The mechanics of how dinosaurs spawn in Jurassic World Alive (JWA) is of great interest to most of the playerbase. As a result, speculation is rampant and misinformation spreads like wildfire! In this article, I hope to shed some light on some of the things we DO know and some of the things we DON’T know (yet) about dinosaur spawns in JWA, with a short bit on what it even means to say we “know” something.

Data Collection

Okay, so I’m not really going to dig into a deep, technical or philosophical discussion here, but I do want to add a precautionary note to would-be researchers. Seeing three Tyrannosaurus spawns at a restaurant is not very informative. It may be tempting to think that this spot must be a nest or that T-Rex must spawn at restaurants, but you can’t really know anything about T-Rex spawns with such a low sample size! In scientific research, such observations spur us to ask questions, collect data, and draw conclusions. If you see a few interesting spawns in a particular place, this should spark a question that drives you to start really logging the patterns of dinosaur spawns at that place. Only after collecting sufficient data (maybe 100+ spawn observations), will the patterns really become clear. Also, beware confirmation bias! Oftentimes we think something may be happening and this presumption creeps into any attempt we make to assess the situation in detail. If you want to see a pattern, you are more likely to selectively pick out observations that confirm that pattern.

For this article, we have collected two types of data:

Dinosaur Observations – We (myself, Cactus Craig, and Pocemon from the Jurassic World Alive Community Discord) collected observations of spawns from our local areas. We simply counted all the dinosaurs on our screen at a given time and logged the numbers , while also noting which ones were near notable landscape features (water, greenspace, urban area, rural area)

– We (myself, Cactus Craig, and Pocemon from the Jurassic World Alive Community Discord) collected observations of spawns from our local areas. , while also noting which ones were near notable landscape features (water, greenspace, urban area, rural area) Spawn Points – We (myself and TenkinEU from the Jurassic World Alive Community Discord) collected observations on the behavior of specific spawn points within our view. We determined timing of spawns by continuously monitoring these points for multiple hours and logged the frequency with which each point spawned certain dinosaurs.

What we DO know

Spawn points operate on predictable, but variable timetables ; there is roughly 5-10 mins of variability around when exactly a dinosaur spawns and de-spawns. Also, each point can have a different pattern. Examples we observed: Dinosaur spawns every 60 mins (30 min with dinosaur, 30 min with no dinosaur) Dinosaur spawns every 70 mins (50 min with dinosaur, 20 min with no dinosaur) Dinosaur spawns every 90 mins (50 min with dinosaur, 40 min with no dinosaur) Dinosaur spawns every 120 mins (60 min with dinosaur, 60 min with no dinosaur)

; there is roughly 5-10 mins of variability around when exactly a dinosaur spawns and de-spawns. Also, each point can have a different pattern. Examples we observed: Certain dinosaurs spawn at high rates at certain points ; we only observed this in Suchomimus, but had points where nearly 50% of dinosaurs spawned at that point were Suchomimus. Interestingly, Spinosaurus was a regular, but rare spawn at these points.

; we only observed this in Suchomimus, but had points where nearly 50% of dinosaurs spawned at that point were Suchomimus. Interestingly, Spinosaurus was a regular, but rare spawn at these points. Some dinosaurs spawn with a high frequency at basically every spawn point , though their presence is often influenced by time. Here is a list of the most consistent and obvious “global” spawns we observed with their associated time and proportion (what percentage of all dinosaur spawns they made up at that time): Einiosaurus (DAY-18%) Euoplocephalus (DAY-18%) Velociraptor (NIGHT-18%) Majungasaurus (NIGHT-18%) Nundasuchus (BOTH-12%) Diplocaulus (BOTH-12%) – this may now apply to Sarcosuchus and NOT Diplocaulus

, though their presence is often influenced by time. Here is a list of the most consistent and obvious we observed with their associated time and proportion (what percentage of all dinosaur spawns they made up at that time): The spawning of most common dinosaurs not listed above is likely influenced by various landscape features and types of man-made structures/buildings. Some of these spawns may also just occur in local areas, hence we dub these as “local” spawns .

and types of man-made structures/buildings. Some of these spawns may also just occur in local areas, hence we dub these as . Green space is a distinct biome that spawns certain dinosaurs more frequently, including: Apatosaurus (likely rarer sauropods too) Deinocheirus (DAY) Iguanodon Dimetrodon Gen2 (NIGHT)

that spawns certain dinosaurs more frequently, including: Commons account for roughly 90% of all spawns, rares for 10%, and epics for less than 1% . These rates are rough estimates based off of over 1,000 observed spawns from many locations. These rates may have changed with the last update, but likely not by much.

. These rates are rough estimates based off of over 1,000 observed spawns from many locations. These rates may have changed with the last update, but likely not by much. Spawn points may have non-random patterns . This is based off of a series of observations by BoonSlevin that demonstrated two nearby points consistently spawning the exact same dinosaur, at the exact same, time over multiple days.

. This is based off of a series of observations by BoonSlevin that demonstrated two nearby points consistently spawning the exact same dinosaur, at the exact same, time over multiple days. Epic and rare hybrids do spawn in the wild, but it appears that Legendary and Unique dinosaurs do not spawn.

What we Don’t Know (yet)

Whether “nests” exist . Everyone on Reddit and Discord talks about seeing this or that nest, but as of yet, we have not observed nest behavior of the like seen in Pokémon Go. I would define a nest as multiple spawn points in proximity spawning a specific dinosaur at unusually high rates. Seeing a few nearby points spawning Suchomimus frequently is as close as we saw!

. Everyone on Reddit and Discord talks about seeing this or that nest, but as of yet, we have not observed nest behavior of the like seen in Pokémon Go. I would define a nest as multiple spawn points in proximity spawning a specific dinosaur at unusually high rates. Seeing a few nearby points spawning Suchomimus frequently is as close as we saw! How rares/epics behave . Undoubtedly, they are influenced by time of day and location features too, but their rate of spawn is just so low that our collective database gives us too few observations per species to say much. Currently, it seems Nodosaurus and Utahraptor spawn mostly at night while Triceratops and Argentinosaurus spawn mostly by day; though many other patterns likely exist.

. Undoubtedly, they are influenced by time of day and location features too, but their rate of spawn is just so low that our collective database gives us too few observations per species to say much. Currently, it seems Nodosaurus and Utahraptor spawn mostly at night while Triceratops and Argentinosaurus spawn mostly by day; though many other patterns likely exist. Whether “drop spawns” and “proximity spawns” are different . Many have speculated that spawns which you can see from a distance near supply drops must be different than spawns you can only see when nearby, but we have no data to support this as of yet.

. Many have speculated that spawns which you can see from a distance near supply drops must be different than spawns you can only see when nearby, but we have no data to support this as of yet. Whether water is a biome. Our data suggest that none of the dinosaurs currently in-game spawn more frequently near water. We hope this changes!

Parting Words

Hopefully this informs your dinosaur hunting and encourages others to go out and monitor dinosaur spawns in a productive and informative way! We encourage you to join in on our discoveries by visiting our Discord page!