“Hands off” habitat animal suggestions?

[penguim101]

Hey! When I get a big zoo going (or have a challenge specific zoo, like the one I’m working on now with 24 tiger habitats), I like to have some “hands off” habitats that don’t need much attention from me to keep going - like, no fighting or a huge amount of inbreeding. Like, I have a habitat with a single Aldabra tortoise that I haven’t touched since I put it there 20 game years ago, and a huge African Penguin habitat that I only need to release adults from every now and again.

On the flip side, there are animals like the freaking chickens - I feel like I am pausing every 2 minutes to sell or otherwise deal with aging offspring, even with only a total of 6 chickens in the habitat. At the moment I’m wanting to replace them and am trying to decide what to put there.

Off the top of my head the various penguins and tortoises all work well for this, and maybe Kiwis?

[speerbauch]

Bears maybe? They mature slowly and don't breed like mad.
Tapirs and binturong don't ask for much attention either.
Or any of the birds as long as you are not concerned with the inbreeding.

[grampers62]

The greater apes tend to be hands off for a good while. But not the little monkeys, they get out of control easily. Most of the mega fauna are fairly easy as well but they start to cost a lot of cash.

[Just Kevin]

24 tiger habitats?! Why? But you can turn ageing down. Some of the animals live a very long time anyway. When offspring are born, put them on contraceptive. And sell them as soon as they mature. And avoid chickens even on slow! They breed like a porno and not worth a bean.

[Stormcrow]

Would e nice if we could feed the chickens to other annimals.

[grampers62]

Originally posted by Stormcrow:

Would e nice if we could feed the chickens to other annimals.

Well, we can throw them to the carnivores. Don't think it counts as food though...

[Just Kevin]

Perhaps there should be a KFC kiosk?

[Duilf]

From the sound of it 2 different groups seem to fit your bill.

Monogamous animals without alpha breeding whose birth rate doesn't vastly exceed life expectancy. Monogamous means they breed for life, and don't fight to exclude children. So unlike promiscuous, or polygynous the only problems are with 2nd generation not 1st to 2nd generation. When you get an inbreeding warning just give the female of that pair contraceptive 1 issue once per couple which again is for life. Animals like this are typically birds including penguins, and cranes. If you want are okay with make 3+ habitats of the same animal, and swap potential mates between them you can include alpha monogamy. That list includes wolves, wild dogs, otters, and foxes just be aware they will also tend to breed fast.

Long lives species. It is worth noting that it is typically males who are the problem so you can usually have double the minimum number of pure females without worries. The basic rule of thumb for longevity is slower animals and larger animals tend to live longer however, it is far from a hard rule. Look for tortoise, gator like, elephant, bear, rhino, and monkey species.

[Just Kevin]

Some exhibit creatures breed quite fast, and some are valuable. The interbreeding does not seem to count either. But they can get stressed out of there are too many in an exhibit, but managing them can be automated.