How to tame baby dinos in Ark: Survival Ascended

Ark: Survival Ascended has brought wild baby dinos into the game for the first time, which can be tamed for your own use.

Previously, in Ark: Survival Evolved, baby dinos could only be encountered through breeding two tamed creatures, which was followed by a lengthy wait as you waited for incubation, gestation, or for an egg to hatch.

However, while that process still works, you can skip ahead through the waiting period by finding a baby dino in the wild to tame—which we have explained how to do here.

How to tame baby dinos in Ark: Survival Ascended

The first step to taming a wild baby dino in Ark: Survival Ascended is to locate one in the wild. They can be found wandering the overworld in the game or in nests and will be found near an adult—unless the adult has been killed by another creature.

When you approach a baby dino in Ark: Survival Ascended, you will not find any interaction bar and will merely see the dinosaur’s name and its level. In order to tame the baby dino, you will need to kill the adult nearby.

Once the parent has been killed, walk up to the baby dino and hit the designated command. On PC, you need to hit E, on Xbox, hit Y, and on PlayStation, hit Triangle.

Claiming a baby dino begins the imprinting process, requiring you to care for the baby during its maturation process and resulting in improved stat values based on the level of imprinting you achieve.

Imprinting requirements are shown via a countdown above the baby reading “Wants Care”, with three possible types of care required once the countdown runs out.

• Request a random food item: Kibbles, berries, cooked meat, fish meat, jerky.
• Wants a cuddle: Hit the interact button.
• Wants to walk: Whistle for the baby dino to follow for a short distance.

Any imprinting you complete is permanent and does not decrease if you fail a later imprint on the baby dino.