Building your own zoo takes a lot of work, especially if you want to prevent protesters from picketing outside the exhibits and habitats. In Planet Zoo, it’s your job to make sure the animals live their best lives until they are either released into the wild or pass on in captivity and comfort.
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Keeping animal welfare high has other benefits as well–like ensuring your guests are happy and donate to the cause. We’ll show you how to maintain a high quality of life for your animals so your zoo can thrive. Here’s everything you need to know about animal welfare and stress.
How To Check If Animals Are Stressed
To see if your animals are stressed, you can open the animals section of the zoo menu or directly select the animal you want to check. From there, a menu will appear and tell you all about the animals’ welfare.
There are several needs each animal has, including the following:
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Animal Welfare |
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Welfare Need |
Specific Needs |
Description |
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Nutrition |
Nourishment |
How well fed the animal is. |
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Last Meal Quality |
The grade level of the food the animal last consumed. |
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Hydration |
How much water the animal has consumed. |
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Last Drink Cleanliness |
The quality of the water the animal last consumed. |
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Social |
Social Group |
How many age-appropriate peers the animal has. |
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Space |
How much room the animal has to move around, including swimming and climbing space. |
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Stress |
How much distress the animal is in based on their needs. |
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Habitat |
Cleanliness |
How sanitary the habitat is. |
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Temperature |
How warm or cold the habitat is, based on the animal’s needs. |
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Terrain |
What type of materials the habitat is made up of, including sand, soil, grass, etc. |
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Plants |
Whether the foliage matches the animal’s natural habitat. |
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Hard Shelter |
A safe place for the animal to retreat from the guests’ view. |
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Enrichment |
Food Enrichment in Habitat |
How many feeder items are in the enclosure that are more interactive than food bowls. |
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Toy Enrichment in Habitat |
The variety of toys in the enclosure. |
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Interspecies Bonus |
A bonus applied when multiple species can be safely housed in one habitat. |
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Each need has a different bar to show the current status. Green is good! If you’re worried, you can hover over the specific need to see whether the animal needs more or less of something in their habitat to feel at home.
How To Make Animals Less Stressed
There are plenty of ways to reduce animal stress, and it varies from habitat to habitat. Every animal has different preferences and needs to be met, and finding a way to satisfy them all takes practice.
If needs aren’t met, protesters may appear!
Build Better Habitats
Increasing the quality of the animal habitats is the first priority. From ensuring there are plenty of trees and shrubs to making sure the terrain is the right type, your animals will get stressed if their new home doesn’t look enough like their natural habitat.
Certain animals, like chimpanzees, bonobos, and lemurs will need climbing space as well. These give them more vertical space to climb, making the habitat feel bigger than it is.
Use One-Way Glass
You can also use one-way glass on the barriers to let guests see into the exhibit without the animal knowing. This allows your guests to maintain their view without stressing the animal.
Some animals will need this more than others, but overall it’s a great way to keep your animals from getting overwhelmed. You can edit barriers at any time to replace sections with one-way glass.
Provide Enrichment
It’s not enough to have a nice place to live. Animals need something to do! Providing them with toys is the best way to keep them entertained and happy.
Enrichment can be a simple toy or a creative feeder that the animals can play with. Frozen fruit cubes or tyres are perfect for many animals. You can filter through the enrichment toys in the habitat menu based on species to find the perfect match for your animals!
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In this collection of guides, you’ll find information about maximizing zoo profits, maintaining animal welfare, building exhibits, shops, and more.