Habitat Husbandry Guide and Planner

A spreadsheet all about animal care in Planet Zoo, compiling data gathered from in-game testing of all DLC up to Barnyard into useful tools like a habitat planner, zoo planning template, animal lookup page, and multiple forms of compatibility references. Get an in-depth look at what makes each habitat species unique and how to make them happy (or turn your breeding program into an callous industrial CC farm, I can't stop you.)

The Sheet

This sheet contains all the data supporting the information I will be going over in the rest of this guide, as well as tools like Animal Lookup, a Habitat Builder, Zoo Planner (template) and animal compatibility in both table and list form according to select customizable settings. Instructions for use included in the spreadsheet (under the "Introduction" tab)

Link to the sheet here![docs.google.com]

Accounts for all DLC up to Barnyard, with plans to stay up to date in the future (sheet may be replaced rather than updated live.) Information might be dated back to update the animal was released with or as early as the Twilight Pack update, as I do not go back and retest unless I see specific issues or something is mentioned in the changelogs.

I am not really looking to provide technical support, so all information and tools are provided on an "if you know, you know" basis. Even so, leave any specific questions you have in the comments here and I will likely get back to you on them!

From here on is all extra information/highlights I found while testing :)

Appeal

The game is clear that appeal influences how attractive an animal is for guests. I focused solely on the animal side to this, so I can't speak on how the guest numbers work.

However, what the game DOESN'T tell you is that it is also a HUGE factor in how much of a CC reward you get when you release an animal to the wild (and, likewise, its price according to Frontier Zoo.) In fact, appeal is the single biggest factor in determining the maximum CC reward for releasing the species. Endangerment, despite 1) being specifically mentioned as a factor in the tutorial and 2) showing up on the "release to wild" screen, has almost no influence by itself. The high-appeal Cheetah goes for much more than the low-appeal African Wild Dog, despite being less endangered.

Appeal itself has a three components: Species Appeal, a hidden age bonus, and Star Rating:

Species appeal is standard for all adults of a species, but (despite its name), is modified by a hidden age bonus for Juveniles. 'Newborn' animals get a 45% bonus until they are 40% of the way to maturity, and a 25% bonus after that until maturation. If guests become suddenly unhappy with zoo ticket prices despite no Juveniles maturing, this might be the cause.

Appeal is then modified again by Star Rating, which accumulates over time. Juveniles start out with 0, and may have several stars by maturity. In testing, even within a set of siblings, no individual consistently reached the next star first, telling me that the rate of accumulation is at least partly determined by changing factors. I would tentatively say that welfare (including feeding), lifetime stats (like births and injuries), and physical stats (like size) could play a role.

Note that all individuals of a species have the same potential to reach the same appeal rating so long as they live long and well enough. There is no explicit bonus for animals with morphs (like albinism)- if anything, they may just accumulate stars faster. The image at the top of the section is the appeal for a spotless cheetah, which is equal to the appeal of any other 5 star adult cheetah.

Interestingly, animals still gain stars while in the trade center despite not aging. You can use this to your advantage for Community Challenge that as you to release animals with a certain number of stars. The only caveat is that they must register as being 'in' your zoo-- aka you must have moved them from the trade center at some point.

CC

The CC rewards you get for releasing an animal-- or the prices you have to pay Frontier on the market-- vary a lot both within a species and between species. Here's how to get the most buck for your leaf!

1. Appeal: Higher appeal = more reward. High species appeal is key, but maximizing star rating also helps! Species with similar appeal tend to have similar CC rewards.

2. Genetics rating: A Gold rating is absolutely necessary for maximizing CC reward. Rating is determined by the average of all genes- to get Gold, the average of all genes must be around 72.

3. Fertility: One of the ratings given when you release an animal. 100% is the goal

4. Longevity: Factors into Remaining Fertility/Lifespan rating. However, for the species that become sterile, the benefit of Longevity may be capped

5. Age: Younger is better in terms of Remaining Fertility/Lifespan, BUT older animals likely have higher Star Rating. Since animals gain stars while in the trade center, you may not have to sacrifice one for the other

Based on this information, you should be aiming for offspring to have as many Stars as possible for their age at maturity (aka maximize Welfare) and a Gold gold genetics rating with 100% Longevity and Fertility (Size and Immunity can be as low as 50%) when setting up a breeding program. Make sure to use the Compare Mates feature when choosing a breeding pair, although it does not show every possible genetic result of a pairing.

The spreadsheet goes over the maximum observed CC reward for each species at the lowest Star Rating upon maturation, as well as how much CC you get by year, habitat size, or per dollar in food cost.

Danger and Shyness

Whether guests can enter a habitat is listed in the Zoopedia, but you can actually make "mixed-walkable" habitats by carefully controlling where each species can navigate. What matters is that the dangerous animals cannot navigate to the guest paths. Sometimes guests can be picky about crossing habitat boundaries into a dangerous habitat, though, so I would avoid explicitly using guest gates.

For example, Pronghorns are safe for guests, while Bison are not. At the same time, Pronghorns can jump and Bison cannot. Therefore, if you add a small (0.5m) wall between the path and the Bison side, guests will go crazy for the views without panicking! Adding something valuable to the guest side of things (like a shelter or Pronghorn-only enrichment item) will encourage them to make the jump. Baby Bison are also safe for guests, so if they can wiggle through that's an even better experience for the guest (although maybe not for the mama Bison!)

When it comes to animal shyness, I've found it's best to save elevated viewpoints for Confident animals, while Neutral animals often need either limited viewpoints, one-way glass, or Do Not Disturb signs, depending on guest traffic. Shy animals do best with one-way glass and Do Not Disturb signs. Not officially tested, just some observations.

Navigation

The Zoopedia is pretty accurate when it comes to habitat navigation, but there are a few surprises when it comes to how to contain animals:

• Not every animal that can climb has the "climbproof" advisement
  
  
• Many animals who cannot swim do not explicitly have a moat recommendation on their page. Those that do often have a minimum depth listed when in reality they won't even touch water except to drink.
  
  
• No animal can jump across a 6 meter gap, but jumping calculations are very inconsistent, so always overestimate!
  
  
• Animals that can't jump only need a 0.5 meter barrier
  
  
• Like in real life, hippos cannot swim- instead they walk through deep water. Keep the bottom of their ponds traversable for them.
  
  
  
• Baby penguins and (earless) seals cannot swim like their parents, so at least make sure they can still find privacy food. (As pictured, the baby gray seal will walk on top of the water but will not swim!
  
  
• The minimum deep water need listed in the Zoopedia for a species is also just about equal to the area of continuous deep water the animal needs in order to perform diving animations (no extra needed for more individuals). For species that do not need deep water but can still dive, you will have to either check the spreadsheet or a similar animal!

Environment

No surprises here, but I did find that recommendations for continents and biomes appeared in a certain order for each animal in the Zoopedia and in their welfare tab, so this might be a hint as to which biomes best suit their temperature ranges as well. I did not preserve this order outside of Zoopedia tab of the spreadsheet, but you'll still have access to their temperature needs anyways.

Shoutout to the African Wild Dog and the Arctic Fox, the only species that need no more than 37% plant coverage EXACTLY so I couldn't estimate by 5's

Social Groups

The Zoopedia tells you exactly how many animals to have to avoid fighting due to having too many males, females, or adults- not so much whether all those animals can breed or if they'll fight for dominance.

When you look at an animal you can easily tell whether there will be an alpha that prevents other animals of that gender from breeding. It will have either an alpha "a" next to the male or female symbol, or under the social menu it will say "cannot have mates as a beta animal"). Some species have a "lead" animal instead (indicated with a crown), who is dominant but does not prevent others from breeding.

In either case, animals of the same gender may fight for dominance even if you have the right proportion of males and females in the habitat. Although there is no reliable way to tell from the Zoopedia, fights will usually start as soon as there are two males or females in a mixed group, so you will find out quickly (or check the spreadsheet). Which animal wins the fight and becomes the alpha is fairly unpredictable, but things like size or age seem to slightly tip the scales.

Alternately, some species have alphas or lead animals that never fight for dominance. Dominant status is nearly always granted to the eldest male/female. Removing the elder animals (as little as a quarantine session may work) is necessary before the next generation will become dominant and breed. Only once have I seen status passed down to a younger animal out of order (an Arctic fox, perhaps due to quarantine or opportunity to avoid inbreeding)

Some species also have monogamous males and/or females. Monogamous animals will mate with the same individual each time if possible, until that mate is removed. Certain monogamous species may also form a mate bond, which prevents them finding a new mate for a short time after separation (something like 8 minutes). One sided monogamy/mate bonding is possible (I'm looking at you, male ostriches!)

I have not seen any reliable effort from animals when it comes to inbreeding avoidance. It seems they are open to mating with relatives even if unrelated mates are available, and inbreed readily if it is the only option.

Fertility

There are two kinds of fertility for an animal: their Fertility gene and species fertility. As previously covered, an individual's Fertility influences the CC value, but the average of a pairings' Fertility genes also determines a) how likely the pair is to conceive and b) how many offspring are born. If the species can have multiple offspring at once, pairs with a higher average fertility will approach the maximum number of offspring per birth event.

Each species also has an inherent fertility, usually summarized as "Low," "Below Average," or "Average" in the Compare Mates tool. More specifically, it is a percentage, from -40% to +30%, that is added to pairing's average Fertility plus an up to 30% bonus from research to get the actual chance of conception for that pair under "perfect conditions." For example, Giant pandas have "Low:" species fertility (-40%), so even if you pair up two individuals with 100% genetic fertility AND the full research bonus of 30%, they still only have a 90% chance of conception. No wonder they're endangered.

Do keep in mind that the Fertility gene does NOT influence how often animals will mate. If a species can only give birth to 1-2 offspring at a time, and has a decent fertility bonus, you will get the same number of offspring from less fertile parents as long as the overall conception chance remains 100%

Interbirth Periods

Here's the juicy bit not covered in the Zoopedia: how often animals give birth. Generally, in ecology, the interbirth period of an animal is defined as the time between one birth event and the next, including time until next mating through gestation. The "Interbirth Period" listed in the Zoopedia is a sham! It actually describes only the absolute minimum amount of time before the animal is allowed to mate again (aka until the "Recent Birth" debuff disappears from the Compare Mates menu, which you can see in the Fertility section).

The actual, absolute MINIMUM interbirth period in Planet Zoo consists of the Recent Birth period (if applicable), plus a small delay between being allowed to mate again (or arriving at the zoo/ maturing) and actually initiating it (usually around half a year), PLUS gestation after successful conception. It also seems that the males of some species will mate any willing female one after another while others prefer short breaks in between.

In addition, many species also will limit how many offspring they care for at once. This adds an extra delay depending on how long it takes the offspring to mature compared to the Recent Birth period. In most cases, especially mammals, females will only parent one "litter" at a time. In other cases, like emus, the males parent the offspring and will not mate while they have a certain number of clutches under their wing. In either case, the invested parent is not eligible to mate until their offspring mature, creating an alternate, "limited" interbirth period. The most reliable way of getting around this limitation is to simply separate Juvenile offspring from their parents.

Here are some special examples:

Common ostrich: Male-limited, males will parent up to two clutches, and will mate again as soon as one clutch matures. Conveniently, the first clutch will be mature by the time the same female is ready to try for a third. Since only one male is allowed in a group, any more than one reproductive female (maybe two) is a bit of a waste.

Emus: Male-limited, males parent a single clutch, but a female will want to produce another before that clutch matures. Therefore, you should have two males per female in a breeding group (up to 4 males, 2 females)

Lar Gibbon & Siamang: Male-limited and monogamous. Males will parent up to two offspring (two "litters"), but will curiously not mate again until BOTH offspring are mature. Since they breed as mated pairs, the females are slightly held back by their mates unless fathers are separated from their Juvenile offspring.

Southern Cassowary: Male-limited and solitary. The female will want to produce another clutch before the male has finished parenting one, but a second male is not tolerated. Instead, you can try swapping the female between males in different exhibits without orphaning any offspring or breaking up monogamous pairs.

See the sheet for more details!

Lifespan

Yet again, we must take the Zoopedia with a grain of salt here. Firstly, the age of maturity listed is an estimate which is sometimes off by half a year. Secondly, if Sterility is not listed as a pure number, then it is the upper limit of a given range (i.e. if it says "25-30," or "30 (estimated)," it's 30) . All individuals of that species will become infertile at the exact age specified regardless of genetics, although existing pregnancies proceed unaffected. Also, "unknown" is the same as "death," or no sterility.

If you take 40% of the (actual) age of maturation, you get the age at which a Juvenile's Species Appeal drops from a 45% increase to a 25% increase relative to the adult Species Appeal.



Lastly: lifespan. The relationship between observed lifespan and Zoopedia longevity varies widely from species to species. As a sweeping generalization, an animal with 50% Longevity and a somewhat hard life (injuries, welfare issues, etc.) may have a lifespan similar to that listed in the Zoopedia. However, animals with 100% Longevity in perfect condition will outlive this estimate in a fairly reliable pattern, discounting a few exceptional specimens judging by the longest lived animal records in Franchise Mode. Watch out though- things like injuries or even giving birth can chip away at the life expectancy of your animals (only by about 0.2 years at a time.) See how long the following 100% Longevity animals lived?

Shelter

Anything that completely blocks snow or rain counts as shelter, including construction pieces, elevated paths, and climbing platforms. Shelters must have more than 1 meter of vertical clearance in order to count (see above), and the area must be shown as navigable to the animal. Adults of a species all need the same height of clearance regardless of actual size-- a male giraffe will show an area as navigable even if his head would clearly clip the ceiling compared to a female. He just won't actually enter that area.

The exact calculation of hard shelter is hard to pin down, but it seems to be paired to an invisible 4x4 meter grid system, based on how much need is fulfilled with a single 4m roof tile, Perhaps relatedly, there is some variation in how much shelter is detected depending on where the roof is placed in this grid (it seems to match up with the grid that the default zoo entrance is built on.) Extra shelter space is detected when tiles are placed together (about 1.2 extra tiles per 2x2 square of tiles).

Animals take up a certain amount of space inside of burrows, usually such that a whole family can fit in one simultaneously. Juveniles require the same amount of hard shelter and/or burrow space as adults, although they may detect a different amount of shelter space. In a mixed species habitat, the total necessary amount of hard shelter must be made accessible to ALL animals that require any. Even animals satisfied by burrows contribute to the total hard shelter need of a mixed habitat.

Bedding is mostly superficial, but you can see in image below that it allows animals to concentrate their sleep efforts in a certain area. You can also somewhat see the grid system at work in how animals space themselves out when insufficient bedding is available.

Feeding

Very few surprises when it comes to the feeding (and watering) or animals, but here are some things to keep in mind:

• Each grade of food is added to the previous grades. This means that for two species to share food, their diets have to match up at every grade up to the one selected
  
  
• All adults eat the same amount of food, and juveniles eat a portion of this amount for that same portion of the cost.
  
  
• All individuals of a species drink about the same amount of water regardless of size/age (some multiple of 5 liters)
  
  
• Usually a habitat is fed 0-2 times per year for the minimum social group. Subject to vary with many animals. Keepers often try to feed all species in a habitat at the same time- this might increase costs for species who otherwise eat infrequently.
  
  
• New arrivals, births, or animals late to dinner due to vet visits might trigger extra feedings. Also, if a keeper arrives just after food is placed but before every animal has eaten, they might feel the need to get a whole other batch of food. Easily avoided if you don't overstaff any particular habitat.
  
  
• I've seen a slight problem with animals being able to reach their food containers, especially when cohabiting with predators. I couldn't get skunks to reach a large food bowl, only the small, and quokka would be unable to reach either arboreal platform if sharing a habitat with the Tasmanian devil (even with predation turned off)

Species Interaction

There are lots of guides to which species can interact, but I personally haven't seen any that cover the underlying pattern to it. Well, after rigorous testing, I can share my findings to help you understand why some animals can chill but others cannot. Long story short: there's a ranking system.

First thing to understand is that all animals are split into what I would call Predator and Prey categories. Predators will cause a distinct fear reaction in at least one other species, while all other animals are Prey. Note that not all fearsome-looking meat-eaters count as Predators: the Gharial is considered Prey because it eats strictly fish, and the Fennec Fox is Prey despite clearly having processed meat as part of its diet.

Similar animals are generally sorted into similar ranks and categories, but small Prey with a specific defense mechanism will usually rank a lot higher than a Predator of a similar size (like the Striped Skunk vs the Arctic fox). All Adults of a species fall into the same rank, with their Juveniles nearly always being lower in rank.

Which category and rank an animal falls into determines how it will interact with all other species. Here are all the possible interaction types:

Predation

This is the big one to look out for, since it will result in the eventual automatic death of the preyed upon animal. Predators will trigger "fear" in ALL lower-rank animals (Predator or Prey) within about 100 meters of them as soon as they are added to a habitat. Scared animals will try to run out of range while making distressed noises, such that the animal not socialize, eat, drink, or even lie down. Therefore, even if the Predator does not attack, the scared animal's welfare will suffer. Some Predators hunt at different rates--the big cats tend to hunt often, even without hunger as a motivator, but foxes will not hunt unless Starving. Even some Juvenile Predators will hunt.

Fighting

Fighting will trigger a persistent alert and may result in animal injuries. It often starts as soon as both species are added. Prey animals only fight other prey animals, and only if they are in a specific "rivalry group," like the opposite of an Enrichment Group. So far there is only one rivalry, consisting of all rhinoceroses and the (common, not pygmy) hippopotamus. Predators, on the other hand, will only fight other Predators of the same rank, but only within specific ranks. For example, the Bengal and Siberian Tigers share a rank and will fight, but the Cheetah and Snow Leopard share a rank and will NOT fight. Juveniles never fight.

Intimidation

Intimidation occurs between Prey and Predator or Predator and Predator. You can tell when one species will intimidate another by how the "intimidator" will stare down the "intimidated" and the intimaded will run a short distance from the intimidator whenever the two get close together. Occasionally, the intimidator will charge the intimidated, which triggers a persistent message but will NOT result in any injuries. Prey animals only see rank in "whole steps" and will intimidate ALL Predators of a lower rank, even Juveniles. Predators however sometimes show "half steps" in ranks, where they will intimidate a fellow Predator only slightly below them in rank. For example, all the wolves/dogs and hyenas will fight each other, meaning they are the same rank, and they will all intimidate the Formosan Black Bear. Meanwhile, all Prey animals treat both groups equally. Juveniles cannot intimidate but can be intimidated.

Neutral

Neutrality is the goal of species coexistence. Neutrality is NOT just the absence of alerts about intimidation or fighting-- the best indicator is that two species will remain close together long enough to "cuddle." I define this as sharing the same extra large piece of bedding, although this is difficult to observe with large species or ones that do not care about shelter. All Prey species are neutral with each other behaviorally unless part of a rivalry group. Prey will also be neutral with any Predator of the same rank and ignore half-steps, so a Giant Panda is equally neutral with Timber Wolf and Formosan Black Bear. Predators of the same rank may be neutral or fight depending on the rank.

Tortoises are a special case and technically exist outside the ranking system entirely. They are neutral with all animals regardless of category or rank, so you can slap even baby tortoises into any habitat that meets their needs.

No Predators are part of an enrichment group. Two animals that enrich each other may not necessarily have compatible needs (although Frontier sometimes changes these needs to suit enrichment groups in subsequent updates).

[Louise]

Do you plan on updating this for the new packs ??

[Louise]

This is awsome and extremly helpful ... I just have 1 question ... I was just wondering how would I go about just getting the base game animals to show up as I clicked standard (thinking this would bring up base game animals) and there wasnt all the animals (only 29 animals)

[★arrow★]

This is great!