Raw Mutton

The Ovis cut that carnivores prefer

Raw Mutton is meat harvested from the Ovis in ARK: Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended. The game describes it as follows: "Eating raw food will sate hunger, but is unhealthy for humans. This excellent cut spoils very quickly." The description adds that most wild carnivores love it, and that is the real reason to collect it: taming.

Why tamers want it

Fed to a carnivore during a tame, mutton is slightly faster and gives better taming effectiveness than Raw Prime Meat. The ARK Wiki rates a piece at 187.5 affinity, where Raw Prime Meat gives 150, Raw Meat 50 and kibble usually 400; it also restores around 50 food. That makes it a good pick for creatures with no preferred kibble, and the wiki names the Dimorphodon as an example. A few creatures are exceptions to these values. Before patch 259.0 mutton was valued much higher, close to kibble.

Harvesting and spoilage

Carve dead Ovis to collect it; our records also list the Rex as a creature that gathers it. When a tame does the harvesting, fill its food bar or give it other food first so it leaves the mutton alone. Wild Ovis are not common on The Island, so supplies can run short. Once you have it, act fast: mutton spoils in 560 seconds, roughly 9 minutes, and each piece takes its own slot, since the stack size is 1, at a weight of 0.1.

Cooking and loot

Cooked in a Campfire or an Industrial Grill, it becomes Cooked Lamb Chop, its only recipe use on our records. It can also be found in loot: 80 crate types can contain it, among them the Aberration Purple and Aberration Surface Yellow crates.