Spawn Mechanics/Nests and Where To Find Dinosaurs

(Last Updated September 6, 2022)

Below are the various ways creatures spawn in Jurassic World Alive, as well as an image showing what those spawns look like now. Any changes to zones are noted in italics. Zones rotate on the first Monday of every month. This means the local zone you are in right now will be different next month. They also rotate in a pattern. They will go 1>2>3>4>1. As of right now, continental creatures do not rotate and park spawns will not rotate either. 

This is effective as of Patch 2.18
 

Oviraptor Gen 2 -  Local 2 Day/Dawn/Dusk

Brachiosaurus -  Moved from Exclusive to Local 3 Day/Dawn/Dusk

Quetzalcoatlus Gen 2 - Local 3 Night/Dawn/Dusk

Troodon - Removed from Dusk Pool (Day/Dawn only)

Red - Short Range Global (best odds at Day/Dusk)

Moros Intrepidus - Exclusive

Short-Range Spawns

The Map now differentiates short-range and long-range spawn points and will spawn different creatures

Some creatures will only be found short-range. With this new differentiation, short-range will have a slightly higher chance of spawning an Epic creature compared to long-range spawn points.

• Locations and creatures you can see when very close (within 30 meters, which is the smaller blue circle radar on your map) are considered to be short-range.
   
• Locations and creatures you see out of the blue circle radar on your map are considered long-range.
   
• Scent Capsules are great and bring creatures that are out of reach to you! Because creatures that are considered short-range are within your reach, scent capsules are not effective for short-range creatures and will not spawn short-range exclusive creatures.

Global spawns are dinosaurs that spawn all across the world of Jurassic World Alive. There are four different map settings based on the time of day for all spawns:

• Anytime - Creatures in this category will spawn in their location no matter the time of day.
   
• Daytime - Creatures in this category spawn just when the map is in "daytime mode" as well as "dusk/dawn" mode, based on the local timezone. Generally Daytime is around an hour after sunrise and around an hour before sunset. So longer daylight hours mean you'll get more daytime and anytime spawns.
   
• Nighttime - Creatures in this category are night hunters or feeders, and only spawn when the map is in "nighttime mode" as well as "dusk/dawn" mode, about an hour after local sunset until about an hour prior to local sunrise. Longer nighttime hours mean you'll get more nighttime spawns and anytime spawns.
   
• Dusk/Dawn - Creatures in this category are present only in that 2-hour span between night/day cycles and day/night cycles. Dawn and Dusk usually starts about 45 minutes to an hour before the local sunset and sunrise time. Dusk/Dawn only creatures will only spawn in this time period, but this time is also the most congested with spawns as everything else is also spawning at this time. 

So a Global Daytime creature will spawn anywhere on the map only in Daylight hours, and a creature marked as Day/Dawn/Dusk will appear during Daylight hours, as well as Dawn/Dusk hours. 

Short Range vs. Long-Range Spawns 

The Map now differentiates short-range and long-range spawn points and will spawn different creatures

• Locations and creatures you can see when very close (within 30 meters, which is the smaller blue circle radar on your map) are considered to be short-range. They will only appear when you get within range of them. 
   
• Locations and creatures you see out of the blue circle radar on your map are considered long-range.
   
• You might see creatures as both short-range and long-range but there are short-range exclusive creatures that will only spawn within your circle.

Short-Range Exclusive

In 2.4, short-range exclusive creatures were introduced. These creatures will only spawn within the short-range circle. Short-range exclusive creatures are all global anytime and are indicated with an asterisk in the list and with an icon on the images below. Scent capsules are not effective for short-range proximity, exclusive creatures.

Continental Creatures

In 2.6, continental creatures were introduced. These epic creatures are global anytime, but can only be found on their specific continents. If you are not on the continent something specific spawns, you will need to unlock it or get DNA through sanctuaries or events and incubators. 

Anytime

Legendary 

Parasaurolophus Lux*

Epics

Amargocephalus
Carbonemys
Darwinopterus
Eucladoceros
Gryposuchus
Megistotherium*
Red*
Tyrannosaurus Rex

Rares

Dimetrodon
Erlikosaurus Gen 2
Gorgonops*
Meiolania
Oviraptor*
Proceratosaurus
Purrolyth
Spinosaurus
Tuojiangosaurus
Tupandactylus 
Utahraptor

Common

Amphicyon*
Deinocheirus
Deinonychus
Dilophosaurus Gen 2
Dimetrodon Gen 2
Dracorex Gen 2
Hatzegopteryx
Stygimoloch Gen 2
Tanycolagreus
Tarbosaurus
Triceratops Gen 2
Velociraptor

*short-range only

Continental Exclusive

Struthiomimus - Europe
Rinchenia - Asia, Africa, Oceania
Stegoceras - North & South America

Day/Dawn/Dusk

Epics

Erlikosaurus
Smilodon
Nodopatosaurus

Rares

Arambourgiania
Entelodon
Koolasuchus Gen 2
Tyrannosaurus Gen 2

Commons

Apatosaurus

Dawn/Dusk

Epic

Spinosaurus Gen 2
Indominus Rex Gen 2

Rares

Titanoboa Gen 2

Commons
Einiosaurus

Dawn/Dusk/Night

Epics

Edmontoguanodon
Purutaurus
Koolasuchus

Rares

Irritator
Kaprosuchus
Ankylocodon

Local spawns are also broken out into Day, Dawn/Dusk, and Night cycles, but unlike Global Spawns, they only appear in certain places.

Each local is approximately 5 to 10 square blocks (varying widely depending on where you're living) but they are broken out in a grid that spans city and country alike. So if you're seeing a lot of Paralophosaurus, driving a few blocks in any direction should get you to a different set of dinosaurs.

Worry not, you do not need to wander aimlessly in some direction in hopes of finding the zone you seek. Thanks to the help of our discord member, Kelociraptor, we found there is a method to the madness. The zones are laid out in a pattern, so once you figure out what you are currently in, it should be easy to figure out how to find any of the others from where you are at. The pattern is quite simple. North/South, they run 1-2-3-4. Your JWA Gamepress staff has found the specific direction can vary, so it may take a little trial & error to recognize which direction it runs in your location. For example, in Phoenix, they run 1 through 4, North to South. In Cincinnati, we’ve found they run the opposite but still follow the 1, 2, 3, 4 order. East/West, they alternate either 1/3 or 2/4.

This is important for rare and epic creatures, because locals are a consistent way to go "hunting" for a specific creature that you need. 

There is no way in game to identify which local you are in, but thankfully there is an easy way to figure it out yourself. Take a look at what common dinosaurs are spawning around you, and find one of the commons on the grid below to figure out which local you are in. And since locals divide (usually) at roads, you can generally tell where the change occurs and a new local begins.

Scents also pull heavily from the local pool so knowing what could spawn around you can be very helpful to figuring out what scent you should be using to target a specific creature.

Below are the locals we have now:

Anytime

Epics

Ankylosaurus
Compsognathus
Concavenator
Sinoceratops
Stegoceratops

Rares

Preondactylus
Majundasuchus
Giraffatitan

Common

Gallimimus
Glyptodon

Day/Dawn/Dusk

Common

Inostrancevia
Miragaia

Rares

Megalosaurus
Dilophosaurus

Epics

Baryonyx
 

Dawn/Dusk/Night

Rares

Amargasaurus
Megalonyx

Anytime

Epic

Postimetrodon
Pyroraptor
Rajasaurus
Woolly Mammoth
Microraptor

Rare

Andrewsarchus
Baryonyx Gen 2
Einiasuchus

Common

Euoplocephalus
 

Day/Dawn/Dusk

Rares

Bajadasaurus
Nasutoceratops
Wuerhosaurus

Common

Majungasaurus
Purussaurus Gen 2

Epics

Alanqa
Oviraptor Gen 2

Dawn/Dusk/Night

Rare

Nodosaurus

Epic

Dakotaraptor

Anytime

Epics

Lystrosaurus
Monolophosaurus
Pteranodon
Secodontosaurus
Spinotahraptor

Rares

Diplotator
Edmontosaurus
Fukuisaurus

Commons

Lythronax
Sinosauropteryx

Day/Dawn/Dusk

Common

Eremotherium
Phorusrhacos
 

Rare

Delta
Dreadnoughtus
Archaeopteryx

Epic

Acrocanthosaurus
Brachiosaurus

Dawn/Dusk/Night

Rare

Moschops

Epic

Quetzalcoatlus Gen 2

Anytime

Epics

Antarctopelta
Gorgosuchus
Ouranosaurus
Pachycephalosaurus
Stygimoloch

Rare

Compsognathus Gen 2
Diplocaulus Gen 2
Suchotator

Commons

Dimorphodon
Monolophosaurus Gen 2
 

Day/Dawn

Epic

Troodon

Day/Dawn/Dusk

Rare

Arctodus
Dsungaripterus
Elasmotherium

Common

Parasaurolophus
Scolosaurus
 

Dawn/Dusk/Night

Epic

Scutosaurus

Rare

Postosuchus

Parks function as another local with its own rules. Instead of being a large area, parks lie on top of locals anywhere on your map where the ground is green (well for the most part). In 1.11 we have seen more "hidden parks" pop up where there is not any green on the map but the area spawns park dinos. Parks also have a local as well so if you run a scent in a park in Local 1 you will have a chance to spawn either set of creatures. 

These are generally... well... parks -- but they could be all sorts of other types of naturalesque locations. Parks also generally contain a much higher percentage of Special Event Supply Drops (the green ones) which also means most parks have lots of featured dinosaurs as well.

After patch 1.7, many park dinosaurs were moved to the new daily dinosaur feature -- which was excellent as parks were getting very crowded and it was getting very hard to find anything consistently in a park. Let alone, parks were not easy for all players to find.

Below is the remaining list of park dinosaurs:

Anytime

Epics

Dodo
Kentrosaurus

Rare

Deinotherium
Doedicurus
Inostherium

Common

Diplocaulus 

Day/Dawn/Dusk

Epic

Edaphosaurus

Rare

Purussaurus

Common

Coelurosauravus

Daily Dinosaurs was a new feature introduced in patch 1.7. Any creature in the daily category is available globally (and during day, dawn/dusk and night cycles) but only during certain days of the week. 

Each day, you will see a common and a rare creature spawning for that day. Epic daily dinos were removed in patch 1.12 and distributed throughout the various locals or went global. This may change as time goes on, but for now daily dinosaurs are grouped in sets like this. 

You'll know a creature is a daily dinosaur by looking at the created dinosaur in the lab. Scrolling down you'll see it identifies "Active Times" and shows which day you'll see that dinosaur.

It is worth noting, at the moment, that daily dinosaurs do not spawn when you use scents. This may change as well but for now they are not on the scent tables.

Monday

Archaeotherium
Argentinosaurus

Tuesday 

Ankylosaurus Gen 2
Megaloceros

Wednesday

Ophiacodon
Haast Eagle Gen 2
 

Thursday

Nundasuchus
Gorgosaurus
 

Friday 

Iguanodon
Carnotaurus
 

Saturday

Stegosaurus
Echo
 

Sunday

Irritator Gen 2
Triceratops

All these dinosaurs are not able to be found in the wild. Either they are locked behind the Arena Incubator, or behind Events Ludia releases. They are the following:

Event Exclusives:

Epics:

• Ailurarctos
• Allosaurus G2
• Beta
• Blue
• Bumpy
• Diplodocus
• Ghost
• Moros Intrepidus
• Sonorasaurus
• Titanoboa
• Woolly Rhino 
• Giganotosaurus

Rares: 

• Albertosaurus
• Arctops
• Argentavis
• Cervalces
• Dracorex
• Kelenken
• Quetzalcoatlus
• Tenontosaurus
• Therizinosaurus

Battle Exclusives:

• Fallen Kingdom: Charlie
• Mt. Sibo: Suchomimus
• S. S. Arcadia: Marsupial Lion
• Nublar Jungle: Haast Eagle
• Badlands: Sarcosuchus
• Lockdown: Scaphognathus
• Sorna Marshes: Maiasaura
• Jurassic Ruins: Brontotherium
• Lockwood Estate: Ornithomimus
• Aviary: Ghost

Nests do exist in Jurassic World Alive, but they work a bit differently than nests in something like Pokemon Go. Rather than a large area where a certain creature can spawn, a nest in Jurassic World Alive is a single spawn point that has a chance of spawning a nest dino in addition to the chance of spawning a local, global, or daily dino. 

Nests are usually points on a map google might find, like a law office, a bus stop, a fire station, etc. While they provide a great mix of other dinosaurs, they aren't quite as reliable a source of finding a specific dinosaur as a local would be.

In Patch 1.10 the chances of seeing a nest dino increased significantly. These dinos can't be attracted by scents. It's also important to note that not all gas stations, for example, will have nest spawns and we have not been able to determine how nests are actually determined in-game. 

In addition to the creatures that are listed above, every week there is a featured creature as part of a hybrid pursuit. The hybrid pursuits go in order of the patch that new creatures are released. 

Each week, a different component for a hybrid is announced via the official Ludia twitter and the in-game news tab and is available as a global spawn. These creatures can be scented even if the featured creature is normally an exclusive spawn. 

Below is an example of Hybrid pursuit. We will keep you up to date on our main page with the current hybrid pursuit. Here is a current running list of the hybrid pursuits (in no particular order within each patch). 
 

2.12

Arctovasilas (Current Pursuit)

2.13

Fukuimimus

Albertospinos

Troodoboa

Ankylos lux

2.14

Ankylodactylus

Ardontognathus

2.15

Tarbognathus

Thylaconyx

Albertocevia

Allodrigues

2.16

Lystrosuchus

Dreadactylus

Giganyx

2.17

Segnoraptor

Compsoraptor

2.18

Thylos Intrepidus

Lystrosavis

Indonemys