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These values may differ with what you see in-game or written elsewhere. But that is what the dossier says.
Hesperornis avenatantes
Time Period
Late Cretaceous
Logo Steam.png 258.0
May 30, 2017
Logo Xbox One.svg 755.0
June 19, 2017
Logo PS4.svg 509.0
June 14, 2017
Logo Nintendo Switch.png 599.0
November 30, 2018
Spawn Command
admincheat summon Hesperornis_Character_BP_C
admincheat SpawnDino "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/Dinos/Hesperornis/Hesperornis_Character_BP.Hesperornis_Character_BP'" 500 0 0 35
XP For Kill
1 XP
22 - 30 °C / 72 - 86 °F
Incubation Time
1h 30m 54.109s
Baby Time
2h 48m 21.011s
Juvenile Time
11h 13m 24.043s
Adolescent Time
14h 1m 45.051s
Total Maturation Time
1d 4h 3m 30.102s
Breeding Interval
18h - 2d

The Island Topographic Map.jpg
Spawning Hesperornis The Island.svg

Extinction Topographic Map.jpg
Spawning Hesperornis Extinction.svg

The Center Topographic Map.jpg
Spawning Hesperornis The Center.svg

Ragnarok Ocean Topographic Map.jpg
Spawning Hesperornis Ragnarok.svg

Valguero Topographic Map.jpg
Spawning Hesperornis Valguero.svg

Common             Rare
  Untameable   Cave

The Hesperornis (hess-per-or-niss) is one of the Creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Basic Info[edit | edit source]

Dossier[edit | edit source]

This dossier section is intended to be an exact copy of what the survivor Helena, the author of the dossiers has written. There may be some discrepancies between this text and the in-game creatures.


Possessing the appearance of a half-duck/half-dinosaur, Hesperornis is a medium-sized, fish-eating bird, common in the rivers and lakes of the island. It would be about two-thirds the height of a human if it stood tall, but it rarely does. Hesperornis spends most of its time gliding along the surface of the water, where it is much more maneuverable.

Hesperornis is barely a threat to any land-dwelling creature, as its legs are too short for it to move around effectively, but it is surprisingly fast in the water. It can easily hunt down fish and other small water-dwelling creatures.


Not particularly useful for hunting, and not being affectionate, Hesperornis is primarily kept for the eggs it produces after consuming much fish. When rendered correctly, the eggs separate into two useful substances.

One is a protein substance that is high in calories, and the other is an oily liquid that is effectively the same as the Oil found in the ocean!

~ Helena

Behavior[edit | edit source]

Hesperornis is quite content to ignore animals and survivor, unless if they get too close for comfort. They will bite any player that touches them before fleeing. They devour fish such as Coelacanths and are in turn hunted by predators and survivors who seek their organic polymer.

Appearance[edit | edit source]

The Hesperornis is a strange bird resembling a dinosaur mixed with a loon. Like a loon, it has a long neck, waterproof feathers, and strong webbed feet that propel it through the water at the cost of being rather helpless on dry land. Unlike a loon, it has vestigial wings that prevent it from flying, as well as small needle-like teeth to snatch fish - its favourite meal.

Color Scheme and Regions[edit | edit source]

This section displays the Hesperornis's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Hesperornis. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Hesperornis 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.

Server admins can use this region information in the Console Command cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID>.
For example, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Hesperornis's "main body" magenta.

Hesperornis PaintRegion0.jpg
Region 0:
Main Body
X mark.svg

Region 1 is not used
for this Creature.

Hesperornis PaintRegion2.jpg
Region 2:
X mark.svg

Region 3 is not used
for this Creature.

Hesperornis PaintRegion4.jpg
Region 4:
Hesperornis PaintRegion5.jpg
Region 5:

Drops[edit | edit source]

Base Stats and Growth[edit | edit source]

Note that creatures will have different stats in Survival of the Fittest

Basic Stats
Attribute Amount at Level 1 Increase per point Taming Bonus
Wild Domesticated1 Add Mult
Health 95 +19 +5.4% 0.07
Stamina 200 +20 +10%
Oxygen N/A5 N/A N/A
Food 900 +90 +10% 15%
Weight 70 +1.4 +4%
Melee Damage 1 / 252 +0.05 / +1.25 +1.7% 14% 17.6%
Movement Speed 100% N/A3 +1%
Torpidity 300 +18 N/A4 0.5

1Percentages are based on the value of the stat the moment the creature was tamed (after taming effectiveness)
2The absolute Base Damage is shown here instead of the percentage.
3Wild creatures do not level up movement speed
4Torpidity increases every level on wild creatures, but can not be increased once they are tamed.
5The Hesperornis is incapable of drowning.

Movement Speed
Movement Type Base Speed Sprinting Stamina Used
Wild Domesticated
Walking 125 ? ? 4
Swimming 210 N/A N/A N/A

Attack Values
Bite (Land) Stamina Cost Attack Range Description
Base Minimum Activation
0 110 0 400
Melee 1
Dive Stamina Cost Attack Range Description
Base Minimum Activation
0 1000 0 1500
Dive Bite Stamina Cost Attack Range Description
Base Minimum Activation
0 150 0 400
Melee 25
Bite (On Water Surface) Stamina Cost Attack Range Description
Base Minimum Activation
0 200 0 400
Melee 10

Wild Stats Level-up

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]


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.

Taming[edit | edit source]

This bird uses an odd version of passive taming. You must kill fish and then bring it to the Hesperornis to tame it. It appears type of fish and, most importantly, size affects how quickly it's tamed. A small fish might give 2-3% taming progress, while a large one can give 9-10% or more. There is a 30-second cooldown between feedings.

A good strategy to use is to put a fish in a foundation with a ramp and three railings, with one open side towards the birds. Then, they'll walk into it without any effort. Another method is to use a Grappling Hook to drag them to your pen.

Salmon seems to be more effective in taming than Coel. Taming it with fish obtained by an Ichthyornis gives more taming percentage.

The Hesperornis deals barely any damage with its attack, unless in water, so getting it to attack you on land which prevents it from running away is a good idea. Luring it into a pen by walking near and gaining its attention is the best way to prevent you from losing it while finding more fish.

Using an Ichthyornis to kill fish will drastically improve taming effectiveness (roughly 5 to 10 times greater effectiveness per fish) due to the "prime buff" given by fish it kills.

Although the Hesperornis is tamed by the player dragging a dead fish up to the bird. Once it is tamed Hesperornis only eats raw fish meat just like other aquatic carnivores.

Note that this creature was recently released, so official taming data is not yet available.
The information presented here is based on anecdotal evidence and may not be entirely accurate.
For a level-dependent count of time and resources needed, try an external taming calculator, but keep in mind that their numbers are also unofficial.

Combat[edit | edit source]

This section describes how to fight against the Hesperornis.

General[edit | edit source]

It is quite easy to kill a Hesperornis due to their low amount of health. It is best to keep it out of the water, as it does more damage while swimming.

Strategy[edit | edit source]

The Hesperornis is very slow and poses very little threat, so using a pike should easily do the trick.

Weaponry[edit | edit source]

Only low-end weapons are needed, such as a spear, bow or pike.

Dangers[edit | edit source]

The Hesperornis poses essentially no dangers to even a low-level survivor. Care should be taken while hunting or taming them however, as their preferred hunting areas are rivers, often teeming with other dangerous creatures. Most notably, the piranha, which will occasionally try to grab them from the surface of the water.

Weakness[edit | edit source]

They are slow runners, meaning you can easily out run it, or hit it with a weapon and run before you get hit yourself, they also have low health.

Utility[edit | edit source]

Roles[edit | edit source]

Egg farm: Hesperornis can lay Golden Hesperornis Egg and Hesperornis Egg after killing and eating 25 fish. The Golden eggs give a temporary 500% experience boost to smaller creatures such as Dilophosaur, Troodon and Compies or a 10% boost to larger creatures when consumed. They are also an ingredient in Extraordinary Kibble which is the only kibble that's effective at taming Yutyrannus, Thylacoleo, Megalania, Griffin, and Rock Elemental (Technically, extraordinary kibble can effectively tame any creature that normally has a preferred kibble.) The normal Hesperornis Egg can also be placed in a cooking pot to produce Oil.

Food Source:

Polymer: These animals are a great way to obtain Organic Polymer for people who do not have Fur Armor or who are far from the snow biome .

Fisher: The Hesperornis will insta-kill a small fish (e.g. coelacanth, sabertooth salmon, etc...). This makes it an excellent fisher, which is good because it only eats fish.







Collectibles[edit | edit source]

Spotlight[edit | edit source]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Notes/Trivia[edit | edit source]

For information pertaining specifically to the real-world Hesperornis, see the relevant Wikipedia article

  • The dossier was revealed on 08/21/15 [2]
  • Like Archaeopteryx, Hesperornis was a proto-bird, meaning it still retained some Dinosaurian features, such as teeth and visible fingers, which most modern birds lack.
  • In real life, Hesperornis was native to the shores of shallow shelf seas like the Western Interior Seaway and acted as an easy prey for ocean predators like Xiphactinus, Tylosaurus, and Mosasaurus.
  • When the Hesperornis uses its diving attack against fish such as the Coels and Sabertooth Salmon, it does 100,000,000 damage. (Tested with floating damage numbers.)
  • Real Hesperornis would breathe air and hold their breath underwater, however Ark's Hesperornis doesn't use oxygen.
  • Real Hesperornis were a social animal that lived in flocks, Ark's Hesperornis is mostly seen alone but occasionally can be found together.
  • The hesperornis has a chance to lay a golden egg which might be a reference to "the farmer and the golden duck" nursery rhyme.
  • Hesperornis in real life was rather different from its Ark counterpart: it could not walk upright and instead probably hauled itself on the ground clumsily, a bit like a seal due to its legs being on the sides, unlike in Ark where they are located underneath. Its legs and feet were a lot larger and the webbing on them was more like that of a moorhen or coot rather than a duck or seagull.

References[edit | edit source]