Hayo Zookeepers!

Spring has sprung so let's get ready for the sun reappearing with the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack, out now! Grab the pack on Steam and update your game now to enjoy free Update 1.13.



Time to welcome 5 new animal friends into your Zoo: the agile Lar Gibbon, elusive Fossa, gentle Asian Water Monitor, vibrant Red River Hog, and new Walkthrough Exhibit animal, the sleepy Brown-throated Sloth!

Alongside these new creatures, you'll be able to enjoy a range of new building materials! Spruce up your habitats with new foliage including the Rafflesia and Pitcher's Plant, add a bit of Southeast Asian flare to your Zoo with new intricately carved benches and tables, vibrant parasols and drapery, amidst other decor inspired by the architecture and traditions native to the area, or even create a whole new serene area with our new Tongonkan-inspired buildings!

You can also put your managerial skills to the test once again with a new Career Scenario set in a tropical forest. Tiffany has gotten herself into yet another pickle, and this time Dominic Myers has gotten involved too - oh no! Do you have what it takes to steer her on the right path?

Check all of this out and more in the new Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack. For further info check out our announcement post and the full patch notes below!


Free Update 1.13 also brings several exciting features, including new Animal Sociality! This feature aims to bring a more life-like experience to the introduction of new animals in your habitats, and the coexisting bonds between your already established groups. This new managerial function can be found under the Social tab of your animals. For more comprehensive info on Animal Sociality and how it works, be sure to check out this post.

Alongside this you can enjoy a range of new building tools, making customising your zoos better than ever. Create custom paths - or have no visible path at all! - with new Null Paths, move items with even more freedom with the new Multi-Axis Advanced Movement Tool, and customise your barriers and climbing frame enrichments with the new Climbability Toggle, allowing you to pick and choose which items can be scaled!



Enjoy these beautiful new species and unleash your building creativity with NVIDIA's GeForceNOW service, which gives you instant access to GeForce PC performance on nearly any PC, Mac, SHIELD TV, Android, iOS device or Chromebook without any downloads! Make sure you can enjoy the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack as well as Update 1.13, no matter what device you're on!

Check out the full Update Notes below for more information and all you need to know about various bug fixes, improvements, and changes in Update 1.13!


But before you read on - make sure to join us later today for an extra special launch livestream where we'll be fundraising for our friends at Chester Zoo! They do incredible work with animals and conservation, including in the Madagascar rainforest which our new Fossa friends call home.

We'll be there for 4+ hours for a range of fun including special guests, forfeits, giveaways, and more - so be sure to check it out! We'll be live from 14:00 BST on both Twitch and Youtube, and if you'd like to donate you can do so on Tiltify. See you there PlanZo fam! 💚

Now onto the patch notes:

Planet Zoo - 1.13.0 Update Notes
This update contains bug fixes, updates and some new content.
New Content - Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack

• NEW - Animals
  • New animals in the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack:
    • Asian Water Monitor
    • Fossa
    • Lar Gibbon
    • Red River Hog 
    • Brown-Throated Sloth
• NEW - Career Scenario 
  
  • There aren't many places that exude as much charm as this primeval forest, soon to be the location of the new 'Summer Project': a jungle paradise zoo developed and built by young socialite and up-and-coming conservationist, Tiffany Summers. She'll be running it under the ever-watchful eye of her father's, rather familiar-looking, right-hand man.

• NEW - Scenery Pieces
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Step
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Small
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Half Small
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Quarter Small
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Corner Small
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Large
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Half Large
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Quarter Large
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Flower Corner Large
  • Indonesian Gilded Stone Swirl
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Swirl
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Block 0.5m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Block Thick 1m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Block Thin 1m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Block Thick 2m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Block Thin 2m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Trim Smooth 1m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Trim Smooth 2m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Trim Leaf 2m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Trim Swirl 1m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Trim Palm 1m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Cornice Midsection
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Cornice Corner
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Column Base
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Column Topper
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Base 1m
  • Indonesian Mossy Stone Base 2m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Fence
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Fence Post
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Fence Support
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Beam Thick 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Beam Thick 2m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Beam Thick 4m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Beam Thin 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Beam Thin 2m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Beam Thin 4m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Plank 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Plank 2m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Plank 4m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Panel 2m x 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Panel 1m x 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Panel 1m x 0.5m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Panel Angled 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Panel Angled 2m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Beam Cap
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Pole Thick 0.5m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Pole Thick 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Pole Thick 2m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Pole Thin 0.5m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Pole Thin 1m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Pole Thin 2m
  • Indonesian Stained Timber Pole Cap
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Trim Small
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Arch
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Arch Half
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Cap Large
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Cap Small
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Corner
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Flower
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Triangle Large
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Triangle Small
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Trim Medium
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Trim Large
  • Indonesian Painted Wooden Horn
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Trim Small
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Arch
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Arch Half
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Cap Large
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Cap Small
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Corner
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Flower
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Triangle Large
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Triangle Small
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Trim Medium
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Trim Large
  • Indonesian Gilded Wooden Horn
  • Indonesian Door Handle Metal
  • Indonesian Door Handle Ring
  • Indonesian Door Handle Wood
  • Indonesian Drapery Hanging
  • Indonesian Drapery Corner 1m
  • Indonesian Drapery Corner 2m
  • Indonesian Drapery Trim
  • Indonesian Drapery Curtain Top
  • Indonesian Drapery Curtain Bottom
  • Indonesian Drapery Loop
  • Indonesian Drapery Knot
  • Indonesian Drapery Tie
  • Indonesian Drapery Wide 1m
  • Indonesian Drapery Wide 2m
  • Indonesian Earthenware Pot 01
  • Indonesian Earthenware Pot 02
  • Indonesian Earthenware Pot 03
  • Indonesian Earthenware Pot 04
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Arch
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Arch Square
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Arch Square Tunnel
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Arch Tunnel
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Large Window
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Shop Front
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Station Surround 01
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Station Surround 02
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall 1m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall 2m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall 4m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Door
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Slope 1m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Slope 2m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Slope 4m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Curved 1m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Curved 2m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Curved 4m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Column Thin 1m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Column Thin 2m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Column Thin 4m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Floor
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Floor Quarter Circle
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Floor Quarter Circle Mirrored
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Gable 1m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Gable 2m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Panel 1m x 2m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Panel 2m x 2m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Panel 1m x 4m
  • Indonesian Temple Brick Wall Panel 4m x 2m
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Eave 1m
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Eave 2m
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Eave 4m
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Eave Corner
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Eave End
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Gable Large
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Gable Small
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Midsection Large
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Midsection Small
  • Indonesian Thatch Roof Wedge
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Topper 2m
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Topper 4m
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Topper End
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Section 1m
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Section 2m
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Section 4m
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Cap
  • Indonesian Pagoda Roof Corner
  • Indonesian Tonkonan Roof End
  • Indonesian Tonkonan Roof Midsection
  • Indonesian Roof Topper
  • Indonesian Lantern
  • Indonesian Lantern Bracket
  • Indonesian Lantern Pole
  • Tropical Sculpture Asian Water Monitor Head
  • Tropical Sculpture Fossa Head
  • Tropical Sculpture Lar Gibbon Head
  • Tropical Sculpture Red River Hog Head
  • Tropical Sculpture Snake Arm Left
  • Tropical Sculpture Snake Arm Right
  • Tropical Sculpture Snake Body Eighth Turn
  • Tropical Sculpture Snake Body Quarter Turn
  • Tropical Sculpture Snake Body Straight
  • Tropical Sculpture Snake Tail
  • Tropical Sculpture Snake Torso
  • Tropical Sculpture Human Legs
  • Tropical Sculpture Human Torso
  • Tropical Sculpture Topper
  • Indonesian Bench
  • Indonesian Bin
  • Indonesian Picnic Bench
  • Bark Panel 01
  • Bark Panel 02
  • Bark Panel 03
  • Indonesian Fence Panel
  • Indonesian Lattice Panel 1m x 1m
  • Indonesian Umbrella
  • Indonesian Straw Tassle
  • Indonesian Bamboo Panel 01
  • Indonesian Bamboo Panel 02
  • Indonesian Drum
  • Indonesian Wooden Trellis
  • Indonesian Package Bag 01
  • Indonesian Package Bag 02
  • Indonesian Package Cardboard 01
  • Indonesian Package Cardboard 02
  • Tropical Animal Sign Fossa
  • Tropical Animal Sign Lar Gibbon 01
  • Tropical Animal Sign Lar Gibbon 02
  • Tropical Animal Sign Lar Gibbon 03
  • Tropical Animal Sign Red River Hog
  • Tropical Animal Sign Brown-Throated Sloth
  • Tropical Animal Sign Asian Water Monitor 01
  • Tropical Animal Sign Asian Water Monitor 02
  • Indonesian Zoo Entrance
  • Indonesian Keeper Hut Large
  • Indonesian Keeper Hut Small
  • Indonesian Quarantine Large
  • Indonesian Quarantine Small
  • Indonesian Research Centre Large
  • Indonesian Research Centre Small
  • Indonesian Staff Room Large
  • Indonesian Staff Room Small
  • Indonesian Trade Centre
  • Indonesian Veterinary Surgery
  • Indonesian Workshop
  • Indonesian Toilet Large
  • Indonesian Toilet Small
  • Indonesian Shop Large [Shell]
  • Indonesian Shop Small [Shell]
  • Indonesian Archway 01
  • Indonesian Archway 02
  • Indonesian Centrepiece 01
  • Indonesian Centrepiece 02
  • Indonesian Spired Roof House
  • Indonesian Temple
  • Indonesian Tongkonan House
  • Indonesian Walkthrough Exhibit
  • Indonesian Bicycle
  • Indonesian Gate
  • Indonesian Nature Scene
  • Indonesian Pagoda Tower
  • Indonesian Ruins Corner
  • Indonesian Ruins Doorway
  • Indonesian Ruins Entrance
  • Indonesian Ruins Wall
  • Indonesian Shrine

• NEW - Foliage
  • Rafflesia Large
  • Rafflesia Small
  • Attenborough's Pitcher Plant Pitcher
  • Attenborough's Pitcher Plant
  • Attenborough's Pitcher Plant Small
  • Attenborough's Pitcher Plant Pitcher Small
  • Basket Fern 01
  • Basket Fern 02
  • Basket Fern 03
  • Tetrastigma Vine 01
  • Tetrastigma Vine 02
  • Tetrastigma Vine 03
  • Tetrastigma Vine 04

• NEW - Avatar Costume 
  
  • Brown-Throated Sloth avatar costume

New Content - Free Update 1.13.0

• NEW - Animal Sociality
  • Improving the feedback provided to players when and why overcrowding issues happen, sociality introduces the concept of Outsiders, Bonded animals and Leaders to Planet Zoo
  • Outsiders
    • Outsiders are unable to mate, interact, herd, or participate in any other social behaviour with the group. Fights occurring due to overpopulation are directed at Outsiders, rather than everyone beginning to infight as soon as the habitat becomes overcrowded
    • An animal's Outsider status is shown in its info panel as well as highlighted in the habitat info panel's animal list
    • Outsiders are generated if animals are introduced (or mature into) a habitat where it would exceed the population limits, gender ratio limits, or are rejected based on a new criteria: maturation type
    • There are four maturation types, which define how animals interact with their matured offspring:
      • Gregarious - meaning matured offspring is accepted into the group regardless of their gender. Timber Wolves or Flamingoes are examples of a gregarious species
      • Matrilineal - meaning male offspring related to the habitat's alpha are becoming outsiders, while the female line is accepted to remain in the group. Plains Zebras or West African Lions are examples of a matrilineal species
      • Patrilineal - meaning female offspring related to the habitat's alpha are becoming outsiders, while the male line is accepted to remain in the group. Western Chimpanzees are examples of a patrilineal species
      • Solitary - meaning offspring of either gender are becoming outsiders while their parents are present in the habitat. Siberian Tigers or Grizzly Bears are examples of a solitary species
    • A species' maturation type is listed in its zoopedia entry in the reproduction section
    • Outsider relationships can be lost if the reason for an animal being considered an Outsider are no longer valid, i.e. the animal fits into the habitat's population limits or gender ratio again, or it is no longer related to the current alpha. In this case, they enter an integration phase, after which they lose their Outsider status and can participate in the habitat's social environment again
  • Bonds
    • Animals can also become Bonded - these are individual, friendly relationships between two animals. Bonding happens between all juveniles of the same parents in a habitat, or on a low chance upon social interaction or play chases in adults
    • Bonded animals do not fight each other, even if one animal ends up being an Outsider to the habitat
    • It is unlikely for all animals in a habitat to form bonds among each other, however this may enable brothers of an alpha lion to remain in the habitat even though they would technically exceed the gender ratio of the species
    • Both Outsider and Bonded relationships will be lost over time if the animals are removed from their habitat - so careful management of separation and reintroduction is required
  • Leaders
    • In some species, the alpha animal tends to lead and guide the group, but does not claim exclusive mating rights. These leaders will now display a crown icon next to their gender symbol, in place of the alpha icon, to provide clearer information about their social and reproductive status in your groups
• NEW - Null Paths
  • When placing any of the natural paths with the option "Kerb on ground path" turned off, they turn into Null Paths: paths that will become indistinguishable from the terrain they are placed on
  • Like with Null Barriers, Null Paths will still be highlighted with a white outline when editing terrain, building, or hiring and moving around staff members, to help you find them again. This can be disabled via the new "Highlight hidden paths" dropdown in the building browser's setting
  • Normal path behaviour of course still applies to Null Paths - terrain can be painted, but not deformed around them, and they obstruct water and facility placement
• NEW - Climbing Asset toggle
  • Any climbable scenery or nature object now comes with a toggle on its info panel to turn of the climbable functionality of the piece. This toggle is also available for grouped scenery or multi-selections of pieces, showing you the current status of all pieces (climbable, mixed, not climbable) and the option to change it for all objects at once
  • In the animal traversable area heatmap, pieces whose climbing functionality has been turned off but would technically be traversable by your animals otherwise will highlight black instead of green.
• 
  NEW - Brachiation Extension
  
  • Brachiation has been extended to vines, trees and beams
• 
  NEW - Multi-Axis Advanced Movement
  
  • Advanced Movement tool now features connecting handles between all adjacent directional axes, grabbing and dragging the handles moves the object along both connected axes at the same time, allowing for much finer control when creating intricate buildings

• NEW - Transport Ride UI Updates
  
  • Transport Ride info panels have received a touch-up, improving their set-up and information
  • Ride prices are now no longer set per station, but on the ride info panel's finance tab directly. Existing ride's prices will average between all their stations individual prices
  • Additionally, ride and station info panels now contain further information on their Overview tabs, which will be helpful in planning zoo layouts around your rides:
    • Ride info panel:
      • Species seen from the ride over the last 12 months
    • Station info panel:
      • Species seen en route between this and the next station over the last 12 months
      • Guest facilities within walking distance from this station
  • Guests whose wishlisted animals are visible from a ride now have a greater desire to purchase a ticket for the ride

• NEW - Foliage
  
  • Tropical Leaf Litter 01
  • Tropical Leaf Litter 02
  • Tropical Leaf Litter 03
  • Tropical Leaf Litter 04
  • Kentia Palm 01
  • Kentia Palm 02
  • Kentia Palm 03
  • Kentia Palm 04
  • Tangled Liana 1m 01
  • Tangled Liana 1m 02
  • Tangled Liana 1m 03
  • Tangled Liana 1m 04
  • Tangled Liana 2m 01
  • Tangled Liana 2m 02
  • Tangled Liana 2m Curved
  • Tangled Liana 3m 01
  • Tangled Liana 3m 02
  • Tangled Liana 3m Curved
  • Tangled Liana 4m 01
  • Tangled Liana 4m 02
  • Cecropia Tree Sapling

• NEW - Scenery
  
  • Rough Rope Large
  • Rough Rope Small
  • Wagon Wheel
  • Bicycle Wheel
  • Large Candle
  • Thin Candle
  • Tiled Stone Path

• NEW - Blueprints 
  • Natural Brachiation Frame

General Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Animals
  • Dall Sheep can now use Goat Climbing Mountain
  • Fixed a bug preventing the game to update usage of Pinata Pronghorn and Pinata Zebra
  • Animals can now hang down on plants, and at increased beam angles
  • Fixed an issue where the Zoopedia for the Cloudless Sulphur, European Peacock, Menelaus Blue Morpho, Monarch, and Old World Swallowtail would list the Exhibit instead of the Walkthrough Exhibit as their suitable boundary
  • Fixed the size of the Goliath Beetle's Fun Fact #2 in US-English
  • Fixed Zoopedia scientific names for Wild Water Buffalo, European Badger, European Fallow Deer, Fennec Fox, Alpine Ibex, African Penguin, Eurasian Lynx, Fire Salamander in Polish
  • Polished Chew Toy's interaction to avoid audio to loop on collision
  • Clarified information on animal's enrichment tab with new headings and tooltips
  • Added options to disable timeline notifications for exhibit species
• Camera
  • 'Rotate Camera Left' and 'Rotate Camera Right' can now be rebound under 'General Shortcuts'. Previously the 'Change Rotate To Raise' option would disable rotation or the raise/lower controls, now they will both work if bound to different keys
• Controls
  • The bulldozer tool now supports separate Nature and Construction categories, to allow for deletion of foliage without editing buildings or vice versa
  • Fixed shops and counters being wrongly classified as nature/construction objects for the bulldozer tool
  • Fixed an issue where the terrain stamp could get stuck when toggling fill mode
• Game Modes
  
  • The 'Months Without Crime' progress is displayed during the 'Reduce Crime' Challenge
• Guests
  • Shops' guest happiness rating is no longer wildly affected by a single unhappy guest
• Localization
  • New string to cover the case where a habitat object isn't usable by adults of a species
  • Added localized text when players create a train track in a loop and try to add a second station
  • Added new plurals for Keepers, Vets, and Educators
• Scenario
  • Fixed an issue where you could complete the one-way glass objective in Goodwin House scenario with any barrier type
  • Fixed transport ride issue stopping guests from using the last carriage in Yamaguchi Prefecture Tranquility Zoo scenario
• Scenery
  • Fixed issues where education boards were displaying incorrect location information compared to their respective Zoopedia entries
  • Fixed inconsistency between information displayed on Education Boards and images on TV screen
  • Fixed an issue where certain plants would not display the correct biome information
  • When saving habitat blueprints, now we save the entire building/scenery groups including parts outside the habitat
  • Fixed multiple visual issues on Twilight Porch Gates blueprint
  • Removed grid icon from several Twilight Masonwork non-grid pieces
  • Fixed the names of the Aquatic Pack's Painted Slate Roof 2m Corner Inverted and Painted Slate Roof 4m Corner Inverted assets being swapped
  • Added temperate biome suitability to the bald cypress foliage
  • Fixed graphical issue on Olive tree 01
• Staff
  • Fixed educators displaying as 'Education speakers overlapping' in heat maps 'Guest education coverage' mode
  • Fixed sorting by work zone in the staff management tab
• UI
  • Fixed new-born exhibit animals not being filtered in the animal management tab
  • Fixed sorting by capacity in the staff room management tab
  • Fixed an issue where objects would stay rotated after hovering over the UI when using Position Snap Rotation
  • Removed misleading information about having well educated guests contributing to passive Conservation Credit income, as guest education doesn't directly affect the Conservation Credit income. Guest education still improves Zoo Reputation, which is one of the factors driving ticking Conservation Credit gain
  • Fixed animal talk problem status which incorrectly read 'Habitat does not contain selected species'
  • Fixed objects highlight inconsistency in colour editor
  • Fixed sorting by power costs and status on quarantine management tab
• Performance
  • Improve performance when multiselecting many habitat walls by limiting the number of height label widgets we show at once
  • Slightly reduced RAM usage in large zoos with lots of guests, water, or enrichment objects
  • Saves files are slightly smaller for large zoos with lots of water or climbable scenery
• Stability
  • Fixed rare crashes on start-up
  • Fixed a rare crash while editing habitats

Hayo Zookeepers!

Kick back and relax as we head towards summer with the new Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack, coming to you on 4 April alongside Free Update 1.13!



Venture through the depths of the tropical rainforest and take a look at the new friends heading your way!

Keep a keen eye up in the trees and you'll spot the Lar Gibbon leaping between the boughs, or maybe you'll even see a Fossa asleep up in the branches of the trees. If you head down to the water there are some new friends to be found too, such as the Asian Water Monitor slinking down the river. And look there, at the edge of the swamp! It's the Red River Hog basking in the sun - it looks like it's having a great time. Last but not least, we couldn't forget our new Walkthrough Exhibit mammal - the Brown-throated Sloth! They'll be sure to sloooooowly climb their way into your guests' hearts 💚



Alongside this, you'll get a range of new scenery items including architectural pieces inspired by places across Southeast Asia, and tropical foliage such as the Rafflesia, Pitcher's Plant, and Epiphytes!

Continue our ongoing story in a Planet Zoo Career Scenario as Tiffany has gotten herself into another pickle! This time, Tiffany's dad bought her a Zoo at auction and left it to her to fix up, and she's hired both Dominic Myers and yourself to help her do so - oh no! Can you help her turn the place around, and what is Myers really up to? Can he be trusted?



The Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack will be available for purchase for £7.99 ($9.99, 9.99€) on Steam from 4 April. If you want to be notified when the game is available, then head on over to Steam and wishlist it now! Please remember that you'll only be able to enjoy the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack if you already own the base game of Planet Zoo.

Head over to our social media in the run-up to the Pack launch as we see the return of Zookeeper Steve! This time he's heading off on a research trip and is asking for your help in an unexplored tropical forest, keep an eye out there for the animal reveals. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, if you missed our ✨special livestream✨ yesterday you can check it out here.

Join us on 4 April for a special charity livestream that we'll be hosting to celebrate the launch of the Tropical Pack and raise money for our friends at Chester Zoo! Chester Zoo is a world-leading conservation zoo that’s carrying out some vital, species-saving work. As a not-for-profit, the zoo ploughs everything into its conservation work, both in the UK and right across the world. The zoo is doing amazing things such as helping preserve Madagascar's rarest forest type, with Madagascar being where our new Fossa friends are from! We'll kick things off at 2pm BST on 4 April on both Twitch and Youtube, and we'll be joined by some friends both from Frontier and from our community. See you there!



We hope you enjoyed this announcement, and we look forward to exploring with you and Zookeeper Steve! Tell us what you're more excited for below ⬇️

Hayo Zookeepers,

Spring has sprung and with it comes a new Planet Zoo update! ✨Free Update 1.13✨ will be making its way to you on 4 April - take a look below for more info on what you can expect to see👀 ⬇️



Animal Sociality
A new animal interaction mechanic is making its way to Planet Zoo - introducing Animal Sociality! This feature aims to bring a more life-like approach to the introduction of new animals into your existing habitats, and to provide clarity when and why overcrowding issues happen. This will not change how you manage your animals but is instead an overhaul in how we communicate this to you, and how the animals engage within their group relationships.

All animals will now have an additional definition in their Zoopedia entry; solitary, matrilineal, patrilineal, or gregarious. This will let you know how they engage with their offspring. New animals that are introduced to a habitat (and juveniles that mature) will be marked as Outsiders if they exceed the gender or population limits of a habitat, if they are rejected due to their relationship with the group Alpha (i.e. a male in a matrilineal group), or if their parents are present when they are a solitary species. This will maintain a more stable existing population and reduce infighting amongst existing animals, instead having them group together to target the new outlier and continue to fight until they are removed (or the situation causing them to be deemed an Outsider is improved). Outsiders will also be rejected and unable to partake in group dynamics such as mating, social interaction, and playing, thus creating a more realistic experience and helping stop further overpopulation issues (so if you forget to pause and go grab a snack, you won't come back to 30+ unintentional new offspring!).

However, some groups where coexisting wouldn't have been possible without aggression (such as habitats with an unbalanced gender ratio) may now be able to be formed if the members have developed a bond prior to maturing. Sociality will show you which animals have become bonded. Bonded animals will never fight their Alpha or their bonded partners, and can become bonded through spending time together, or by being juveniles born from the same two parents. It is unlikely that all animals in a large group will be bonded but, for example, it can allow for more than one male to remain in a matrilineal society (i.e. the alpha lion's brother being able to remain within the pride). Furthermore, in some species, the alpha male or female tends to lead the group but doesn't claim exclusive mating rights. These leaders will be marked with a crown in the info panel (replacing the alpha symbol) so that, whatever claim they have, it is clear who they are within the group and so that players can be aware of their reproductive role.

The Outsider relationship can be lost once an animal is removed from the habitat and time has passed allowing the relationships to decay. After this, an animal can be reintroduced to a group as if they have never met before, but unless the habitat has changed (i.e. the gender ratio is now balanced), the animal may still be rejected and become an Outsider once more. However, if all conditions that are causing an animal to be deemed an Outsider become invalid, it will enter an "integration" period, after which it will be fully integrated and accepted by the existing group. This can happen if the gender and population limits are balanced again, or if the animal is no longer impacted by the alpha of the group. The type of Outsider an animal is will be displayed within the info panel, so you will know the cause and be able to take appropriate managerial steps from there. This panel will also display the time left in the integration period, should your animal enter one.

Animal Sociality will add all of this information under the Social tab. All sociality dynamics will also be labelled appropriate per species, whether that be as a pride, pack, herd, clan, or similar.

Null Paths
Ever wanted to have a hidden or completely natural path, or to style your own via decorative items? We know you have, and now you can! Introducing Null Paths ✨

Disabling the "Kerbs on Ground Path" toggle on any Natural Path will now create a Null Path - an "invisible" path that allows guests and zoo staff to walk across a seemingly unmarked terrain. These paths will function the same as any other path meaning that terrain cannot be deformed around them, nor can facilities or similar be placed on them, but they will only show an outline when selected for building purposes and can be customised beyond that to your heart's content.

Similar to Null Barriers, any build mode will now have a settings dropdown to "Highlight Hidden Paths". This is enabled by default but can be toggled as necessary for those who really go in-depth with their building!

Multi-Axis Advanced Movement
Another improvement coming for all of our builders is an addition to your Advanced Movement options - multi-axis movement!

Until now, when moving objects you have had to pan it across each axis individually to reach the exact placement you want. Now, when you are in building mode, an additional handle has been added between each of the axis arrows. These handles can be selected to move any asset freely across two axes at once, i.e. forward/back and left/right, whilst remaining locked in position up/down. This should make building easier than ever!

Climbable Asset Toggle
Ever created a build that you're really happy with but then you unpause and - oh no! - some of your assets are climbable and now your animals keep escaping? This is no longer an issue with the introduction of the Climbable Asset Toggle!

Any object that is climbable can now have its climbing function toggled on/off. This selection is also available for groups and multi-selections, allowing you to toggle large amounts of assets at once. This will allow you to customise what animals are able to climb on, therefore restricting what they can scale - and stopping them from being able to escape from undesired areas!
When looking at the animals' traversable area, disabled climbing assets will be highlighted in black whereas enabled climbable assets will be highlighted in green. This will be particularly useful for things like custom barriers, or for creating more comprehensive climbing frames in which sections of it are maintained as purely decorative without disrupting the rest of the frame.

As always, these exciting new features will come alongside a range of fixes and quality-of-life improvements, which you can read in the patch notes after release.

There's more news coming for you soon but, for now, join us later today for a ✨special livestream✨ where we'll be taking a closer look at everything coming your way in free Update 1.13. Catch us on Twitch and Youtube at 17:00 GMT - see you there!

Hayo Zookeepers!

Update 1.12.4 is now available for download. Just update your game before you play! This update contains various bug fixes - you can read more below:

Planet Zoo - 1.12.4 Update Notes
This update contains bug fixes
General Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Animals
  • Fixed the Nine-Banded Armadillo disappearing when feeding from the Termite Mound
  • Fixed the Formosan Black Bear mouth being always open
• Facilities
  • Fixed the Grasslands Walkthrough Exhibit from requiring Twilight pack DLC to be placed
• Scenery
  
  • Buffalo Grass, Blue Stem Grass and Red Oat Grass dry variants reverted to their original colour variants and are now called "Parched" grass
  • Added yellow toned variants to Buffalo Grass, Blue Stem Grass and Red Oat Grass, called "Dry" grass

• Stability
  • Fixed a crash that could happen when using the Automation Management Population and reaching the Conservation Credit limit

Hayo Zookeepers!

Update 1.12.3 is now available for download. Just update your game before you play! This update contains various bug fixes - you can read more below:


This update contains bug fixes

General Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Animals
  • Fixed "moving multiple selected animals" in the exhibit info panel not always moving the selected animals
  • Fixed Raccoons passing through scenery to interact with enrichment toys
  • Fixed an issue where animals interacting with burrows were teleported across the park
  • Removed the possibility for animals in burrows to stand idle for long periods of time
  • Fixed the navigable area heatmap not updating when the selected animal had to be reset to the habitat gate
  • Fixed an issue where animals could not enter or exit a burrow correctly
  • Fixed an issue where animals were temporarily considered escaped from their habitats, particularly when climbing
  • Increased the size of skeletal remains left by juvenile Emus that decomposed in a habitat
  • Added interspecies enrichment bonuses between Emus, Red Kangaroos and Red-Necked Wallabies
  • Fixed Raccoon's whiskers and fur disappearing if viewing from specific distance
  • Fixed Formosan Black Bear Juvenile eyes floating if viewing from specific distance
  • Fixed Nine-Banded Armadillo teleporting when exiting burrow
  • Made Scarecrow Feeder more accessible for Blue Wildebeest
  • Fixed some sharp edges on the Maned Wolf sleeping animation
  • Fixed leg flickering on the Emu walking animation
  • Fixed overextended front upper legs on the Blue Wildebeest Female walking animation
  • Adjusted animation when the Striped Hyena shakes
  • Adjusted animation when the Nine-Banded Armadillo turns
  • Updated Striped Hyena animal icons for both Male and Female
  • Updated Striped Hyena Zoopedia images
• Facilities
  • Fixed Tour guest wellbeing being rated much lower than expected
  • Fixed "Educational item placed too far from target species" alert on Tour Points not assigned to an Animal Talk
  • Fixed some habitat objects being incorrectly considered scenery objects when using the bulldozer tool
  • Fixed an issue where ride stations sometimes do not get fully deleted when using the bulldozer tool
• Franchise
  • Fixed the Automated Exhibit Population Management rules showing the "Release to wild" option in franchise mode
• Game Modes
  • Height map zoos created in the following places now use their matching flat skirts:
    
    • Africa Savannah
    • Antarctica Tundra
    • Asia Tropical
    • Europe Tundra
    • North America Savannah
    • North America Temperate
    • Oceania Tropical
  • Path added to Temperate Europe Sculpted map entrance
  • Loans are now available in Sandbox mode
• Guests
  • Enabled moving tour guests onto staff paths during their tour
  • Added feedback for inaccessible Tour Points in tours
• Habitats
  • Fixed habitat shelter heatmap not displaying correctly
  • Fixed incorrect animal accessibility message on climbing frames
  • Fixed habitat object accessibility considering irrelevant animals' accessibility
  • Improved habitat object accessibility algorithm
  • Fixed an issue where terrain around a burrow interior could be edited
  • Removed possibility to place burrows in lakes
• Localization
  • Added localized string informing players when Tour Points are inaccessible
  • Fixed a spelling mistake in the Red Barn River timed scenario description
• Scenario
  • Foliage removed from beneath terrain in Pumamarca Educational Reserve
• Scenery
  • Fixed some glass construction assets to allow guests to see animals through them
  • Added Temperate biome to Emu's infoboard
  • Adjusted specular response of the Buffalo Dry Grass
  • Adjusted colour variants on the Buffalo Dry Grass, Blue Stem Dry Grass and Red Oat Dry Grass.
• Staff
  • Fixed tour guide gliding away from the Tour Point at the end of a tour
• UI
  • The UI flow for creating and naming tours has been simplified
• Crashes
  • Fixed a crash when placing a quarantine building
  • Fixed a crash when placing a staff building
  • Fixed a crash when placing a habitat gate
  • Fixed a rare crash when getting a welfare notification for Butterflies
  • Fixed a rare crash when Butterflies attempted to land on guests
  • Fixed a crash when species did not have a listed food grade in their habitat

Hayo Zookeepers!

Update 1.12.2 is now available for download. Just update your game before you play! This update contains various bug fixes - you can read more below:

Planet Zoo - 1.12.2 Update Notes

This update contains bug fixes

General Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Animals
  • Nine-Banded Armadillo adult male and female will now interact with the Natural Termite Mound 
• Game Modes
  • Fixed an issue where updating the terrain in diorama mode would cover paths, changed to match all over terrain tools
• Guests
  • Fixed an issue where tour guests wouldn't use the bins they passed while following a presenter 
• Scenery
  • Added localisation for the Education sub category under Facilities in the browser
• UI
  • Fixed an issue with the 'Facility Inaccessible' notification coming up for tour spots 
  • Fixed an issue with animal navigation heatmaps not updating after switching to a different animal 
• Crashes
  
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when assigning a vendor to a single shop 
  • Fixed a crash that could occur sometimes after multiple butterfly births in the same frame push the population over the exhibit limit 
  • Fixed a crash that could happen if a butterfly dies while landing on a guest 
  • Fixed a rare crash that could happen when manipulating tour spots in the tour manager 

Known Issues

• If you have a save with over 95 butterflies in a single exhibit that crashed due to the exhibit limit, clearing these out below the limit should now avoid this crash

Hayo Zookeepers!

It's time to venture into the tall grass to see what wild animals we can find there, with the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack and free update 1.12, both out now! Grab the pack on Steam now, and don't forget to update your game to be able to enjoy the new free content!



Let's meet the lovely animals you can add to your zoos with this new DLC pack: the Nine-Banded Armadillo, with its extraordinary armour; the Maned Wolf with its impressively long legs; the curious Emu, with its recognisable grey plumage; the agile and elusive Caracal; the remarkable Red-Necked Wallaby; the scavenging Striped Hyena; and the striking Blue Wildebeest. In addition to these Habitat animals, colourful flying butterflies can now be added to your Walkthrough Exhibits: Menelaus Blue Morpho, Cloudless Sulphur, European Peacock, Old World Swallowtail, and Monarch butterflies. Your guests will truly be amazed when going through a walkthrough Exhibit filled with butterflies!



The storyline that was started in the Twilight Pack continues in the Grasslands Animal Pack with a brand new Campaign Scenario. You'll be helping a sanctuary in the Argentinian grasslands care for their animals, whilst helping a certain someone learn how to best care for their animals. You'll have to contend with the needs of many different species as you work your Zookeeper magic to make the place into a shining beacon of animal conservation. We know you're up to the task!

This new Career Scenario follows after the Career Scenario from the Twilight Pack, and we are incredibly excited to continue this narrative! Don't worry though, you won't have to have played the previous Career Scenario to follow the story, and you can jump in completely fresh if you want to.

The Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack is available now on Steam for £7.99 ($9.99, €9.99). Don't forget that you need the base game in order to play the new content!



Update 1.12 is also out now, and is free for all players to install. Let's talk about what you can expect from this new game update.

The free update comes with several exciting new features, including Guided Zoo Tours, a new Diorama Mode, and a new Bulldozer Delete tool. You can read more about the free update in the announcement post, or check the full update notes below, but we'll share the highlights here too.

Your guests will get to see the best parts of your zoo with the new Guided Zoo Tours, a brand new way to offer guests more in-depth information about the animals in your zoos. Members of staff will guide your guests through the zoo, educating them on life at the zoo and the animals who live there. The tours are completely customisable, letting you plot your guests' journey through your zoo – from the Habitats and Exhibits, to the shops and food stalls – using special Tour Points.

The VIP treatment also means more opportunities to earn additional income for your zoo! Guests will have to pay a tour fee in addition to the zoo's ticket price, and will also be spending money to take care of their needs during the tour. Their desire to spend money relates to how much they've been enjoying your tour, so make sure it's a memorable one!



Want to make a cool diorama style zoo, but don't know how? With the new Diorama Mode, we've done the basic setup for you, making you free to build the perfect diorama any way you'd like. Choose your region and biome, and then you're off to the races on a pre-generated block of land. This mode was inspired by the amazing Rudi Rennkamel, who kicked off a popular trend of making Sandbox dioramas in Planet Zoo.

Last, but not least, we wanted to highlight the new Bulldozer Tool, which makes it easier than ever to remove large swaths of your zoo at once. This new tool will not only let you remove multiple items at once, it will also let you select what you want to remove. Do you need to get rid of all the paths, bins, benches, and decorations in an area, but want to keep other building pieces, shops, and enclosure fences? Just select the right options from the menu, move the bulldozer over what you want to destroy, and it will take care of the rest. 🚜

Check the full set up Update Notes below for more information on the bug fixes and changes coming with Update 1.12!

We are incredibly excited to see how you integrate these new animals, and gameplay features, into your zoos. Don't forget to join us for a launch livestream later today, on Twitch or YouTube, at 16:00 GMT.

Planet Zoo - 1.12.1 Update Notes
This update contains bug fixes, updates and some new content.
New Content - Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack

• NEW - Animals
  • New animals in the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack:
    • Blue Wildebeest
    • Caracal
    • Emu
    • Maned Wolf
    • Nine-Banded Armadillo
    • Red-Necked Wallaby
    • Striped Hyena
    • Cloudless Sulphur
    • European Peacock
    • Menelaus Blue Morpho
    • Monarch
    • Old World Swallowtail
• NEW - Career Scenario 
  • Travel to the Purmamarca Educational Reserve, a small establishment aiding in rehabilitation of animals and education of students and visitors alike
  • Challenge, and Sandbox versions of the map are available
  • Terrain only sandbox and challenge variants of the map are also available

• NEW - Scenery Pieces
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Blue Morpho
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Blue Wildebeest
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Caracal
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Cloudless Sulphur
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Emu
  • Grasslands Animal Sign European Peacock
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Maned Wolf
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Monarch
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Nine-Banded Armadillo
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Old World Swallowtail
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Red-Necked Wallaby
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Striped Hyena
  • Grasslands Animal Sign Pole

• NEW - Blueprints 
  • Grasslands Walkthrough Exhibit

• NEW - Avatar Costume 
  • New Emu avatar costume

New Content - Free Update 1.12.0

• NEW - Guided Tours
  • Guided Tours are created using the new Tour Point asset, found in the Facilities browser. With it, you can set up custom routes through your zoo along which educators guide guests and tell them about the zoo
• NEW - New Colourmorphs and Colour Variations
  • Melanistic Timber Wolf
  • Golden Formosan Black Bear
  • King Cheetah
  • Pale Reindeer

• NEW - Diorama Game Mode
  • Available as a new Terrain Type when creating a new zoo in Sandbox mode, you can now create 'Diorama' zoos
  • These maps have no terrain skirt but additional settings such as the background colour and the available terrain shape
• NEW - Bulldozer Delete Tool 
  • The Bulldozer tool allows you to quickly remove objects and paths in the zoo to redo areas
  • There are several categories you can toggle on or off independently, to have full control over what you are removing:
    • Construction and Nature
    • Facilities and Exhibits
    • Path Extras
    • Paths
    • Habitat Objects
    • Barriers
    • Rides and Tracks
    • Water
  • The Bulldozer's effective radius and height can be increased or decreased, the standard height of its alignment can be modified by dragging it up or down while holding Shift
• NEW - Habitat Visibility Heatmaps
  • Three new heatmap modes are available in the 'Habitat' heatmap category
  • Predicated area visibility shows how much of a habitat the guests will see
  • Current animal visibility shows from where guests can see animals in a habitat at the current time
  • Yearly average animal visibility shows from where guests can see animals in a habitat on an average of the past 12 months
• NEW - Split Group Button
  • The new 'Split Group' button is available on a scenery group's info panel
  • When clicked, the group is dissolved and all items are unlinked from each other

• NEW - Foliage
  
  • Big Bluestem Grass - Small, Medium, Large
  • Big Bluestem Dry - Small, Medium, Large
  • Red Oat Grass - Small, Medium, Large
  • Red Oat Grass Dry - Small, Medium, Large
  • Buffalo Grass - Small, Medium, Large
  • Buffalo Grass Dry - Small, Medium, Large

• NEW - Scenery
  • Walkthrough Exhibit Hanging Basket Planter
  • Walkthrough Exhibit Hanging Basket Planter Chain
  • Walkthrough Exhibit Netting Panel 2m x 2m, 4m x 2m, 4m x 4m
  • Walkthrough Exhibit Netting Panel Gable
  • Walkthrough Exhibit Netting Panel Roof

General Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Animals
  • Adjusted face of the Striped Hyena - these changes have been implemented after the launch trailer was captured, so although not visible in the trailer, the changes are currently in-game
  • Fixed an issue where animals may walk above the water's surface
  • Fixed an issue where saving a zoo mid-jump would cause animals to float on load
  • Fixed some jump animations looking too slow
  • Fixed an issue where Raccoons would not play their jump animation when climbing
  • Fixed an issue where animal carcasses were stuck after dying in the burrow
  • Prevented animal animations becoming synchronised after a fight
  • Made improvements to the orientation of animals while on climbing frames
  • Reduced the number of small jumps made by animals while climbing
  • Fixed animals walking on Fig Trees
  • Fixed an issue with carnivore poop clipping into the ground
  • Fixed the missing genetic description string for the Red Deer's colourmorph
  • Removed species tags from climbing blueprints where the species in question couldn't navigate the blueprint well, due to the animal requiring thick climbing beams
  • Added Red Deer tags to all suitable shelter blueprints
  • Fixed vibrating Raccoon poop on feeders
  • Fixed fur popping when zooming in and out for the Formosan Black Bear
• Camera
  • Updated the orbit camera to be more stable when orbiting bats
  • Fixed a consistency issue where starting camera positions were inconsistent across Zoo maps
  • Fixed slow camera movement near the edge of zoos in some biomes
• Facilities
  • Fixed shading issue on Walkthrough Exhibit strip doors that caused visual issues
  • Fixed shading issue on Walkthrough Exhibit when using the glass wall type
  • Players are now able to delete guest entrance
  • Fixed an issue where anniversary balloons are not sold by default in shops
  • Fixed an issue where the Green Iguana Exhibit would return a null error
• Game Modes
  • Fix for the "Disable Facility Maintenance" sandbox setting sometimes being enabled in non-sandbox saves
• Guests
  • Fixed guests sometimes getting stuck while looking for a bench
  • Fixed guests getting stuck when exiting a toilet that was entered from a nearby, but not connected, path
  • Fixed guests sometimes getting stuck on stairs
  • Fixed an issue where guests exiting transport rides would teleport across the world into the air
  • Guests no longer complain about shops making them need a toilet
• Habitats
  • Fixed conflicting accessibility information for brachiation frames
  • Fixed Eucalyptus Tree Feeders being inaccessible
  • Fixed a bug where undoing burrow placement would change the orientation of the underground section
  • Removed 'Climbable' tag from a handful of assets that wrongly had it assigned and were never climbable
• Scenario
  • Fixed an issue where wolves would escape their habitat in Goodwin House
  • Fixed an issue where several species would escape their habitat in Al's Pine Zoo
  • Fixed an issue where the Cougar would escape their habitat in Jameson Wildlife Park
  • Players are now unable to sell the entrance area of the Myers Castle Career Scenario for profit
• Scenery
  • Fixed inverted Planco and scientific name on Red Deer Habitat Information Board
  • Fixed DLC foliage not costing anything to remove in scenarios
  • Fixed graphic issues on Classic Shop Canopy 02
  • Made improvements to the visual transitions of the Black Spruce Trees
• Staff
  • Fixed an issue where keepers would constantly try to clean up inaccessible feeders
• UI
  • Fixed an issue where enrichments listed in the animal info pop-up would sometimes be duplicated or missing
  • Fixed non-functional 'All' checkbox in the animals tab of the walkthrough exhibit pop-up
  • Fixed animal talk point not updating correctly after a move is undone
  • Changed how the animal timeline in the info pop-up is laid out, so that the elderly marker isn't reached until the animal is actually elderly
  • Animal age dials displayed in the UI will no longer always show elderly animals as infertile, but will instead reflect the fertility status of the animal
  • Fixed an issue where the shop that a vendor was assigned to would not appear in the staff management window
  • Fixed an issue where feeder enrichments would show the multiple enrichment symbol if only one was present
  • Removed the "Facilities" header from the selection UI when selections don't include any facilities
  • Fixed issue with the Scenery rating in the Quarantine tab of the Animal Management screen
  • Fixed an issue with the alert's locator in the Habitats tab of the Animal Management screen
  • Added a new 'Education' subcategory to the 'Facilities: Media Devices and Education' browser category
• Performance
  • Fixed an issue where selecting large groups would cause performance issues

Known Issues

• Nine-Banded Armadillo familly is not able to interact with the Natural Termite Mound

Hayo Zookeepers!

It's time to venture into the tall grass to find animals hiding in it. Introducing the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack which will be making its way to you on 13 December alongside Free Update 1.12!



What's hiding in the tall grass, you ask? A plethora of fascinating wildlife that calls the steppes, plains, and prairies across the world their home!

Say hello to the Nine-Banded Armadillo, with its extraordinary armour; the Maned Wolf with its impressively long legs; the curious Emu, with its recognisable grey plumage; the agile and ellusive Caracal; the remarkable Red-necked Wallaby; the scavenging Striped Hyena; and the striking Blue Wildebeest. These come with new and unique behaviours, like the Nine-Banded Armadillo's preening and sniffing, or the Caracal's bouncing and floppy ears. We're sure both you and your guests will enjoy these new species!

In addition, you can also add a stunning assortment of five colourful species of Butterfly to populate your Walkthrough Exhibits, including: Cloudless Sulphur, European Peacock, Menelaus Blue Morpho, Monarch, and Old World Swallowtail. These flying insects can be kept together as the game’s first ever interspecies-compatible exhibit animals. 🦋



You'll also be able to test your management skills with the brand new Career Scenario set within the picturesque grasslands of Argentina! You'll be working alongside wealthy socialite Tiffany Summers to help her learn the importance of animal care and animal sanctuaries in species conservation. You'll be relocating the diverse inhabitants of her sprawling mansion to a more suitable new home. We're sure your zoo management magic can make life much better for these animals.

This new Career Scenario follows after the Career Scenario from the Twilight Pack, and we are incredibly excited to continue this narrative! Don't worry though, you won't have to have played the previous Career Scenario to follow the story, and you can jump in completely fresh if you want to.



The Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal pack will be available for purchase for £7.99 ($9.99, 9.99€) on Steam from 13 December. If you want to be notified when the game is available, then head on over to Steam and wishlist it now! Please remember that you'll only be able to enjoy the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack if you already own the base game of Planet Zoo.

Don't forget to also join us on our social media channels for the upcoming animal reveals in the run-up to the Grasslands Animal Pack! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

We hope you enjoyed this announcement, and we look forward to seeing you over on our social channels! Let us know what your favourite bit was below. Stay green, Zookeepers! 🦋

Hayo Zookeepers!

It's beginning to look a lot like....a Planet Zoo update! It's time to celebrate exciting new additions coming to Planet Zoo. Introducing ✨ free update 1.12 ✨ which is heading your way on 13 December 🕫

Keep on reading to find out what you can expect in this new update.

Guided Tours
It's time to give your guests the VIP treatment with the new Guided Tours coming! Guided Tours are a brand new way to offer guests more in-depth information about your zoo and your exhibits. Tours are personal and will be conducted by an educator, they will then guide your guests through the zoo and educate them with lots of wonderful facts about your animals as well as life at the zoo. Guided Tours are also completely customiseable, which means you will be able to plan out your guests' journeys through your park by placing Tour Points at desired destinations. This means guests will be specifically guided to the habitats you assigned in your tour for them to admire and the places they stop to recharge their needs. A unique and unforgettable experience each time!

The VIP treatment also means more opportunities to earn additional income for your zoo! Guests will have to pay an extra tour fee in addition to the zoo entry price, and will also spend money to take care of their needs during tour breaks or after, with their desire to spend relating to how well they rated the tour as well. 



Diorama Mode
Inspired by one of our Planet Zoo community members, Rudi Rennkamel 🐫, we're introducing the new Diorama Mode, a new type of terrain for you to create your very own dioramas! You can select this new terrain type in sandbox mode and it will provide you with a blank diorama that you're free to build upon as you'd like. You can then upload your diorama to the Steam Workshop to share it with the rest of the Planet Zoo community



Bulldozer Tool 
We've also made removing things from your zoos a little faster by adding a Bulldozer tool in update 1.12! It's now faster than ever to remove large amounts of scenery, paths and objects in your park. You also have the ability to mix and match what type of object you want to remove with the bulldozer. Combining the functionality to remove multiple types of items at once using one tool is sure to make the experience of building and rebuilding more satisfying and streamlined. 

As always, these exciting new features in Update 1.12 come with various fixes and quality of life additions, which will be included in the full patch notes upon release.

We'll have more news for you soon, but until then, join us later today 7:00PM GMT for a very Special livestream where we will also go over in more detail what's coming in the 1.12 free update. We'll be live on Twitch and YouTube - we'll see you there! 

Hayo Zookeepers,

Wippi Abbonibo (or Happy Anniversary in English)! This weekend marks the 3rd Anniversary of Planet Zoo, so we're celebrating by providing you with some exciting new things for you to enjoy in Planet Zoo 👀🎉

Free update 1.11.2, featuring the brand new Anniversary content is available right now (just update your game!) and will include some fun additions to help you celebrate our third birthday in style! We've also got a few exciting things going on outside of the game itself, so without further ado, let's take a closer look at what's going on for this year's Planet Zoo Anniversary!

First up, we've got a brand new friend to introduce you to - meet the Red Deer, which will shortly be available to add to your zoos! 



The Red Deer is one of the largest deer species, inhabiting most of Europe along with Northern Africa and West Asia, and is widespread enough to be considered Least Concern status. We're really excited to see the kinds of habitats you create for them in your zoos! 

Of course, it wouldn't be an Anniversary celebration without one very important feature - animal balloons! With this free update, your guests will now be able to hold one of four animal balloons: a Tiger, Giraffe, Chimpanzee, or Red Panda! This will be a permanent addition to the game, which we're sure your guests will love! 



Finally in the way of in-game content, we have a limited-time celebration happening in-game this weekend: there will be a special Community Challenge from 4th-6th November! In this special event, you'll receive a boosted animal that has an 80%+ in any gene in return for every 5 you release (with a 1 in 50 chance of having Piebald or leucistic colouring!), and will gain a complete Avatar outfit for every 20 animals released - so both you and your animals will be looking your best! Speaking of which...



The time has come, Zookeepers - the moment you've all been waiting for! Very shortly, you'll be able to purchase your very own Planet Zoo Merch to celebrate the third year of simulation running wild! Planet Zoo t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, mugs, posters and more will be available to buy from the official Planet Zoo store - so you can celebrate our third Anniversary in style. Slip into a super comfortable Paws and Leaves sweatshirt, sip from an exclusive habitat mug, or grab a deskpad branded with gorgeous art from the game. Pick your favourite animal and show your love for nature with these cute and colourful designs and products. Find the store itself here.

Last but not least, what's a good party without a little music? 'You, Me & Other Habitats', a selection of 12 tracks from Planet Zoo and its packs will take you for a trip around the world and will be available to stream from today across your favourite streaming services. You can find it on Spotify here. 



Thank you all so much for being such an amazing community, Planet Zoo wouldn't be the incredible place it is without all of YOU! 

Last, but certainly not least, don't forget to join us later today for a celebratory Anniversary Livestream, on Twitch or YouTube where we'll have special guests RudiRennkamel, PlasticSwans, and ZWED, IN THE STUDIO! We'll be talking Planet Zoo, checking out the new content, doing giveaways, and more! We'll see you there (green heart emoji)

Planet Zoo - 1.11.2 Update Notes
This update contains bug fixes, updates and some new content.
New Content - 1.11.2/Anniversary Celebration 

• NEW - Animals  
  • To celebrate our 3rd Year Anniversary a new Red Deer habitat animal is now available in game!
    • The Red Deer is available for free for all owners of the Planet Zoo base game
• NEW - Animal Foil Balloons 
  • 4 x new animal style balloons are available in the Loony Blooons shop for all owners of the Planet Zoo base game.
    • Chimpanzee
    • Giraffe
    • Red Panda
    • Tiger
• NEW – All of the trailer music to date (including Twilight) is now available to select on the speakers
• NEW - "Wippi Abbonibo" Foil Balloons Returning for 72 hours
  • On the day of the anniversary and over the weekend, Loony Blooons will have the option to sell the returning Wippi Abbonibo foil balloons to your guests, to celebrate the Planet Zoo Anniversary in style!

General Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Animals
  
  • Fixed the Common Wombat giving birth animation not playing when inside the burrow
  • Fixed an issue where swimming animals would float in the air when trying to pounce on enrichments
  • Adjusted juvenile Common Wombat eating animation so the animal is further away, and no longer pops up and down in the trough feeders
  • Fixed the rate at which cleanliness in Egyptian Fruit Bat exhibits deteriorates
  • Fixed an issue where the Melon food enrichment was listed as both toy and food enrichment in the Common Wombat's zoopedia
  • Fixed an issue where juvenile Amur Leopards would not correctly attack bins during escapes
  • Addressed several issues with escaped animals not properly interacting with bins
  • Puff Adder continents have been updated and now include Asia
  • Fixed an issue where deep swimming animals would get stuck underwater

• Facilities
  • Fixed guests sometimes walking off-path to get to Walkthrough Exhibits
  • Fixed an issue preventing players from placing exhibits diagonally
• Game Modes
  • Fixed the opening times and ticket prices on sandbox and challenge zoos to have the default values
  • Raised Habitat barriers to stop Spotted Hyena escaping at Myers Lake Island Zoo
  • Raised Habitat barriers to stop Zebra escaping at Great Caldera Safari Park
  • Fixed escaped Red Fox not being able to return to habitat in Castle Myers Career Scenario
  • Deleted foliage found in Castle Myers 'Terrain Only' map
  • Fixed floating foliage and lights found in Castle Myers Career Scenario
• Guests
  • Fixed an issue where Habitat objects were sometimes marked as "Inaccessible" when loading saves
  • Fixed an issue where animals could escape their Habitat by climbing onto objects located outside
• Scenery
  • Tweaked physics of Saltwort, Elephant Grass, Common Reeds, Guelder Rose Bush, Rhubarb plant and Hawthorn bush foliage so that animals will not be able to walk or jump on top of them
  • Swapped Planco and Scientific names on Twilight animal education boards to be consistent with existing boards
  • Removed paid DLC requirement for the Walkthrough Exhibit PVC Strip Curtain scenery object
  • Added Asia highlight to Puff Adder education board
  • Fixed asset clipping issues on Twilight Walkthrough Exhibit Blueprint
  • Added Europe and Asia continental suitability to Drinn Grass and Drinn Grass Dry foliage assets, and lowered their coverage amount to 1m²
  • Fixed the underside of the California Redwood so that it's no longer transparent
  • Fixed extreme wind interaction with the branches of the California Redwood
  • Fixed incorrect material properties of the Masonwork Wall Panels
  • Fixed popping effect on the Virginia Creeper 02
  • Fixed popping effect on the Silky Oak Tree
• Staff
  
  • Fixed an issue where dung build-up would be ignored by keepers
  • Fixed an issue where dung would be removed from a habitat when reloading a zoo
• UI
  • Added educators to the staff grid on the main zoo management tab
  • Added a new icon to exhibit enrichment research unlocks in the Vet Research's per species research overview
  • Fix 'parse error' in zoo inspector info pop-up during Castle Myers Career Scenario
  • Fix special characters showing up incorrectly in the vendor shop assignment info pop-up 
• Localization
  • Adjusted staff strings for the overview UI in all languages
  • Fixed some typos in Scenario 15 and Scenario 7
  • Adjusted the translation of male and female in Korean
• Stability
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when an animal being predated was removed from the zoo
  • Fixed a rare crash that occurred when trying to open an exhibit Info Panel
  • Fixed an issue where the game would soft-lock when opening the genealogy menu
  • Fixed an issue where deleting the Habitat gate would cause the game to crash
• Performance
  • Reduce RAM usage in zoos

Known issues

• In Scenario 15 saves made during 1.11.0, adding a new animal to a habitat will trigger the inspector spawn cycle back in place