The Dinopithecus (DIE-no-pih-the-cus; also known as the Monkey or the Baboon) is a creature in ARK: Survival Evolved's Lost IslandDLC. It is also the first-ever Creature Vote winner.
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.
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Species
Dinopithecus Anedmundius
Time
Pliocene-Pleistocene
Diet
Omnivore
Temperament
Aggressive in large groups, Skittish in small groups
Wild
I believe Dinopithecus has been changed by ARK life. This species is definitely larger than any I remember from the fossil record. And these oversized baboons show a more pack-oriented behavior than I would've expected in their kind. Whole troops will organize around an alpha, and fall apart if that alpha is slain.
Though they seem to prefer a diet of fruit supplemented with the occasional bit of meat, Dinopitheci are opportunistic and will eat just about anything. They’re also excellent climbers -- I’ve seen them scramble up sheer cliff faces and leap between trees to scavenge food for their troop.
Dinopitheci will bare sharp teeth and toss well-aimed handfuls of their own excrement when provoked. Their feces is what really sets this species apart -- they’ve managed to weaponize a parasite in it that disables TEK! I feel like that parasite deserves its own dossier.
Domesticated
If you can manage to tame enough Dinopitheci , you’ll soon find yourself with a small troop at your disposal. Your mini-troop will organize around the strongest of your tames, their new alpha that can then direct them at a target with a shrieked battle-cry.
No need to saddle your tamed Dinopithecus to ride it -- it will make one for you using its own tail. Just hold on tight, and it will take you straight up walls and across ziplines.
In battle, your Dinopithecus will fling fecal projectiles, grenades, or a combination that I like to call EBM, for Explosive Bowel Movement.
This section displays the Dinopithecus's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Dinopithecus. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Dinopithecus 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 Dinopithecus's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Dinopithecus's "base skin" 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.[1]
Dinopithecus
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.
The Pack Leader buff is obtained by the creature of the pack with the highest level, in the case of Dinopithecus there is one alpha for every 5 baboons. This buff increases the pack leader's Melee Damage by 25% and damage resistance by 12.5%.
Helmets
The Dinopithecus can be equipped with helmets for extra damage resistance.
Multiple Poops
The Dinopithecus usually poops more than one poop at the same time, and most of those cases the poops are from diferent sizes between medium and small.
Taming
The Dinopithecus can be tamed non-violently rather than through the usual methods. However, only Pack Leaders can be tamed.
To be able to passively tame it, first the Alpha within the pack has to be identified, which can only be seen with the glowing aura around its body much like other creatures with said buff. Upon discovery, start killing off every other Dinopithecus nearby as they will not allow you to start passively tame the creature (this excludes any wild baby, juvenile or adolescent nearby). After slaughtering all the nearby Dinopithecus, the alpha will attempt to flee. Reduce its health below 85% (go as low as possible before attempting to tame it), and start passively feeding it: preferred food is Exceptional Kibble, although both meat and vegetables will work, with effectiveness depending on the food quality.
Be wary if any other Dinopithecus wanders nearby during the taming, as they can hinder the taming progress just by being around the alpha.
Utility
Roles
Travel: Great travel mount with its ability to scale cliff faces. The Dinopithecus also has a very good jump ability (Its climbing can be compared as a combination of Thylacoleo and Deinonychus). It also has great Movement Speed and incredible Stamina as it easily capable of defending itself against attackers. (Level up Health, Weight, Damage and Speed)
Feces gatherer: Is able to gather feces with primary attack, so it can be used to collect any kind of feces.
Battle Mount: Incredibly good battle mount especially with a pack of them. Can easily take down larger creatures and has the ability to inflict Bleed damage. (Level up Health and Damage)
All-Around Mount: One of the essential Lost Island mounts, the Dinopithecus can be described as an upgraded version of a Thylacoleo, as it has access to a large pack bonus, and has more versatile abilities such as grenade throwing, and being able to travel across ziplines. (Level up Health, Weight and Damage)
Caver: Dinopithecus is able to not gain aggro from many small cave creatures, therefore giving it an ability to sneak past most cave enemies. (Level up Health and Damage)
Players Counter: Secondary attack of Dinopithecus completely ignore enemy players armor and deals direct damage to them, making it a good option for ground PvP fights. (Level up Health and Damage)
Taming Assistant: The poop throw ability of the Dinopithecus reduces the Movement Speed of the target and increases its Torpor a little bit over time, this along with the rider weaponary feature of the Dinopithecus rider allows the player to take control of any knock-out taming progress. (Level up Health)
For information pertaining specifically to the real-world Dinopithecus, see the relevant Wikipedia article.
There is a 40% chance a non-adult Dinopithecus will spawn. This makes it the second creature to have Baby/Juvenile variant in the wild, the first being Kairuku
Dinopithecus cannot have twins or triplets.
Maximum level of a tamed Dinopithecus on official servers is 500, just like that of Genesis creatures.
Due to a bug, the creature used to spawn outside of the map it was exclusive to, Lost Island (on Valguero in the Redwoods region).
On Valguero they used to spawn even with Prim+ but with that mod they are just textureless meshes without fur and going near them causes the game to crash. The same thing happens to the Stegosaurus.
Dinopithecus anedmundius translates roughly to "Terrible Ape Without Edmundium", in reference to its ability to nullify element-based gear.
The design of Dinopithecus Anedmundius appears to be a melding of the appearance of both baboons and mandrills.
ARK's Dinopithecus has some anatomical and social differences compared to the baboons they are based on. Unlike all other species of baboon, Dinopithecus Anedmundius displays no sexual dimorphism; both males and females have the same skeletal structure, muscle volume, and the females have the same manes of fur as the males. Likewise atypical of baboon behavior; Dinopithecus Anedmundius females can be the troop leader (alpha mechanic) and rank is established by strength (level). In normal baboons, female rank is established by inheretance from birth, while male ranks are established through strength and cunning; with the troop society as a whole being patriarchal where the male leads and directs the troop's movements (not too dissimilar to the behavior of lions).
The audio files for the Dinopithecus in-game currently do not match the sounds made by the preview in the trailer for the Lost Island, which was derived from modern baboons like the Olive or Chacma. The current audio for the Dinopithecus is more or less just a collection of deep grunts, lacking any of the alarm calls or loud screeches baboons are also known for.