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Thanks Jan ♡ I appreciate all of your comments 😸😸 Gastornis is Khaydar's and Kelenken is Borsato's. Both of them available and found at their respective signatures 🐣🐣

I love the look of your zoo, it is so unique. You do such a great job on your zoo projects, so creative.

You're on your way across the hanging planters right into the tunnel that goes below the Eohippus corral after washing that sticky cheese from your hands at the restrooms. On the other side, on a leafy bench next to the Globe Bush, Luca drinks from a bottle of fresh water as he waits for you to come back. He swallows two times when he notices your walking, then he closes the bottle and stands up. - How is it going, my friend? - asks he as he approaches - Are you ready to resume the journey? Sure you've been sneaking a bit around. Sure you noticed an arch next to the Synthetoceras & Ceratogaulus exhibit. Do you wanna know what is hiding across those bricks and vines? Luca starts guiding you right back across the tunnel. In the darkness, he starts talking again. - At this point, I've showed you a few mammals that lived during the last eras, just after the biggest dinosaurs. Don't you wonder what happent to those titanic lizards? Or should I say "titanic birds"? Yes! We know now that birds living nowadays are actual and modern dinosaurs! In fact, the feathers came earlier as we tought, appearing in the dinosaur evolution in the ancestor shared between dinosaurs and other reptiles like those who flew! Unfortunately, dinosaur restoration is not that easy as for mammals, nor is something that the Thawed Out Park researches are interested about. However, we of course restorted few extinct dinosaur relatives from ice age! Welcome to the Lost Ponds! When he says this last words, you are now walking below the arch. This area looks completely different to the rest of the zoo. It's like a small rainfortest where the guests are caged and not the animals. Your boots feel soaky at every step you give through the path way. - As I told you, birds are ACTUAL dinosaurs, not their modern relatives. The modern dinosaur relatives are actually crocodiles! It is also known that crocodile cells contain feather genes, but they do NOT have the genes for feather making. Although, Purussaurus is not a croc, but a caiman, it might be the bigges crocodilian ever! Other great rivals who can hand this title are Deinosuchus or Mourasuchus, both of them reaching easily 10 meters long! For a comparison, modern salt water croc, the largest modern reptile, gets only 6.5 meters long! - Another great reptile group, not that close relative of dinosaurs, are turtles. Among all of them through history, the biggest land turtle was Meiolania, which keeps several misteries that we want to thaw out with their research program! Many people doubt about Meiolania's aquatic nature. Their actual classification is also quite problematic! As problematic as those spikes they have around their neck! While predators could not bite them, Meiolania is not able to fold their own necks either! - On the other side, we have what you want to be here! Actual dinosaurs! But you won't see a huge Carcharodontosaurus nor a long Sauroposeidon. I sure turned you jaded about birds being dinos. So, we have, on the first corner of the zoo, the hideous Gastornis! Some people have a hilarious depiction of fluffy feathered dinosaurs! But take a look at these and tell me they're adorable. Did you ever, as a child, tried to steal a hen's chick? They get frightfuly mad! Now imagine about these! - Gastornis' neighbours are in fact called "terror birds" by so many people! Most terror birds, whose scientific name is "phorusrhacids" lived mostly on ancient South America. That's why there's an inca statue standing next to their exhibit. Also, the tallest of them were Kelenken and their name is the one of an ancient deity! Pretty well deserved name for an actual monster! We're almost sure at this point that they were actual predators and not scavengers! This zoo area is pretty reinforced because of this! - But, after what we saw here, the greatest bird of all time was not Gastornis nor Kelenken. Not even the ostriches! On the far island of Madagascar, the greatest bird ever broke what we thought about insular dwarfism! Also, like dinosaurs, it was not a predator, but a frugivore. It was the Aepyornis also known as "elephant bird" because of its dimensions. I'll tell you a secret! When we restored these birds, I got several ideas! I know I said that my team has no interest about clonning dinosaurs, but I do for sure! Maybe, if I have enough time, I'll do it on my own later! Of course, you're gonna be there just like now! - But, of course, I always state that my favorite dinosaur ever is a well deep fried chicken! So, we got a stand of fried chicken if you want to take a look at dinosaurs that may eat you as you eat one of them! Hahaha sorry! That joke sounds better in my head! Do you wanna give it a try? As you two take your meal, standing below the observation areas, a Kelenken stands on the other side of the pond. Its points at you with its beak, standing there quietly. Their eyes make contact with you as the chicken meat is chewed in your mouth. Luca also notices it but says nothing. A sutile grin gets drawn in their face. He forces a short laugh before finishing his meal. - Pretty nice. Isn't it? I'll see you back on the Globe Bush again when you're ready! He leaves. You turn your head again straight to the Kelenken. It shakes briefly before turning around and going to take a rest at the egg shaped shelter. Its feathers spread into the air and float around. One of them lands on your empty cardboar disposable dish. - Are you done yet? 'Cause I'll show you something HUGE! I told you earlier about the roads breaking away from the Feeding Center. Do you wanna know what lies at that side of the zoo? There are two eating places for the munchies that can be bought around the Feeding Center. The Globe Bush at the Eohippus corral is the first one, but the true rest place is at the other way! This is the MegaTusk Plaza! Have a seat and enjoy as you recharge energies! Then, walk across those bulky gates! - As the name and the statues suggest, behind those gates, they who awat for you beyond this ponit are the ancestors of the dog... Nah obviously elephants! Hahaha The first one on this side is not an actual elephant ancestor. Moeritherium belongs to an ancient branch of proboscideans that went lost and extinct so much before the modern elephants apeared. It doesn't even look like them! Their tusks and trunk are pretty short, just like its whole body, resembling a tapir more than an elephant! - Just in front of them, we got something quite interesting! During our search after the biggest terrestrial mammal ever, we found this little friend! It's a close relative of it, but its one of the tiniest proboscideans ever! The genus Palaeoloxodon is quite controversial nowadays. Its validity is dubbed by some as there were findings about it being closely related to asian elephants. Sicilian dwarf elephant research program will disclose several questions about this and one of the biggest land mammals ever. - Follow this way! Take a look at this frosty forest! Here, we have a family having a nice time! But first, tell me... Do you know the difference between a Mastodon and a Mammoth? The word "mastodon" means exactly "nipple tooth" because of the conical crown of these animals. I don't know what was thinking whoever thought that name! To me, they look like ice cream cones! Anyways. These teeths were specialized for eating plants like bush or tree leaves, meanwhile mammoths fed on grass! Mastodons belong to the genus Mammut, resulting in some confusion about their names! I'll point some differences later. - Aren't you amazed enough yet? I'll show you one of the biggest members of the Thawed Out Park! We may count with one hand the land mammal species that are confirmed bigger than Deinotherium! The first thing you'll notice from this ancient elephant is quite weird. Its tusk come out from their jaw! Exactly! Other proboscideans got their tusks from their upper teeth! Most elephants have a use for their tusks as some tool when looking for food. We're still wondering and working on how did these strange tusks work. - You may take the bridge to come across the Deinotherium pyramid savannah. We'll get a second savannah praire, but a iced one this time! Again, our team managed to restore an old extinct large mammal that so many people tried to retrieve several times during last decades! We'll resume the differences between mastodons and mammoths! As you've already seen, mastodons were hairy, but mammoths weren't that way! Just the Woolly Mammoth was hairy. You sure noticed that hump! Mastodons lack it! - This is the last member of the MegaTusk Plaza neighbourhood: If Mastodon means "nipple tooth" due to its teeth crowns, Stegodon owes its name to the ridges of its teeth crowns giving a shape like the roof of a house. Several Stegodon species were among the biggest proboscideans. In some of them, the tusks were so close that the trunk grew on and not between them! These six ancient elephant species gathered here establish our Proboscidean Research Program! Our results will help on the conservation of modern african and asian elephants! - We're back at the bulky gates, at the other side the MegaTusk Plaza awaits for us again. Before proceeding to the next area, you should take a look at the Dig Setup! Sure you'll find something intriguing! If you wanna keep something that you find buried there, just don't take a big item or other guest will get jealous! I'll be waiting at the Tea House. Have a nice dig! When you go into the Dig Setup, there are several shovels laying on the ground. Piles of mud and snow were thrown near them, next to some wet rocks nobody cares about. A sutile spark steals your attention, inviting you to crouch close. You grab a small Ammonite that might become confused with a plain pebble. As it is not that heavy, you can handle it and put it in your pocket. When you stand and start walking out the setup, at the first steps, you feel the stone pounding against your thigh. When you are back at the Tea House, you don't even mind about it anymore.