A week after the castoroides rescue, Drew takes his team back to work on a 'more exciting' rescue...specifically, rescuing the giant Miocene Amazon caiman purussaurus and the vicious Miocene Argentina terror bird known as kelenken...while also glaringly excluding Leon and Jack despite their having successfully fulfilled his requirements to allow them the chance to end their suspension. Meanwhile, romance seems to be on the horizon back at the park between smilodon fatalis duo Diego and Shira as well as between Jack and Colette and Leon and Yolanda.
- Animal Stampede: As per usual, this happens multiple times over the course of the mission.
- Brutal Bird of Prey: The argentavis are a pair of giant prehistoric vultures who are big enough to kill and eat relatively large animals like diadiaphorus. And they understandably don't take it kindly when Drew starts loudly whooping and waving his arms around while in their vicinity, even jumping up from their meal to chase after him once their efforts at scaring him off prove ineffective.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Due to possessing both fangs and armor plated bodies, it unsurprisingly doesn't take very long for the macroeuphractus to convince a pack of borhyaena to back off and concede a freshly killed protypotherium carcass for them to eat.
- Curse Cut Short: As Drew himself states when he notices that the kelenken have taken an interest in him after he tripped up while attempting to have them and a male thylacosmilus led through the portal via the carcass they were fighting over earlier with a winch and are now ready to perhaps try to kill and eat him:Drew: Oh fu...
- Feathered Fiend: The argentavis prove quite eager to personally go after Drew once their efforts at scaring him away from them don't work. Similarly, the kelenken prove quite menacing and vicious to the point that they very nearly manage to kill Drew.
- Fiendish Fish: Downplayed with the megapiranha, for while they do rather voraciously devour a strip of bait meat that is dropped within their reach by Alice, they are not portrayed any more aggressively or voraciously than any modern day piranha.
- Giant Flyer: The argentavis.
- Heinous Hyena: Averted for the borhyaena. Not only are they not actually hyenas, but they also cause zero trouble for the rescue team when they're rescued.
- Interspecies Friendship: Leon and Colette are revealed in this episode to have started forming close bonds with Diego the smilodon and Nero the dire wolf (respectively).
- Kick the Dog: Drew chooses, despite the fact that Leon and Jack have fulfilled their requirements the previous week for winning back their right to take part in rescue missions, to have Jack and Leon remain on mandatory leave from the rescue team at the beginning of this chapter.
- Killer Rabbit: While modern armadillos themselves qualify as this by virtue of carrying leprosy, the macroeuphractus take this a step further by being explicitly carnivorous (and even have the fangs to prove it).
- Mama Bear: The mother thylacosmilus is not at all pleased to see Alice so dangerously close to her three cubs (completely unaware that Alice had just recently saved said cubs from being accidentally trampled by a group of startled peltephilus).
- Mythology Gag: This episode takes heavy inspiration from the chapter Before Tooth and Claw in Prehistoric Park: Extinction World.
- Named After Somebody Famous: The male amongst the argentavis duo is named Hannibal and his mate is named after his namesake's real life wife Imilce.
- Never My Fault: Drew shows off signs of this by dismissively stating 'his loss' in response to Alice making note of how much the currently on suspension Jack would have loved accompanying them to the Miocene Amazon (which is populated with various giant reptiles at the time) despite he himself having deliberately chosen to not let Jack come off suspension despite him having successfully fulfilled his set requirements for being allowed to rejoin the team. Alice's silent glare in response serves as a silent criticism against this.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Purussaurus, a giant Miocene Amazon caiman, is one of the two primary targets for this mission, and the foursome rescued prove themselves to not at all be creatures one would want to mess around with. The similarly carnivorous gryposuchus likewise are also amongst the animals rescued, as are the terrestrial prehistoric crocs langstonia, barinasuchus, and the (in-universe) newly discovered foetodon.
- Panthera Awesome: Diego and Shira the smilodon are featured in several important scenes during the back at the park subplots. And while not truly cats, the spirit of this trope is similarly achieved via the thylacosmilus and patagosmilus.
- Pet the Dog: While it ultimately takes several What the Hell, Hero? style actions and complaints from various other staff members, Drew makes up for his earlier Kick the Dog moment against Jack and Leon at the beginning of this chapter by finally allowing them to resume active membership of the rescue team at the very end of the chapter. And unlike in Prehistoric Earth, it doesn't require Jack having to provide additional help to an employee at risk of losing their job or Leon having to sneak through the portal to accompany Jack and Drew on a mission on unauthorized leave.
- Piranha Problem: Averted with the megapiranha, for while they do quite voraciously work to eat a strip of bait meat that Alice drops within their reach, they are not portrayed as being any more aggressive and voracious than any ordinary modern day piranha.
- Ship Tease: A decent amount of this is featured between Jack and Colette, Leon and Yolanda, and Diego and Shira.
- Shout-Out: The newly discovered in universe species of terrestrial crocodilians both heavily resemble and eventually get outright named after the foetodon from King Kong (2005). Similarly, the two newly discovered in universe species of terror birds are heavily modeled after the pinnatono and noctupervagus (with the former even sharing a name while the latter are named plumadaemon). And it is revealed via Word of God that two of the adult borhyaena amongst the rescued pack of the species are named Logan and Raven and that all eight of the kelenken are named in some capacity or other after characters from various incarnations of The Three Musketeers.
- Snakes Are Sinister: A downplayed case in regards to the speculative species of giant boa-like snakes, as they only start slithering towards the rescue team to attack them in response to them tapping the ground and causing massive vibrations in their vicinity...which was explicitly what Drew was hoping they'd do for the sake of being tricked into going through the portal.
- Uncatty Resemblance: Both Leon and Colette are revealed in the narrative to have several personality traits in common with their respective current new animal companions amongst the park's rescue roster.
- Vile Vulture: Hannibal and Imilce are first introduced as being very menacing and terrifying birds that swiftly kill a diadiaphorus in brutal fashion and are not at all above aggressively chasing after Drew when he goads them into doing as much for the sake of luring them through the portal.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Drew undergoes several of these from Alice and Adrian (as well as from a few other staff members offscreen) over his choosing to keep Leon and Jack on suspension for the sake of this mission despite the duo having successfully fulfilled his requirements for being allowed to rejoin active rescue duty.
- Wicked Weasel: The borhyaena are carnivores and have traits similar to those of weasels. Downplayed though in that they ultimately don't cause all that much trouble for the rescue team or even the macroeuphractus that they confront over the right to eat a freshly killed protypotherium.
