In order to create a dinosaur, a significant percentage of the particular dinosaur's DNA is needed. Fifty percent is needed in order to create a dinosaur; the higher the percentage of DNA, the longer that dinosaur will live. To gain a dinosaur's DNA, the player must extract it through fossils or amber.
Fossil Hunting[edit]
Using a fossil hunting team to dig in one of the nine dig sites positioned around the world is the first way to obtain fossils to extract DNA from. Only 5 of the 9 sites can be chosen in the PC version, and only 3 sites can be chosen in the console version. Each dig site contains fossils from three certain dinosaurs. The chance of finding fossils in the site depends on the quality of the site. More dig teams can be purchased at a cost of $5,000 for the first team, $10,000 for the second, $20,000 for the third, and $40,000 for the final team. After a certain length of time, the dig team will report their findings. When the teams are digging they occasionally will come across gold, silver and opals, which are solely for selling. These precious metals and stones will increase in worth when accumulated and can help raise park funds if in debt. Additionally, fossils retrieved can be sold, and once the park has 100% of a dinosaur's genome, any more discovered fossils of that dinosaur are automatically sold by the team.
Fossil Market[edit]
The "Fossil Market" is a place to buy fossils if your dig teams can't find any more fossils due to digging. Fossils have large amounts of DNA, and small amounts. The smaller the DNA in the fossil the less it will cost. The Fossil Market also sells Amber, a frozen ball of tree sap with a Mosquito inside.
Amber[edit]
Sometimes, when either digging or buying in the market, the player will come across amber. Amber is very useful, especially if it is high quality. If amber is discovered, there are two ways it can be used. Amber can either be sold (which is recommended if there are financial issues since it is deemed valuable) or the player can try to extract DNA from it. While extracting the amber can be a gamble because the DNA present is unknown, amber yields much more DNA than fossils. This gamble often pays off (hence the reason why amber is more expensive and also sells for a higher price than fossils).