Prehistoric Farm Beginner Guide: Raise Your First Dinosaur

Complete the starter fossil set in Prehistoric Farm, exchange it for an egg, and keep your first dinosaur fed as it grows.

Start Prehistoric Farm with one achievable goal: turn a completed Cambrian fossil set into your first dinosaur. The tutorial introduces the actions you need; finishing its 16 steps also awards 250 coins. Keep that opening route small before spending on later equipment.

This gameplay walkthrough follows the early island, fossil station and first hatches. Watch the return to the station after a creature set becomes ready.

Finish one Cambrian creature set

Use the Wooden Shovel at a marked Cambrian Dig Site. Hold the digging input, then release when the meter reaches green. A well-timed release improves the find, but every dig does not promise a fossil. Coins and Buried Treasure are other possible results.

Each of the six Cambrian creatures needs five fossils for its egg. Count fossils belonging to one creature rather than adding different species together. A scattered collection can contain many pieces while still lacking a complete set.

Bring the completed set home

Visit Dr. Ivy's DNA Lab on Home Island and use Get Egg for the completed creature. Put that egg in an unlocked incubator. Two slots start available, so you can begin without purchasing an expansion. Follow the egg's actual timer rather than expecting every hatch to match the short tutorial demonstration.

Continue caring after the hatch

Hatching starts the ranch stage. Give compatible food to the dinosaur and keep Belly above half full so growth continues. On keyboard, put food in the hotbar, approach the dinosaur on the ranch and press F. A hatched creature still needs time and care before the grown partner riding activity.

Your next useful milestone is a fed dinosaur, not merely an empty incubator. Check care before leaving for another long collection trip. Then return to digging for another complete creature set.

Choose the next starter lesson

Use digging timing if the meter is the sticking point. Use how to play when you want to connect ranch care with the other sea activities. A shovel upgrade can wait until you understand what your starter tool already does.