The draw of Jurassic World Evolution 2 isn’t as much its park management systems as it is the dinosaurs. There are 84 of them in total: 79 in the base game and 5 extra for the Deluxe Edition. But you don’t get them all at once, so how do you unlock more dinosaurs in JWE 2 to add diversity to your park and increase your appeal and star rating?
How to Get More Dinosaurs in Jurassic World Evolution 2
Expeditions
Except for a few story-driven instances, you’ll start with Expeditions to unlock more dinosaurs in Jurassic World Evolution 2. In the campaign mode, you’ll bring back fully grown specimens, which you can immediately add to enclosures. In other modes, such as Chaos Theory mode, you’ll bring back fossils and DNA for incubation.
Research Efficiency Upgrades for more Extraction capacity to speed things up, and recruit a scientist with the Faster Expeditions trait.
Unlocks from these modes transfer over to Sandbox mode, and you must Extract 50% or more of their genomes for them to be available. The fastest way to unlock more dinosaurs is to play Challenge Mode, but any mode technically works, so just have fun. Just remember: researching species opens more dig sites.
No matter what, you won’t unlock all dinosaurs through one map. You will need to play multiple maps to get access to all dinos.
First, build an Expedition Center for $75,000. This building becomes available at various points depending on the mode and will eventually unlock for Sandbox mode after you complete missions and scenarios elsewhere.
To access the Expeditions map, click the facility and choose “view expedition map.” It can also be accessed by clicking the Control Room icon at the top of the bar on the left side of the screen, then clicking the world icon.
You’ll see various icons on the Expeditions map:
- Yellow icons indicate available expeditions you haven’t clicked or embarked on.
- Light Blue icons mean you’ve clicked on an expedition and abandoned it, but it’s still available or there are still specimens or fossils to discover.
- Green checkmarks indicate that a site has been completed.
- Grey locks mean sites are locked behind research.
Dig sites to unlock more dinosaurs become available as you progress and research. Most sites have only one dinosaur available, though some have two. When you hover over or click on an Expedition, you’ll see:
- The dinosaurs available at the site.
- Their classifications (carnivore, herbivore, etc.).
- The current Genome research percentage for the dinosaurs.
- The scientist limit, logistics, and monetary cost, and duration of the Expedition
Each scientist has a logistics value. This value is represented by the gear icon for each staff member. Select the scientist or group of scientists that satisfy the logistics requirement for the Expedition.
Then choose “Start Task” in the bottom right of the screen, considering you have the money to do so. Just like when healing dinosaurs, you must have the staff available; they cannot be performing another task.
How to Extract DNA From Fossils
Once an Expedition is complete, you’ll be notified that there are new Fossils available for Extraction, a process you must complete to unlock more dinosaurs.
Click on the Control Room icon in the toolbar and then the dino skull with DNA icon for the Fossils menu. You’ll see the current Fossils in your inventory, including those used to increase Genome progress and those you can sell for profit.
Hover over Fossils to see the dinosaur DNA they contain and its current Genome progress; the number in the top left of each icon indicates the number of Extraction Slots needed. Click on the icons to add them to the Extraction Slots and assign scientists.
Once Extraction is done, Genome progress will increase. You must hit around 50% Genome Progress to unlock most dinosaurs. The circle icon in the Genome progress bar initially indicates that threshold, then moves forward to indicate the current genetic research position.
Lastly, each Extraction costs $50,000 no matter how many Fossils you assign, so fill up the slots as much as you can.
How to Synthesize & Incubate Dinosaurs
Unless you’re transporting fully-grown dinos, you’ll need to synthesize and incubate eggs to unlock more dinosaurs in JWE 2.
To get more dinosaurs, you’ll need to build a Hatchery for $250,000. The Hatchery can be a stand-alone structure or attached to a fence. Animals can be released directly from it into an enclosure or transported to other pens.
Once you’ve extracted enough DNA for a species:
- Select the Hatchery
- Choose an empty bay
- Choose synthesize dinosaur
- Select the dinosaur
- Assign scientists
As with Expeditions and Extraction, each synthesis has a logistics and monetary cost, as well as a time duration, all of which vary based on the species.
Before synthesis begins for more dinosaurs, you can also see a species’ trait chance, batch size, expected survival rate, comfort needs, cohabitation likes and dislikes, and basic attributes, helping you strategize where they’ll go in your park. Further, you can modify a genome to change its appearance, pattern, health attributes, lifespan, social needs, and more.
Once DNA is done synthesizing:
- Select the Hatchery
- Choose the bay
- Click “Select Eggs” (or discard if you want)
- Choose one or all of the eggs
- Choose scientists with the right Welfare value
It costs money to incubate each egg. You will see the cost near the bottom of the screen. For example, it costs 1,350,000 to incubate one Metriacanthosaurus egg, so the investment can be steep.
Every egg carries traits. The icon in the bottom right of each egg carries a number, indicating its number of traits. Select the eggs to see their traits and descriptions. Some are positive, like Docile, which keeps carnivores from attacking ranger teams and terrorizing guests. Eggs with red caution symbols mean a dino carries a negative or dangerous trait.
You can then release the incubated dino into a pen attached to the Hatchery or transport it to another enclosure.
And that’s how you unlock more dinosaurs in Jurassic World Evolution 2. Essentially, the TL;DR is that you get more dinos by playing the game. As you progress through the Campaign, Chaos Theory, and Challenge modes, new animals will become available in Sandbox mode. For more tips and help on JWE 2, head over to this page.
