FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

About a week ago a mine called us and said they found something that was... odd, like some fossil and wanted us to professionally remove it. There was indeed a fossil, the remains of a young triceratops, the trike wasn't in great condition or anything, but it's a rare find. After removing the rock that weighed about half a ton, we brought it to be prepared in our shop. While removing the rock from around the Trike, we happened to find a fair sized chunk of Amber.

Our shop doesn't have much for preparing amber, but I have what is needed at home and so I let the team handle the fossil while I polished the amber and found a buyer.While removing the rock around the trike I found the amber, I was asked to take it out, polish it and find a person that wants it.

I wasn't in any real hurry to get the amber finished, but when I noticed a dark spot in the center, I got excited, maybe it could be something for my personal collection of mosquitoes and ticks trapped in amber. I set to work straight away, polishing the raw amber with progressively finer and finer sandpapers.

The amber became a beautiful translucent yellowy-orange, a sphere with a flat bottom containing a ancient mosquito...

I took a picture and sent it to my best friend, she too is a paleontologist and works as part of our team. "Looks like I found one for myself, what do you think, Gena" I said in the messages.

It only took a minute or two for Gena to reply "omg, looks great! Lucky you"

I smiled a little reading that "I promise we can try to get you something for your personal collection next time"

"Haha, that would be nice... I gotta get going to let this thing change, ttyl" she replied.

"k, ttyl" I typed, not getting a reply.

I'm not much of a fan of personal fossil collections, a lot of the time it's for the collectors eyes only, but Gena loves to show off her ammonites and teeth, and I have a plan for mine.

A few month back, I convinced half a dozen investors to fund me to make a bit of a zoo. I took normal chicken eggs genetically modified them to have teeth, a tail and clawed arms, I created what I'm calling Chicken-saurus. I told the investors I could do it with any bird and they where all on my said.

A hundred miles or so off the coast of Cuba sits a small island, about 50 square miles in the rough shape of a triangle is the future site of Mesozoic Park, currently there is a small mobile home, a shed about twice the size to hold building materials and a lab nearly three times the size of the mobile home.

That is most of the buildings as of now, theirs a dock for the boat to land at and two enclosures for our two attractions, the three chicken-saurs and two turkey-saurs.

The Enclosures are made of a concrete base, about six inches under ground and six above, set in the concrete is galvanized metal poles that support the chain link fence and chicken wire. The fence is 7 feet tall with a fishnet top and a small coup in one corner of each for the dinosaurs to sleep.

The animals inside often act much like their parents would, scratching around for seeds and insects, pecking at berries and fruit from the small bush and tree I added, but both the chicken and turkey-saurs don't fly as well as their parents could and as birds often do, they look up to me as if I was their mother as they imprinted on me.

I have been working on our next attraction, a pair of ostrich eggs are in the incubator and due to hatch in a week, I've invited Gena to come watch them hatch with me, a invite she gladly accepted.

I wake up one morning and head for the bathroom straight away. I look in the mirror to see what a good nights sleep can to to a wolfs fur, matted a little in places, stuck up in others. I take my brush and get to work on my grey fur.

I walk out to the incubation room and look at the ostrich eggs "you have a big day today" I say to them, knowing some birds communicate before even hatching.

A cute, soft peep replied to me, putting a smile on my face.

I waited on the dock, the boat was about to land with Gena and supplies. When the boat was tied on and the loading/unloading ramp was lowered, a beautiful arctic fox walked off. I knew right away it was Gena before she even came close enough for me to get a good look at her face.

"Hello Jake" she said.

With a nod, I replied "hello Gena, how was the boat ride?"

"Probably the smoothest I've had in my life" she said.

"Fantastic!" I exclaimed before explaining my excitement "We put a lot of research into the smoothest riding boat, I don't get seasick, so I had to ask someone that does"

With a smile she said "well, your research payed off, you could almost forget your on a boat"

I gestured for her to follow me "come, let me show you around"

We walked off the dock onto the gravel pathway, walking past a few small shops under construction and past a big sign with my park name "We are now officially in Mesozoic Park" I said, leading her to the chicken and turkey-saurs enclosures.

She broke into a run to see the chicken-saurs "whoa!" she exclaimed "they grew so much from when I say them last"

"When you saw them last you could hold them in one hand" I replied before pointing to the turkey-saurs "you haven't seen them at all, have you?"

She turned to face them and her jaw dropped. I was a little proud of myself because of her reaction "didn't think they would be so big, did you?"

She shook her head "how big are they?" she asked.

"Well, the tom in back, he's the biggest one, three feet from the tip of his beak to the tip of his tail"

She didn't even reply, she just watched the birds. After a few minutes I snapped my fingers "come on, lets see the ostrich eggs" and I started to lead the way.

With a smile, she followed me "oh, I have a few questions" she said.

"ask away" I replied.

"Do they use the claws on their forelimbs?" she asked.

I nodded "yes, they can't fly very well, so they use them to help them climb"

"okay" she said excitedly before asking "and how do they handle having teeth?"

"They handle it quite well" I replied "they have more of a muzzle than a beak, so their mouth works well" I said, opening the door to the lab, leading her into the incubation room.

I had a pair of seats set for us, she took hers and I moved to the other side to set up a live stream camera. The camera was set up and streaming and I sat next to Gena "that's so our investors and hundreds of thousands of fans can watch"

"How many fans did you say?" she questioned after letting the number sink for a second.

I pulled out my phone "exactly 201 453 followers" I replied "and 73 people have bought tickets ahead of time to be among the first guests in Mesozoic Park, which is three tours opening day"

A hard peck sent a crack running down the side of one of the eggshells, the chick inside peeped a few times and pecked again, this time making a hole big enough to take a few breaths and peeping.

"Should you help it?" Gena asked.

I shook my head "no, you should only help a hatching chick if it's life is at risk"

Over the next half hour, both of the chicks hatched and sat on the incubator floor to dry off. Soon enough I said to the camera "Okay everyone, thanks for watching, but I have to get these little guys into brooder, stay tuned for updates" and I shut off the camera.

I gently reached into the incubator and picked up a chick, giving it a gentle hug as I carried it to the brooder.

"brooder?" Gena questioned.

"Yeah" I said, letting the chick into the small, very warm room "it's where chicks grow and dry until they are big enough to keep themselves warm"

I picked up the second ostrich-saur chick and put it in the brooder with it's sibling.

A few days passed and it was time for Gena to leave. We where down on the dock and Gena said "Thanks for having me here, I really owe you for the trip"

I shook my head "no, the amber you guys keep sending me is plenty pay back"

"What are you doing with it anyways?" she questioned.

"These birds are just a start" I replied "The amber hasn't been tested or experimented with yet, but I have plans"

Gena gave me a little hug "hope I can come visit again soon"

I hugged her back "yeah, it was nice having you here... I'm going to miss you"

"I'll miss you too" she said as she let me go and boarded the ship.

I waved goodbye as the ship puled away.