15 Best Dinosaurs to Tame in ARK: Survival Evolved

By Laurel Devoto Updated November 14, 2021

For a beginner, taming dinos can be overwhelming. To get the best out of the game, it’s better to strategize early on. As the equipment is limited, do not try to take on bigger dinos that are out of your league. Here’s the list of Dinos to tame in order:

Begin with small birds such as the Dodo for kibble and berries.
Since you’ll be farming alot to level up, go for dinos like Iguanadon, Triceratops for transportation and resource farming
If you are in pvp mode, strengthen your defence early on with your first carnivore, Dilophosaurus. It Slows attackers with their venom.
Once you’ve reached a level and have resources, try taming a Pteranodon and fly like an Alladin on your magic carpet. This not only shows you a whole new possiblity of the game, it’ll help you move quickly and efficiently.
Now, tame dragons that’ll help you harvest for the build dodiceorus(Stone), Ankylosaurus (Metal, flint, gems), Beezbuffalo (Cementing Paste).

These dinos will assist you in getting your character off to a good start. You can now freely explore the map and progress to harder dinos, either carnivores or herbivores, in any location.

There are many unique and extraordinary dinos throughout the world. Each has its own set of strengths. Here are our top recommendations:

Best Dinosaurs to Tame in ARK

Argentavis – Fly High, Fly Better

An Argentavis is a flying creature that can hold a lot more weight than the more common pteranodon. Argentavis can be challenging to tame because it requires chain bolas or bear traps to knock it out so that you can increase its torpor.

Since Argentavis is likely to follow you if you aggress it, you can make a closeable trap, trap it, and then shoot it with the tranquilizer.

Preferred foods: superior kibble, raw mutton, raw prime meat.
At level 150, it would take 18 tranq darts, nine shocking tranq darts, or 45 shots from a bow with a narcotic arrow to knock out an argentavis.
Trap it with player-made traps, chain bolas, or bear traps

Using superior kibble, it would take 42 minutes to tame an Argentavis.

Shinehorn – See Through The Darkness

Shinehorn is particularly useful when you want to explore dark areas because they light the way with their glowing horns. They keep reapers and nameless away while warning you about high-level combatants nearby. They’re also adorable!

Shinehorns have to be tamed without violence. Feed them a preferred food, wait until they’re hungry again, and then feed them again.
They prefer plant species z seeds, but they also eat aggeravic mushrooms, sweet vegetable cake, amarberry seeds, and citronal seeds.

At level 150, it would take about five minutes to tame a Shinehorn with the best food.

Castoroides – Mine Cementing Paste

Castoroides look like giant beavers, and they create dams in the wild full of cementing paste. They’re also great tames! They can function as an underwater mount, have a high carry weight, and harvest wood very quickly to help you build faster.

Use tranquilizer darts to knock out Castoroides quickly. You can also trap it with a bola. Its torpor drops fast, so make sure you have lots of narcotic to put into its inventory.
Castoroides prefer superior kibble, crops, fresh sugar plants.
Other castoroides will attack you if you attack one of their own near them. Avoid starting fights when you’re outnumbered because they hit hard.

At level 150, it would take about 26 minutes to tame Castoroides with the best food. You would also need almost 60 buckets of narcotics.

Snow Owl – Real Weapon On Wings

Snow Owls live in the coldest parts of ARK, attacking anything unlucky enough to get near them. These aggressive animals become useful tames once you manage to capture and feed one. It has infrared vision, healing abilities, and can even dive-bomb.

The best way to tranq a snow owl is to have it follow you into a pre-made trap. Once it can’t fly away, use a longneck rifle with tranq darts to knock it out. Tranq arrows work, too, but you risk killing them in the process.
You can also capture it with a net projectile.
Snow Owls prefer superior kibble, raw mutton, and raw prime meat.

At level 150, it would take just under five minutes to tame a snow owl with the best food. However, it would also take 27 tranq darts with a longneck rifle to knock the creature out.

Tusoteuthis – Gem Under Water

You’re going to need a wetsuit and breathing tank for this one. Tusoteuthis is a giant squid-like creature that lives in deep water and will fight you or you’re tames on sight. However, once captured, it’s a valuable ally.

It can carry many dinosaurs across the water — including a rex — and can generate oil, tranq creatures, capture many resources at once, and act as a high-powered underwater mount.

Put 50 black pearls in your last inventory slot for your quickbar.
You need to approach the Tusoteuthis on a passive mount. Most experienced players use high-level Carbonymous mounts for this.
Once the Tusoteuthis grabs your mount, get off the mount. Swim to the Tusoteuthis’ mouth and press “E” to feed it the pearls.
Surface for oxygen. Wait three minutes and then go back to the tusoteuthis and repeat the feeding when prompted. It may not want to be fed right away, but you need to check on it frequently.

It will take about 40 minutes and around four sets of 50 black pearls to complete the Tusoteuthis tame.

Achatina – Slimy Resource

Achatinas are non-aggressive snail-like creatures who crawl over the ground, dropping Achatina paste and organic polymer. This works the same as cementing paste in recipes which makes the Achatina a helpful resource-generating tame.

They also increase the spoil time on organic polymer, corrupted nodes, and bio-toxin within their inventory, so they’re good to have on hand when you’re collecting these materials.

Use shocking tranquilizer darts and aim away from the shell. It’s easy to kill a chatinas while trying to tranquilize them.
Achatinas only eat sweet vegetable cake, and it takes 17 cakes and 36 minutes to tame a level 150.

If you’re only interested in using Achatinas as cementing paste factories, you can create a pen for them and have a flying mount drop them into it. They will continue to crawl around and drop Achatina paste, which you can pick up with local collection devices.

Therizinosaurs – Attack And Collect

The first time you see therizinosaurs, you might think they’re more attack tames than resource tames, but that simply isn’t true. While they’re good fighters to have on hand, they also collect massive amounts of wood once tame.

It’s one of the best collectors in the game and excels at picking up rare flowers, silk, hide, chitin, keratin, rare mushrooms, cactus sap, and fiber.

It takes about 21 shocking tranquilizer darts to knock out a level 150 therizinosaurus.
Therizinosaurus prefer exceptional kibble, fresh barley, and fresh wheat.
It will attack with incredible ferocity when you attempt to tranquilize it. Be ready for a fight unless you have it trapped.

With 20 exceptional kibbles, it takes around 42 minutes to tame a Therizinosaurus.

Triceratops – Harvesting Buddy

Triceratops better known as Trikes are very useful in many ways, including berry and thatch harvesting. They also provide defense from lower-level creatures near your home, like Raptors. Their carrying capacity is high, and their charge ability makes them move quickly enough to be helpful when traveling.

You can use tranquilizer arrows while dodging a trike’s attack to knock it out.
Trikes prefer simple kibble, fresh barley, and fresh wheat.
If you use simple kibble, you won’t have to add additional narcotic to the trike most of the time. Every other food choice will require keeping it asleep longer than the initial tranq, though.

With 16 exceptional kibbles, it takes about 13 minutes to tame a trike at level 150. Using barley takes 160 barley, 73 buckets of narcotics, and over one and a half hours to tame it.

Tyrannosaurus – Personal Body Guard

The Rex is a fast, high-health, damage dispenser that will protect your tames and take down your enemies. They have a roar that intimidates enemies who try to attack you. Since they’re quick, they’re also good traveling companions when you’re in an unsafe area.

One of the best strategies for taming the rex is to lure it into a trap before you tranq it. Some people have also had luck building boats and tranqing the rex from the boat as they sail close to the shore. Make sure to use stone for any traps and cover the vessel with stone since rexes will obliterate wood.
Shocking tranquilizers and tranq darts will take a rex down fastest.
Rexes prefer exceptional kibble, raw mutton, and cooked lamb chops.

At level 150, it takes 17 exceptional kibbles to train a rex in about 36 minutes.

Tapejara – Hop On In!

The Tapejara is a worthy addition to your tames because it can carry multiple riders. Everyone who isn’t driving the creature can fire weapons, making the Tapejara an excellent flying mount for combat. It can also strafe and go backward; its versatility is incredible for tribal wars and building your structures.

Use ghillie armor and sneak up on the tapejara to trap it with a bola before you start firing tranq arrows. They fly for a long time and go high in the sky. If you don’t take them unawares, they’re likely to flee. Always have another player with a second bola ready in case the first one stops working before you’re done tranquing the Tapejara.
The Tapejara prefers superior kibble, raw mutton, and raw prime meat.
It takes about 21 tranq darts to knock out a level 150 tapejara.

At level 150, you need 11 superior kibbles to tame a Tapejara in about 30 minutes. With this taming food, you won’t need additional narcotics.

Troodon – I’ve Got Your Back!

Fast and sneaky, the Troodon can help you protect your land and base from invaders. It has a stamina-draining poison that knocks players out. It also allows you to see at night and can act as a scout. The Troodon can find corpses, structures, wild creatures, tames, and traps in that role.

Taming a troodon isn’t like taming other creatures. You have to feed other tamed animals to it — they have to be sacrificed to claim the Troodon.
If you try to tame a Troodon at night, you have to sacrifice fewer creatures. The tame rate is based on the XP the troodon receives from killing your tames. The total amount is 40 percent less at night.
You can hit your tame with tranq darts to make sure it doesn’t kill the Troodon. However, the tame cannot be set to passive, or the Troodon doesn’t gain XP.

At level 150, a Troodon requires 5180 XP during the day or 2072 XP at night to be tamed. At level 150, killing a level 43 giganotosaurus at night will tame a Troodon.

Brontosaurus – Give Me Anything, Please..

A brontosaurus can carry immense loads, deal severe damage, and gather berries more quickly than most other creatures. You can even build a mobile base on its back with a mobile base platform. The brontosaurus can carry you and everything you own from place to place.

One thing to keep in mind: a brontosaurus will shake everything around it. You probably don’t want to park them right next to your base.

Brontosaurus prefers exceptional kibble, crops, and mejoberries.
One of the most fun ways to knock out a bronto is to use a tapejara or similar mount that can carry you above it. The person not flying should shoot the bronto with tranq darts. You can also trap it or hide on a cliff where it can’t reach you.
Brontos will knock players back during combat and deal enough damage to kill lower-level players very quickly.

At level 150, it takes 54 exceptional kibbles and about 34 minutes to tame a Bronto.

Gacha – Garbage In, Gems Out

Gacha is a godsend when you’re having trouble getting rare materials. It can consume almost anything to produce six different resource types, one of which will be super rare. These are decided at random. They can also grow Gacha crystals on their backs.

They can make things like element dust, sulfur, and red crystallized sap.

To tame a gacha, drop items near it and wait for it to eat the items.
Gacha prefers snow owl pellets, tek structures, and greenhouse structures.
If another gacha is nearby and the gacha appears sad, it won’t eat, and you won’t be able to tame it until the other one leaves.

At level 150, it takes nine stacks of 10 Tek structures to tame a Gacha. It takes about 24 minutes.

Titanoboa – Slithering Goodness

The Titanoboa only has one role, but it performs it very, very well. Its venom can be used to knock out other players or creatures. It’s an effective tame to use for base defense, fighting, or taming other creatures.

You cannot tame Titanoboa with standard methods. It has to eat the fertilized eggs of other creatures. Some eggs tame it more quickly than others.
Drop the fertilized eggs near the Titanoboa and wait for it to eat them.
If it’s aggressed on a player or another creature, it won’t eat the egg, and the taming won’t work. It can’t be distracted.
It prefers Giganotosaurus eggs, brontosaurus eggs, and dimetrodon eggs.

At level 150, it takes 21 fertilized Giganotosaurus eggs to tame the Titanoboa. You can feed it every 7 minutes and 52 seconds. The total taming time required is 2 hours and 38 minutes.

Beelzebufo – I’m Not a Frog

The Beelzebufo is a quick-moving, cliff-jumping, swimming mount that can get you where you need to be. It can also create cementing paste by using its tongue attack on dead insects like Titanomyrma and Meganeura. You can also use its tongue attack to inflict torpor on other creatures, which can be helpful for both taming and escaping fights.

Use an Argentavis to move Beelzebufo into a trap or taming area. This way, you won’t be overcome by its tongue attack that can knock you out.
Beelzebufo prefers regular kibble, raw mutton, and cooked lamb chops.
You can use tranq arrows on this creature — save the darts and shocking darts for more difficult tames.

At level 150, it takes nine regular kibbles and about 6-and-a-half minutes to tame a Beelzebufo. If you used its least preferred food, it would take 327 cooked fish meat, 95 buckets of narcotics, and about 55 minutes to tame it.