Breeding

Breeding is a absolute game changer for those wanting to maximize their dinosaurs' potential. Want to create a friendly carnivore that can coexist in harmony among a herd of herbivores? Breed your Therapod with the "Friendly" trait. Want an enormous dinosaur that looks cartoonishly big that will eat seconds every time? Breed your dinosaur with the "Chubby" trait. There are many traits in the game that have both positive and negative effects but the fact is, you must breed them in order to get them. This is also how/where you can control the primary color and sex of your dinosaur. Already hatched dinosaur cannot be altered without the use of Hats.

## Basics

To get started, you must have a male and female pair of the dinosaurs you wish to breed who are also of age (usually 1 week old or can wear hats). They must be at or above 80% happiness and a Dinosaur Nest must be in the same exhibit they are cohabitating. You can control some of the chances of the breeding to occur by having the exhibit with an "Eden" theme and limit the dinosaurs to just the breeding pair being the ONLY pair able to breed. It then takes time but eventually, the Dinosaur Nest will become a dinosaur egg one morning and that is where the real task begins.

## Advanced

Get a DNA machine, under Exhibits then the Breeding tab. This will allow you to scan eggs before they hatch which is where you can see some basic information like primary and secondary color, DNA parents, sex, and other incidentals. Click on the dinosaur egg to get this information or alter it! You can change the sex of the dinosaur at this point but it will default one way or another without input. At the top of the window is three smaller windows, this is where you can actually alter your dinosaur by inputting items from your inventory with the exception of eggs. The box on the far left is the one that decides primary color while the two on the right allow you to add up to two traits. Good information to know is traits are *inheritable* so breeding dinosaurs with traits with other dinosaurs with traits, creates offspring with more trait possibilities. Since you can further alter these with the DNA machine to add two more traits, you can create a very wellrounded dinosaur.

## Purpose of Breeding

The only way to get more than two traits on a dinosaur is through breeding and, sometimes, the DNA machine.

### Traits

By default, eggs bought or bred will not have traits or alternative colors. The only two exceptions is: if one of the parents have an alternative color or traits and if altered with the DNA Machine.

### Colors

All dinosaurs have a "default" color although there is still a chance to hatch another color without altering the DNA.

Secondary colors are randomly decided and cannot be changed.

## Second Generation

The new generation has arrived. The fruits of your labor have lead to the first offspring of your first generation. Outside of any changes made by the DNA machine, the second generation is functionally identical. However, they will recognize their "DNA Parents" in their Info tab instead of it being "Unknown". This seems to also prevent inbreeding between DNA parents and offspring. Once they reach adulthood, you can breed them as well.