Prehistoric Farm Beginner Guide
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Prehistoric Farm turns a simple loop into a surprisingly full ranching routine: dig fossils, turn complete sets into eggs, hatch dinosaurs, feed them, and ride your favorites across the islands. This guide covers the fundamentals from the official game description, so it is a safe starting point before you chase rare collections and late-game creatures.
Start your first fossil dig
Your first job is to find a dig site and equip your shovel. Hold down on the site to activate the timing meter, then release when the meter reaches the green zone for a better find. The timing element means your first few attempts are about learning the rhythm, not merely clicking as fast as possible.
Early digs are the best place to practice without worrying about efficiency. Once the motion feels comfortable, you can start planning which island or fossil set you want to complete next.
Complete a fossil set
Fossils are collected in sets. A single piece can be useful, but the important milestone is a complete set, because that is what lets you visit Dr. Ivy's DNA Lab. If you are unsure what to do after a run through the dig sites, return to the Lab and check what your current collection can produce.
Turn fossils into an egg
At Dr. Ivy's DNA Lab, a completed fossil set can be used to grow an egg. This is the bridge between the excavation half of Prehistoric Farm and the dinosaur-raising half. When you have enough pieces, press the option to get the egg rather than leaving unused fossils in your inventory.
Incubate and hatch
Take the egg to an incubator and place it inside. Warm it until it hatches, then move the newborn dinosaur to your ranch. Incubation is a good moment to prepare food, clear space, and make sure you are ready to keep the new dinosaur fed after it hatches.
Keep your dinosaur fed
The official instructions recommend keeping a dinosaur's hunger meter more than half full so it continues growing. In practice, that makes food a core resource rather than an optional extra. Check hunger after long exploration trips, especially if you have been sailing, fishing, or hunting for new fossils instead of staying at the ranch.
As dinosaurs mature from Newborns into Elders, they become larger companions. Growing them takes time and steady feeding, but the reward is a mount large enough to travel with you around your ranch and nearby islands.
Ride your first partner dinosaur
Once a dinosaur has grown, you can hop on and ride it around the islands. Riding changes how quickly you can move between dig sites and makes it easier to revisit the areas that match your current fossil goals.
Expand beyond the starting island
After the basic loop clicks, exploration opens up:
- Buy bigger boats to reach new fossil islands.
- Fish in the open sea and dive for rare catches.
- Sneak into the Sunken Grotto to steal sea reptile eggs.
- Team up with other players to take down the giant Mosasaurus with spears.
Those systems give you several directions to progress once the first dinosaur is safely on your ranch. If you want free resources first, check the latest Prehistoric Farm codes, then compare community picks in our animal tier list.