Predation: Is there a guide on how to avoid (or exploit) it?

[Fart_Gas]

In one of my franchise zoos, after realising that I can make $$$ from donations by letting guests into the Koala enclosure, I moved the Red Kangaroos into a new and massive enclosure called Aggressive Australian Animals, where I can have Dingoes, Southern Cassowaries, and Saltwater Crocodiles too. Unfortunately, this didn't work as well as I expected: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2516452500

In another one of my franchise zoos, I noticed that all 3 crocodilian species (Saltwater Crocodile, Gharial, and Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman) liked tropical, aquatic biomes, and had near-identical food, shelter and enrichment requirements. So I created an enclosure where all 3 of them lived together. The Saltwater Crocodile won again. The Saltwater Crocodile doesn't even live in the same places as those 2 other crocodilians, so how did the game decide that it gets to eat them?

In yet another one of my franchise zoos, I created a Southeast Asia enclosure (no guest entrance) for the Babirusas, Binturongs, Bornean Orangutans, Malayan Tapirs and Sun Bears. Yet despite having a literal bear in their enclosure, they got along perfectly fine, which makes me wonder if anyone has produced a guide on which animals eat other animals.

Finally, does predation save on food costs? I often get a glut of Indian Peafowl, Red Kangaroos and Llamas. They are Least Concern (i.e. very few conservation credits from release) and are male-dominant, non-monogamous. This means that I need less males than females. Would I save money by moving lower-quality males of these species into the Saltwater Crocodile enclosure to be eaten?

[kesi96]

Originally posted by Fart_Gas:

The Saltwater Crocodile doesn't even live in the same places as those 2 other crocodilians, so how did the game decide that it gets to eat them?

I don´t think free living crocodiles will ask for a passport before killing and eating prey in nature. So why should a huge crocodile not go for a hunt for smaller crocs when they don´t live together in nature?

Originally posted by Fart_Gas:

In yet another one of my franchise zoos, I created a Southeast Asia enclosure (no guest entrance) for the Babirusas, Binturongs, Bornean Orangutans, Malayan Tapirs and Sun Bears. Yet despite having a literal bear in their enclosure, they got along perfectly fine, which makes me wonder if anyone has produced a guide on which animals eat other animals.

might be, that the prey species are to big for the sunbear. I am not sure how planet zoo has implemented the diet of animal species in the predator-prey-relationship. Maybe omnivors like bears can be put into an eclosure with other (not to small) species while pure carnivores like crocodilians cannot.

Originally posted by Fart_Gas:

Finally, does predation save on food costs? I often get a glut of Indian Peafowl, Red Kangaroos and Llamas. They are Least Concern (i.e. very few conservation credits from release) and are male-dominant, non-monogamous. This means that I need less males than females. Would I save money by moving lower-quality males of these species into the Saltwater Crocodile enclosure to be eaten?

I think I heard that animals killing animals makes the guests unhappy, but I am not quite sure about that and I never tried that. But at least while the prey animal is inside a wrong habitat its happiness will decrease and this will make guests unhappy and will reduce the donations. Would be interesting, if somebody did some tests about, if the reduction of the food cost might be higher or lower than the loss of donations and other money sources that come from happy guests...

[Fart_Gas]

Originally posted by kesi96:

might be, that the prey species are to big for the sunbear. I am not sure how planet zoo has implemented the diet of animal species in the predator-prey-relationship. Maybe omnivors like bears can be put into an eclosure with other (not to small) species while pure carnivores like crocodilians cannot.

I have since created an Aquatic Tropical South American enclosure for the Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, Baird's Tapir and Giant Otter after noticing that they have similar climate requirements. Despite the Giant Otter being known to eat juvenile caimans in real life, they managed to get along perfectly fine.

[Fart_Gas]

I checked out Reddit and it turns out that predator animals definitely do get a meal out of the animals they kill (but they might not eat it immediately): https://www.reddit.com/r/PlanetZoo/comments/j2tunf/a_somewhat_working_ecosystem_possible/g7asyyp/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

[Siamese55]

For the Sun bear example, they are a bear and obviously dangerous, but they have a fairly mild temperament compared to their other ursine cousins. Whenever the "which bear species would you pick if you have to encounter it in the wild" topic comes up, I would pick panda (if not disqualified) or Sun bear. It always astounds me as someone that lives in an area that can get black bears that people will pick them because they are "smaller."

[Fart_Gas]

I finally found a way to exploit predation. I put old, useless animals into the Dingo den instead of paying to rehome them: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2522875684

Just make sure that the Dingo habitat isn't too different from their requirements, otherwise you'd get protesters.