Pterosaurs are particularly suitable for exploring the island in ARK: Survival Evolved quickly and easily. The fast Pteranodon, which you can find almost everywhere in ARK on the island, is ideal for this.
Find out everything you need to know about the pterosaur in our Pteranodon guide. But also how to catch him, tame him, feed him and breed offspring too.
This is the Petranodon in ARK: Survival Evolved
Appearance: You can recognize the Pteranodon by its long crest, large, bat-like wings, and needle-like teeth.
Wild: The Pteranodon is faster than any of the other creatures, but its stamina is rather low in relation to its speed. With short breaks, he recovers quickly and simply compensates for this “weakness”. He is not a great fighter due to his weak defense, and so he tends to avoid fights and rather settle for carrion than food without a fight. He also flees as soon as he senses the slightest sign of danger.
Domesticated: Domesticated, it can be used to transport light objects or to explore the island.
How to tame the Pteranodon in ARK
How to hunt the Pteranodon: Since the Pteranodon will flee immediately if you hit it or get too close, you need to pin it down with a bola first. This is best done when he’s relaxing on the beach. When the Pteranodon is immobilized, shoot a tranquilizer dart into its crest. With Pteranodons having low health and taking extra damage from ranged attacks, you should be extra careful. So he can accidentally be killed by the tranquilizer dart.
How to tame him: Once he’s unconscious, put meat or kibble in his inventory and feed it to him. If the Pteranodon threatens to wake up again in between, you can also feed it Narcoberries or Narcotic to increase the stun level again.
Another method: If you don’t have a bola at hand, you can try to steal one of the pteranodon’s eggs. This moves him to attack, where he will not flee.
How to craft the Pteranodon Saddle
To craft the Pteranodon Saddle, you need to be level 38. You then spend 15 engram points to unlock the recipe. You now need the following resources to craft:
- 230x Hide
- 125x Fiber
- 75x Chitin, Keratin, or fragments of a shell
This is what a Pteranodon eats in ARK
Once you have tamed your Pteranodon, it is important to know what it likes to eat. Pteranodons are carnivores, which of course makes the choice of food easier.
- Regular Kibble:
- Ingredients: 1x Medium Egg, 1x Cooked Meat Jerky, 5x Fiber, 2x Longrass, 2x Savoroot, 1x Water
- Ingredients Cooked Meat Jerky: 1x Cooked Meat, 1x Oil, 3x Sparkpowder
- Kibble (Dodo Egg):
- Ingredients: 1x Dodo Egg, 1x Rockarrot, 1x Cooked Meat, 2x Mejoberries, 3x Fiber, 1x Water
- Raw Mutton:
- Received by gutting Ovis.
- Cooking turns it into the Cooked Lamb Chop
- Raw Prime Meat:
- Gained when gutting larger creatures
- Cooking turns it into Cooked Prime Meat
- Raw Prime Fish Meat:
- Obtained from Alpha Mosasaurus, Dunkleosteus, Electrophorus, Leedsichtys, Megalodon, and Sabertooth Salmon
- Cooking turns it into the Cooked Prime Fish Meat
- Raw Meat:
- Earned by gutting a creature
- Cooking turns it into Cooked Meat
- Raw Fish Meat:
- Received from gutting fish
- Cooking turns it into Cooked Fish Meat
How to breed the Pteranodon in ARK
This is how you prepare the breeding: If you have a male and female specimen, you build an enclosure that is large enough at best. Put both Dinos in the pen and set them to “wander” via the command menu. Alternatively, you can also switch directly to “Pair”, but then there must always be a player nearby, otherwise the pairing will stop due to the rendering.
The breeding interval of a Pteranodon is 18 to 48 hours.
How to Hatch Eggs: If you have obtained a fertilized Pteranodon egg from a successful mating, hatching begins. For this purpose, the ambient temperature of the egg should be between 29 °C and 31 °C. According to standard settings, the small Pteranodon baby hatches after about 1.5 hours. After that, it takes about 3-4 hours of your attention, during which you keep putting meat in its inventory.
Once it gains juvenile status, it can feed on troughs on its own. The total maturation time is about 1 day and 13 hours.
Beginner tips on breeding in ARK can be found here:
Looking for more helpful guides on ARK: Survival Evolved? Then take a look at our ARK guide overview, where you will find more of our dinosaur, crafting, resource, and technology guides. You can also chat with us and other players on our Discord server. We’re looking forward to see you!
