grabs the Time Portal and sets it up.

"My plan is to ride my snowmobile towards the Megaloceros, corral them together, and herd them towards the Time Portal,"  Nigel explains.  "But I've got to be careful.  These are some of the largest deer to ever live.  The females can weigh around a thousand pounds and the males over 1,500 pounds.  However, deer, no matter the size, are generally skittish.  So, I have to keep them close together, or they may bolt away."

With the Time Portal set, Nigel hops onto his snowmobile and rides toward the Megaloceros.  Before getting close, Nigel rides around the eight Megaloceros to get into position.  He goes out far from the herd to avoid spooking them.  The herd, however, did notice the sound of the snowmobile.  They turn their heads toward the direction of Nigel and his snowmobile.  Unsure of what they're seeing or what to do, the eight Megaloceros stand and watch.  After moments of silent tension, Nigel revs the snowmobile and rides straight toward the herd.

Frightened by the sudden charge of this strange creature, the eight giant deer turn and run.  Luckily for Nigel, they're all heading in the direction of the portal.  Three of the females try breaking away from the rest by turning left, but Nigel cuts them off, forcing them back with the others.  Some of the deer make a few more attempts to break away, but Nigel cuts them off before they can get away.  After a couple of minutes, Nigel notices they're getting close.  Pulling out his remote, Nigel activates the Time Portal.  The portal opens quickly enough that the deer don't have time to register it, running straight through.  After the last Megaloceros enters the portal, Nigel quickly closes it.

"Yeah!"  Nigel shouts in triumph.  "Eight Megaloceros in Prehistoric Park!  I can't wait to see them when I get back."

Despite his excitement, Nigel still has a mission.  Gathering up the Time Portal, he rides off in search of mammoths.  Hopefully he'll find some soon.  Martha's life depends on it.

Time: 21st Century

Location: Prehistoric Park

"Back at the Park, Headkeeper Bob is in for a surprise."

Bob is checking with some of the staff at the holding facility when the portal suddenly opens.  Everyone immediately turns their attention to it, expecting Nigel to come through.  To their surprise, however, eight large deer rush through instead.  Thinking quickly, two of the staff on the walkway quickly shut the gate.  Unfortunately, four of the females manage to get through.  Luckily, the three males and one of the females could not follow them.

After processing what just happened, Bob turns to the staff.

"Better go get the tranquilizers.  Looks like we're going on a deer hunt."  Some of the staff rush off to grab the rifles and darts.

"Nigel, Nigel, Nigel,"  Bob says as he shakes his head.  This job just keeps getting wilder.