The Archaeopteryx (Ar-KAY-op-ter-ix[1]) or Archa is a small, carnivorousdinosaur known for its ability to act as a reusable Parachute, allowing survivors to safely descend from great heights. It was first added in ARK: Survival Evolved on the 12th of September, 2016.
This section is intended to be an exact copy of what the survivor Helena Walker, the author of the dossiers, has written. There may be some discrepancies between this text and the in-game creature.
“
Species
Archaeopteryx magnamilvum
Time
Late Jurassic
Diet
Carnivore
Temperament
Fearful
Wild
Approximately one meter long, the Archaeopteryx magnamilvum is a primarily tree-dwelling proto-bird. It avoids the ground as much as possible, preferring to stay in the safety of the tree-line, where few predators can reach it.
I've not seen an Archaeopteryx outright fly yet, so it's possible that they cannot generate enough lift to do more than glide long distances between perches.
I'm not sure how a creature so fearful of the ground can be such a picky eater, but Archaeopteryx only seems to consume certain rare insect matter. The most likely explanation is that it tends to nest in infested trees, stripping them bare of such food sources.
Domesticated
While not large enough to bear the full weight of an adult human, Archaeopteryx still has great utility. Despite the creature's inability to fly, its wings have sufficient strength to dramatically slow the rate of a person's descent, if that person holds onto Archaeopteryx while airborne. Taming Archaeopteryx can be somewhat troublesome, though, as it refuses to eat most common food sources, and glides to prospective safety at the first sign of any interloper.
Due to the hostile environment in which it lives, Archaeopteryx often flees at the first sign of conflict. It can wander around the forest floor and high up in Redwood trees. Tamed Archaeopteryx will not attack enemies when set to Neutral, Aggressive or Attack My Target. It will always act Passive, no matter what stance is selected (even Passive Flee). However, Archaeopteryx will attack enemies targeted by a group whistle of "Attack this target". Tamed animals will only eat Chitin.
Appearance
The Archaeopteryx has a unique blend of avian (birdlike) and reptilian features. Like a bird, its body is covered in feathers starting at the neck. Its arms have much longer feathers, creating a set of primitive wings; its tail also features longer plumage, which it uses as an aid for balance. However, the similarities to birds end there. The face is scaly and more elongated, like a reptile, with needle-sharp teeth in its mouth to shred apart insects. Additionally, unlike modern birds, the wings of Archaeopteryx end in sharp claws. These are used for scaling tall trees.
Color Scheme and Regions
Region 0:Sides, Tail, Wings and Face
Natural colors:
8
21
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
56
62
63
64
77
100
Region 1:Unused
This region does not show on the body.
Region 2:Skin
Natural colors:
32
33
34
35
37
38
39
41
56
62
63
64
100
Region 3:Unused
This region does not show on the body.
Region 4:Top and Wing Tips
Natural colors:
8
21
30
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
49
56
62
63
64
71
76
77
100
Region 5:Underside and Accents
Natural colors:
8
21
30
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
49
56
62
63
64
71
76
77
100
This section displays the Archaeopteryx's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Archaeopteryx. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Archaeopteryx will randomly spawn with to provide an overall range of its natural color scheme. Hover your cursor over a color to display its name and ID.
This information can be used to alter the Archaeopteryx's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Archaeopteryx's "sides, tail, wings and face" magenta.
Type in values of a wild creature to see on which stats it's emphasized. Green values on a high-level creature are very good for breeding. If you have already tamed your creature you can try to recover the breeding stats with an external tool.[2]
Archaeopteryx
The stat-calculator does not work in the mobile-view, see here for alternatives: Apps
Note that after the creature is tamed it gets bonuses on some stats depending on the taming effectiveness. This makes it hard to retrieve the levels on a tamed creature, so this tool is only for wild ones, but gives a first impression, how well the stats are distributed.
When the Archaeopteryx is on the player's hands, alternates between glide or not while in air.
Passive
Carryable By Humans
The Archaeopteryx can be picked up by players on his hands, disabling any action that requires the hands such as using tools or harvest bushes. While carrying it, the Archaeopteryx can attack from the player's hands if it has range, also it cannot take damage unless the player dies or is thrown off by the player.
While in hands the weight that the Archaeopteryx has in its inventory will weigh half as much to the player.
Parachute
When the player is carrying the Archa, he will fall slowly to any height.
Sap Producer
When the Archa is wandering on the Redwood biome, it will begin to generate passively Sap on its inventory.
Taming
For general info about domesticating a wild creature see Taming.
KO Strategy
Occasionally, Archaeopteryx can be found wandering around on the forest floor. If one manages to spot an Archaeopteryx without scaring it away, the animal can be temporarily immobilized with a Bola. It would be best to use darts to knock one out, as a Bow or Crossbow could easily kill it. If you miss or scare it away before you can react, you might be able to follow it and see which tree they climb. The Archaeopteryx will only climb to a certain height, so you can try to throw a Bola at it or scare it from the tree to come down again. Once tamed, the Archaeopteryx will only eat Chitin, albeit at a slow pace as they give plenty of food.
Torpidity-depletion: 2.88 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:05:45
Note that the values are for optimal cases, always bring extra supplies!
For a level-dependent count of resources needed, try an external taming calculator.
This section describes how to react in an encounter with the Archaeopteryx.
General
Archaeopteryx has a small amount of health, no attacks, and flee when approached, often flying up to redwood/joshua trees. The Archaeopteryx drops no useful resources and is best tamed for its visible (albeit niche) use, or simply ignored.
Strategy
Any means of ambush will scare the Archaeopteryx, so only ranged weaponry is viable for taming without using a bola.
Weaponry
Because the Archaeopteryx is quick to flee from any fight, it is best to use ranged weapons such as the Crossbow or Longneck Rifle. Due to precautions for the similar appearance of the deadly Microraptor, one should always carry a pike and decent armor while exploring the redwoods.
Dangers
There is no danger from the Archaeopteryx itself. However, the environment in which it resides has plenty of other predators to worry about... alongside the aforementioned Microraptor.
Weakness
Archaeopteryx can not truly fly and will reach a height limit when up a tree. Good hunters can use this as a time for taming, or an identification to show that it is not a microraptor.
Utility
Roles
Aerial Lifejacket: Sometimes while flying, players will accidentally hit the dismount button (E, , , ) which is a frequently fatal mistake. Much like the Parachute, an Archaeopteryx held while flying will slow a falling survivor's descent. However, unlike the Parachute, the Archaeopteryx's gliding ability is so slow that players often are still in range of their flying mounts long enough to be able to remount while in mid-air. In addition, the player cannot use Weapons or Tools while gliding making it impossible to scout out high-level dinos with a Spyglass
Escape Artist: Players can make a quick getaway from danger by gliding away with an Archaeopteryx. Jumping from even the slightest difference in terrain can cause a player to soar considerable distances.
Portable Hang-Glider: With better maneuverability and slower fall speed than the Parachute, it's more appropriate to call Archaeopteryx a hang-glider. It allows players to jump considerable gaps and can allow for safe (albeit, slow at first) descents to safety. You can deactivate and reactivate this ability by pressing your Reload hotkey (R, , , ).
Large-Mount Safe Dismounter: Freely dismount your tall animals without worrying about damage. Safely jump off, execute a carefully timed double-tap of the reload key to set your desired descent speed, and softly touch down moments later.
Aerial Refueling: With your flying mount set to follow, you can dismount while in flight and simply glide forward while your mount rejuvenates its stamina, then glide toward it and remount. All without the risks of landing.
Element Conservation: In combination with a Tek Chestpiece and Tek Leggings the Archa can be used to conserve fuel increasing Distance and reducing Element Usage.
Tree Sap Collector: When set on wander, it will slowly gather Sap from Redwood and Joshua Trees. It collects around 1-2 Sap every 5–10 minutes (Values differ from the number of trees it visits). You should put a Transponder Node on your Archaeopteryx if you plan to use them for sap collection (Or track it if you are on ARK: Survival Ascended), as it is very easy to lose them.
They are not very useful for this role as they do not gather sap while in Stasis, and often wander out of render distance... not to mention their low health pool. While dino leashed to one redwood tree, Archaeopteryx will gather sap at a pace that is comparable to 1/7th of a tree sap tap essentially a low-budget version.
Traversing the Tek Cave: It turns out that the Tek Cave on The Island can be passed through by using an Archaeopteryx to glide over all the danger to the end of the cave without ever touching the ground. Though it takes some skills to avoid flying enemies like the Onyc and especially avoid bringing the attention of any Yutyrannus and high level Rex from the cave for the simple fact that with a simple roar, they can scare the Archaeopteryx and make it drop you, beating the cave this way to arrive at the Overseer is relatively easy, though it will not help you beat the Overseer itself, just make way to it.
Egg Farm: On maps where the Archaeopteryx is common to see like Extinction it can be an early-game supply of eggs to make Simple Kibble. It is also easy to tame, so the task to tame some of them to start a farm may take just a couple of minutes.
Pet: Like all creatures that can be carried or sat on the shoulder of a survivor, the Archaeopteryx is considered one of the 'pets'. Though the Archa cannot wear a hat or helmet and be put on the shoulder like other pets, they still have value to breeders, exotic pet collectors, and survivors who want a goofy, feathered companion to accompany them on their daily routines and adventures.
Despite being a winged creature, it can be carried by other (rideable) flying creatures.
On Scorched Earth, Archaeopteryx can be found wandering the cactus forests.
On Scorched Earth, there is a humorous glitch that can happen on rare occasions regarding Archaeopteryx. They can be seen flying vertically into the sky for seemingly an endless amount of time, soaring higher and higher on a slow, 90-degree climb towards the top of the map's skybox. This might be a glitch if an Archaeopteryx has trouble latching onto a Joshua tree, as Archaeopteryx can also be found humorously flying circles around a single tree while calling repetitively.
Falling with an Archaeopteryx can still sometimes be dangerous; the game uses vectors to determine your flight paths, which means that a large amount of speed down vertically can take time to correct horizontally.
Though the Archaeopteryx has often been shown as an example of a missing link between dinosaurs and birds, it is incorrect to assume that the Archaeopteryx was an ancestor to birds. Instead, it was a part of the early radiation of Avialae (animals more closely related to a modern bird, like the chicken, than to other members of the Paraves, like the Deinonychus) which included the ancestor of Aves (modern birds) in the Late Jurassic.
Humorously, ever since v279.22, or TLC Phase 2, came to PC, and the Raptor got the pounce ability, there has been a slight glitch. When a survivor gets pounced while holding an Archaeopteryx, occasionally it too will display the animation as if it were being pounced on its own but still being held. Being pounced just one time while holding the Archa can also tweak the angle at which it faces, meaning while you glide with it in one direction, the Archa will appear to be flying at an angle. This is fixed when the Archa is dropped and picked up again.
Real-world Archaeopteryx were carnivores that ate small animals and insects, however, Ark's Archaeopteryx have adapted to only eating chitin.
It does seem though that according to the dossier, the Archaeopteryx was originally intended to be tamed with a rare insect but was changed to just taming it with Chitin for simplicity's sake. They will still only eat Chitin after being tamed.
Despite his in-game diet, the Archaeopteryx can't collect resources from insect corpses or have any relation with the insects in general, making it dependent of its player owner to eat.
The Archaeopteryx has a curious and stark resemblance to the Microraptor, the only significant difference between the two being the Microraptor's head crest and incredible speed. The two creatures make the same sounds and have very similar animations.
Strangely enough on the Ocean Biome in Genesis, Archaeopteryx does not run away from the survivors even if they are touching it.
Yes
Region 0:
Region 2:
Region 4:
Region 5:
Microraptor
Aberrant Megalosaurus
Argentavis
Blood Crystal Wyvern
Forest Wyvern
Griffin
Kaprosuchus
Karkinos
Mammoth
Procoptodon
Pteranodon
Quetzal
Tapejara
Tropeognathus
Tusoteuthis
Parachute, allowing survivors to safely descend from great heights. It was first added in 
ARK: Survival Evolved on the 12th of September, 2016.
Chitin.
Health
Stamina
Oxygen
Food
Weight
Melee Damage
Movement Speed
Torpidity
Sap on its inventory.
Level 1
Simple Kibble
Chitin
× 10; 
× 5; 
× 2; 
× 1; 
× 1; 
× 1
Simple Kibble:
1 × 
Cooked Fish Meat, 1 × 
Small Egg, 5 × 
Fiber, 5 × 
Mejoberry, 2 × 
Rockarrot, 1 × 
Water
, 
, 
) which is a frequently fatal mistake. Much like the 
, 
, 
).
Tek Chestpiece and 
Tek Leggings the Archa can be used to conserve fuel increasing Distance and reducing Element Usage.
Transponder Node on your Archaeopteryx if you plan to use them for sap collection (Or track it if you are on 
ARK: Survival Ascended), as it is very easy to lose them.
Onyc and especially avoid bringing the attention of any 
Yutyrannus and high level 
Rex from the cave for the simple fact that with a simple roar, they can scare the Archaeopteryx and make it drop you, beating the cave this way to arrive at the 
Overseer is relatively easy, though it will not help you beat the Overseer itself, just make way to it.
Raptor got the pounce ability, there has been a slight glitch. When a survivor gets pounced while holding an Archaeopteryx, occasionally it too will display the animation as if it were being pounced on its own but still being held. Being pounced just one time while holding the Archa can also tweak the angle at which it faces, meaning while you glide with it in one direction, the Archa will appear to be flying at an angle. This is fixed when the Archa is dropped and picked up again.
Archaeopteryx is added to the game.
