Dinosaurs are a major part of Ark: Survival Evolved, they can not only be used as a source of food and other raw materials they can be tamed and used as pets, attack animals; they can even be saddled up and used as your own form of prehistoric transportation. If you’ve already encountered a few different dinosaur species in the wild you may have noticed they aren’t naturally friendly. Before they’ll do your bidding you’ll need to tame them first.

Taming an animal is a multistep process that starts off by knocking them unconscious (achieved by hitting them in the head repeatedly) and then gaining their loyalty by feeding them food and drugs until their “tame” bar maxes out. Once this happens the dinosaur is considered tame and can be ridden (if the animal can be ridden), used as storage, and given a selection of commands such as: follow, guard, and stay.

Depending on the animal you’re trying to tame and it’s level, the process can be more time consuming and difficult. Here are some guidelines to follow while taming a dinosaur or other animal in Ark.

Taming Effectiveness

The taming effectiveness level of an animal is the amount of health it has left when it is knocked unconscious. While it does not affect the amount of time it takes to tame the animal, the more taming effectiveness you have left when he animal has been tamed, the higher the melee damage that animal will have.

Taming effectiveness expires during the taming process every time the animal eats. You can reduce the amount of taming effectiveness lost by feeding the animal it’s favorite food and making sure they are stocked with Narcoberries/ Narcotics (they do not lose effectiveness when they eat narcoberries/ narcotics).

Unfortunately there is no way to completely stop Taming effectiveness, which is why you should always try to knock the animal unconscious before it loses too much health.

The Right Food

Each animal you tame has a preferred food that will speed up the taming process, resulting in less food needed to tame and a higher Taming Efficiency.

Carnivores are easy; their preferred food is Prime Meat when they’re not eating the standard raw meat. There is a chance of receiving prime meat off of most of the animals in Ark, but the Brontosaurus, Megalodon, and Mammoth appear to have the highest drop rates.

Herbivores take a little more work as each of them has a favorite type of berry. Luckily, berries are easy to gather so head out to your nearest crop of bushes and gather up a good selection of each kind before starting the taming process.

After the taming has begun and the animals inventory is full of food, it’s a good idea to gather some more food from nearby sources to have backup for food that spoils.

Guarding Your Animal

Some of the largest animals can take 1 – 3 hours to tame. During this time they are extremely vulnerable to having their food stolen and being attacked by other predators and hostile players.

If you’re in a tribe it’s a good idea to enlist some members for guard/ food gathering duty. Another tip is to lure the animal as close as you can to friendly territory to minimize the chances of hostile players running across your downed dino. If you already have a tamed carnivore you can set him to guard mode in the area of the dinosaur being tamed and he will attack any hostile units that come too close.

Lights Out

While the animal is being tamed you not only have to feed it, you have to keep it unconscious. You can tell how close an animal is to waking up by it’s Torpor level Keep the torpor level high by feeding it Narcoberries or Narcotics if you have access to them. As a last resort you can hit the animal in the head to increase torpor, although that will also reduce its health.