AnimalID
The ingame ID number for the animal.
Name
The name of the animal.
LocationName
The geographical area where this animal is usually found (except of course in
zoos - required by some scenarios)
Origin
Where you can get this animal from or which official expansion pack it comes
from
PurchaseCost
The cost of buying one of these animals (or an egg if using Dinosaur Digs)
RequiresResearch
Whether or not you must research this animal before you can adopt one
IsClimber
Whether or not the animal can climb trees or fences that can be climbed
IsJumper
Whether or not the animal can jump over low fences
Description
The full ingame description of the animal giving useful hints about their social
groups, preferred foliage and other habitat information
AttractivenessAdult
How attractive the guests find the adult animal. Possibly linked to the ExhibitGawkTime
calculation for Guests and appears to be cumulative (i.e. 1 animal @ 60 attractiveness
will have guests watching longer than 2 animals @ 20 attractiveness since 60
> 40).
AttractivenessYoung
How attractive the guests find the baby animal. Possibly linked to the ExhibitGawkTime
calculation for Guests.
InitialHappiness
The level of happiness of the animal when first exhibited. Animals with a low
value should have their exhibit made as suitable as possible before placement
as it will take them longer to regain their happiness if the exhibit is unsuitable.
See HabitatPreference below.
HabitatPreference
The minimum suitability rating for a suitable exhibit. i.e. a value of 85 would
mean that the suitability rating bar would not change to green colour until
the exhibit was 85% suitable for the animal. See InitialHappiness above.
Captivity
According to the Panda file this is the reduction in happiness due to being
in captivity, but it is unclear if this is a one-off event or if the animal
goes through a captivity check process. Judging by the way the Panda's happiness
fluctuates it is reasonable to assume that this is an ongoing check. Therefore
the higher the number the more unhappy an animal is, due to being in captivity
Crowd
Possibly the number of guests at which the animal starts to feel crowded. Guests
can fit 4 to each game square and so if you divide this figure by 4 you can
estimate how many viewing areas to place around the animal exhibit. It appears
that this does include diagonals so an exhibit with a single viewing area can
theoretically contain 12 guests. However most animals have a figure of 30 for
this variable which would suggest only 2 usable viewing areas before making
an animal unhappy. In practice this figure is far too low since some animals
can be in an exhibit that guests can walk all the way around without becoming
unhappy. I did consider whether or not this could be the percentage of exhibit
wall that guests can see through which appeared to be more accurate but this
changed dramatically the more guests that came in! So basically if you have
an animal with a low Crowd variable it is best to limit their exposure to guests,
or if they have a high CrowdHappinesChange figure below.
CrowdHappinessChange
The change in happiness resulting from too many guests being in close proximity
of the animal. All the figures are negative so the higher the figure after the
"-" sign, the more unhappy the animals become.
ClimbsCliffs
Whether or not the animal can climb cliff-faces either in the exhibit itself
or if it is/has escaped. This is useful if you adopt the "pit" exhibit technique
of lowering the entire exhibit by 1 square as it tells you which animals would
not be able to escape from a 1-level down exhibit, otherwise the exhibit would
need to be lowered by 2 squares.
The pit method of enclosing an animal involves having the level of the exhibit lower than the surrounding land. The principle advantage in using this method is that you can use the lowest, cheapest fence (Low Chain-Link) to enclose even the strongest animals! It also means that should the fence break the animal cannot escape! By taking into account whether or not the animal can jump, climb or climb cliffs, the figure for pit depth is therefore how many elevation levels 'down' the exhibit must be in order to keep the animal inside.
This tends to work out considerably cheaper in terms of Purchase Cost and Upkeep, means that no animal will ever escape (unless you delete the fence!) and also that it reduces the effects of overcrowding on the animals caused by too many guests.
There are two methods to make a pit exhibit:
First (and most simple) is to lower the entire exhibit by the required number of levels;
Second is to actually raise one square all the way round an exhibit but this can be tricky if there is elevation required in the exhibit or if you are trying to co-ordinate a path system right next to the exhibit. The point at which this becomes cheaper to do than lowering the whole exhibit is for an exhibit size of more than 28 squares. To demonstrate:
Lowering the whole exhibit |
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Raising land to surround the exhibit |
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For lowering the exhibit the black squares remain the same level and the white squares are lowered by the number of levels required. For the surround method, the black squares remain the same level whilst the white squares are raised to surround exhibit. A quick count shows 7 x 4 squares needing a change in elevation for the Lowering method but only 26 squares (2 x [ 9 + 4 ]) for the Surround method. As a further example (no pic), for a standard 10 x 10 exhibit, Lowering would require a change to 100 squares whereas Surrounding would require just 44 squares to change. The bigger the exhibit the more advantage is gained by using the Surrounding method. This all assumes the Pit needs to be just 1 level deep but in the case of 2 levels deep then it is always cheaper to raise surrounding ground rather than lowering the whole exhibit. As an additional note you can do away with needing Maintenance Workers at all (if you have Marine Mania!) by building the exhibit using one of the Marine Mania fences but leaving one wall as either ZT or DD fencing. By not completing the tank and leaving a non-Marine fence in (as the gate!) you receive the advantage of exhibit fences never needing to be repaired or replaced! MM Tank Walls do not deteriorate and neither do Exhibit Gates so you must ensure that the gate is the one piece of ZT/DD fence and this method will only work by using the Pit Method above. |
FenceName
Simply the name of the fence that can be used for exhibiting this animal.
PurchaseCost
How much each individual piece of fence costs. If you build a 100% (i.e. 100
square) exhibit then you would need 40 fence pieces.
Height
How high the fence is. If an animal can jump then you will need a fence that
has a height of 2. For Dinosaur Digs animals, some animals with a CrushesFences
variable require a fence with a height of 3 otherwise they can simply bash straight
through! This has been accounted for in listing appropriate fences.
Strength
How strong the fence is - if this figure is lower than the BashStrength of an
animal then the animal will pass straight through and escape!
Life
The expected life of the fence in game months, assuming that the animal does
not bash through first.
CostEffective
This is a calculated figure used for ranking the fences in terms of Life/Cost
to provide a comparative ratio. For example if a fence costs $120 and has a
life of 12 months, then the CostEffective figure would be 12/120 = 0.10 (so
I have multiplied the result by 100 to give 'nicer' numbers). If a fence costs
$150 and has a life of 20 months then the figure would be 20/150 = 0.13. Since
0.13 is higher than 0.10 then the $120 fence would be a more CostEffective solution
for that particular animal. This is very much down to personal preference, however,
as the more CostEffective solution may mean that you have busier Maintenance
Workers as the fences tend to have shorter lives - you may also have more frequent
escapes. So you may decide to use the longest-lasting fences which tend to be
less CostEffective. Like I said - personal preference.
AnimalDensity
The amount of space required by individual animals. If an animal has an Animal
Density of 20, then a 100 square exhibit can house up 5 animals (100/20). If
the Animal Density is 100 then a 100 square exhibit can house up to 1 animal
(100/100). This only applies to adult animals as babies are not included in
the Animal Density calculation. For mixed exhibits, use the higher Animal Density
figure to determine the size of exhibit. E.g. if one animal has an AD of 25
(i.e. 4 animals per 100 square exhibit) and another animal has an AD of 50 (i.e.
2 animals per 100 square exhibit) then if you wanted to build an exhibit to
house one of each animal you would use the AD of 50, otherwise the animal with
the AD of 50 would feel crowded when the other animal was added.
Number
of Animal/Exhibit - Min
The minimum number of animals that can be exhibited without causing unhappiness.
Unlike the Max
figure below, this should be regarded as an absolute figure and you should not
build any exhibits for this animal that cannot contain the Minimum number, otherwise
the animal will receive a decrease in happiness caused by too few animals. In
actuality, particularly if you plan to breed the animals, you should build the
exhibit bigger than the minimum requirement to allow for future expansion.
Number
of Animal/Exhibit - Max
The maximum number of animals that can be exhibited before happiness is unaffected.
However, this is not the maximum number of animals that CAN be exhibited together
as providing the AnimalDensity
multiplied by the number of animals is still less than the ExhibitSize then
there is no limit to the number of animals that can be exhibited together. All
this means is that the happiness boost that an animal gets from having another
animal added stops at this Maximum. E.g. the Giant Panda has a Maximum of 2
animals. When you adopt 1 Panda and then add a second, the first receives a
happiness boost of 15 but if you add a third (i.e. greater than the Maximum)
then this boost is not received. Dino Digs appears to have tightened the code
on this so that more animals complain about too many animals than they did in
ZT, even with enough space!
TerrainName
The name of the TerrainType that the animal likes.
Value
This is the percentage of an exhibit that should have this TerrainType. To help
with calculating how this works out in terms of squares, the columns "1" to
"10" list the actual number of squares of this TerrainType based on the number
of animals exhibited (i.e. 1-10) and the total size of the exhibit is listed
in the ExhibitSize row.
Rocks
(or RockPref in the AI files)
The percentage amount of rocks preferred by the animal. This appears to vary
when using Rock Formations and often you find that you can place the required
percentage of rocks and still add Formations (i.e. Snow Leopards!). This is
because some of the Rock Formations are not considered to be rocks and you can
therefore place as many of these as you like! This also differs from TreePref
as it interprets the 4/square 'rule' differently to the TreePref.
In other words, with a RockPref of 3 you could still place 12 small rocks (3
x 4/square) in different squares (i.e. 12 squares) and this would still count
as 3% but see the section on Rocks below for more details. Again, columns 1-10
give the figure of actual squares that should be used (multiply by 4 if using
small/medium rocks)
Foliage
(or TreePref in the AI files)
The percentage of foliage preferred by the animal, referring to the number of
squares in every 100 squares. The preferred foliage listed for many animals
can often only be placed 1 to each square whereas a less preferred foliage may
be able to be placed 4/square. As these are generally not much lower rated than
the preferred foliage, the 4/square foliage should be used for maximum suitability
and happiness but see the section on Trees below for more details. Again, columns
1-10 give the figure of actual squares that should be used.
Elevation
(or ElevationPref in the AI files)
The number of changes in altitude that the animal prefers, assuming a 100 square
exhibit. A value of 10, for example, would mean that you should raise either
10 cliff-faces or rolling hill elevations for the exhibit. Each individual square
has a possible 4 cliff faces or rolling hill elevations. For an ElevationPref
of 10 you could pull up (or push down) 2 non-adjacent (i.e. not touching) squares
of terrain giving a value of 8 (2 x 4) and then a further 1 adjacent squares
that touch one of the others. To explain more clearly, 1 square can give 4 cliff
faces - if you raise/lower a square that is touching that square then 1 of the
cliff faces is obscured where the two squares touch (making 3 cliff faces) and
the new square raised/lowered also has 1 face obscured by the first square (making
3 additional cliff faces and 6 in total). This means that each new touching
square that is raised/lowered only adds 2 to the elevation value. It is actually
much simpler to raise a grid of squares and then raise/lower additional squares
if needed. A 2 x 2 square grid will give a value of 8 cliff faces so you would
need to raise/lower 1 additional touching square to make up the 10 required.
The same process applies for rolling hills although you must remember that although
when you raise/lower a single square then 9 squares actually change elevation
this still has an elevation rating of just 4.
Trees
- ID
Simply the ingame ID number of the Foliage Item that the animal likes
Value
The ingame positive effect that placing this tree has on the animal but see
Foliage Effect below
TreeName
The ingame name of the foliage
Foliage
Effect
This is a calculated figure that takes into account whether or not the tree
can be placed 4/square and also what habitat effect this foliage has. For example,
the Gallimimus from Dinosaur Digs has entries for trees from different habitats
(no original ZT animal has this that I've seen!) so that the Sigillaria Tree
(Savannah Habitat) has a rating of 16 compared with the Spruce Tree (Coniferous
Forest Habitat) with a rating of 12. This would suggest that you should use
the Sigillaria rather than the Spruce. However, the Habitat compatibility changes
this assumption as Coniferous Habitat has a rating of 10 but the Savannah has
a rating of -5. This changes the ratings so that Sigillaria becomes 11 and Spruce
becomes 22 making the Spruce a better choice. This calculation does also account
for the fact that some trees with lower ratings can produce better Foliage Effect
values than higher-rated trees, due to whether or not the tree can be placed
4/square. Another example - the Giant Panda has the following rating: Bamboo
= 12 and Himalayan Pine = 2. If you add the Habitat compatibility (3 for Highland
Habitat) to these the figures become Bamboo = 15 and Himalayan Pine = 5. Bamboo
can only be placed 1/square so the total value/square is 15 however the Himalayan
Pine can be placed 4/square so the total value/square is 20! However, for the
Panda you should use the Himalayan Birch anyway as it is rated 5 (+3 for Habitat)
and can be placed 4/square, but this demonstrates that you shouldn't always
believe the Preferred Foliage icon!
Cost/Square
Obviously the downside of using 4/square foliage is that you have to buy 4 of
the trees and this column lets you know how much each filled square will cost.
CostEffective
This calculation is used to list the trees in terms of FoliageEffect divided
by Cost/Square and theoretically gives the best balance between the exhibit
suitability and the costs involved. Using the Giant Panda example above, this
actually suggests that the Bamboo is a more cost effective solution than the
Himalayan Pine with a CostEffective figure of 3.0 compared to 2.8. However,
because of the interrelation between Animal Happiness and Guest Donations (the
higher the happiness the more donations) I have left this section ranked according
to the FoliageEffect. I would recommend only using the CostEffective calculation
if lack of money is a serious consideration as it is in some scenarios. You
can always replace the trees when you have more money!
Rocks
- ID
This section lists which rocks are appropriate for this animal and the ID is
simply the ingame ID number of the rock.
Value
The ingame positive effect that placing this rock has on the animal but see
Rock Effect below
Rock
Name
The ingame name of the rock
Size
X and Size Y
These are the measurements on the X and Y axes of the rocks in terms of half-squares
(i.e. X = 1 and Y = 1 gives the rock a footprint of 1/2 square x 1/2 square
= 1/4 square - hence 4/square). This is most useful when using Rock Formations
as these tend to be fairly large by comparison.
Rock
Whether or not this rock is considered a rock when calculating the RockPref
of the animal. Most Rock Formations are not considered rocks so it is best to
complete the animal's RockPref figure using 'normal' rocks and then add Formations
afterwards. This is particularly the case with animals like the Snow Leopard
and Reindeer !
Rock
Effect
This calculation is used to rank the rocks according to the one that has the
highest positive effect on the animal (with the exception of Rock Formations
- see Rock above). It takes into account the footprint of the Rock (small/medium
rocks that fit 4/square only count as 1/4 towards the RockPref but do not need
to be placed 4/square) and the habitat that the rock belongs to. In most cases,
the small/medium rock have a Neutral Habitat rating and, as such, are usually
the best rocks to use for all animals.In the case of Marine Mania animals then
the Small Ocean Floor Rock becomes the rock of choice.
Purchase
Cost
The cost of buying one of these rocks.
Cost
Effectiveness
A calculation that helps to rank the rocks in terms of Rock Effect divided by
Purchase Cost. Usually this does not change the ranking of the rocks as there
are clear 'winners' in terms of the Rock Effect.
Shelters
This section list the shelters that are appropriate for use with this animal.
Shelter
ID
The ingame ID number of the shelter.
Shelter
Name
The ingame name of the shelter.
Shelter
Value
The ingame amount by which an animal's happiness increases when this shelter
is placed (but see Shelter Effect below).
Shelter
Effect
A calculation that takes into account the Habitat value of the Shelter (usually
Bad Habitat) which gives a more realistic amount by which an animal's happiness
increases.
Purchase
Cost
The cost of buying one of these shelters.
Capacity
The number of animals that this shelter can accommodate. However, many people
have found that this is not an absolute variable and with certain animals (the
Snow Leopard again plus the Okapi !) you can actually use additional shelters
to increase the animal's happiness without them complaining about having too
many shelters. This is because the reduction in happiness from having too many
shelters is actually lower than the increase in happiness when placing the shelter
and also having additional shelters appears to increase the chance of Reproduction
!
Requires
Research
Whether or not this shelter must be researched before it becomes available.
Toy
This section lists any toys that are appropriate for this animal.
Toy
ID
The ingame ID number of the toy.
Toy
Name
The ingame name of the toy.
Toy
Value
The increase in animal happiness resulting from placing this toy. This does
not take into account the Habitat rating of the toy simply because Toys are
one of the very few things in the game that don't have a Habitat!
Purchase
Cost
The cost of buying one of these toys.
The
Life Cycle
This section gives you the actual numbers that control Reproduction, Sickness
and Death.
Reproduction
Chance
The probability that the animal will consider reproducing. 0 means an animal
will not reproduce, 1 means it has a low chance and 2 means a higher chance.
To make life easier this number has been replaced by the actual level (i.e.
0 becomes "Never", 1 becomes "Low" and 2 becomes "High").
Reproduction
Interval
The time period during which an animal will consider reproducing subject to
its HappyReproduceThreshold
and ReproductionChance.
This is a check cycle in the game whereby during this period the game will check
if the animal is happy enough to reproduce and appears to be reset after each
check (very happy animals will reproduce much quicker than this figure suggests).
For ease of comparison, the number has been converted to a monthly figure.
Happy
Reproduce Threshold
The happiness threshold that an animal must achieve before considering reproducing.
The higher the value then the more difficult it will be to successfully breed
this animal (Giant Pandas have a 99% Threshold!) - also linked to ReproductionChance
and ReproductionInterval.
Offspring
The number of babies that are born at each birth event.
Baby
To Adult
The length of time taken to grow from baby to adult. The value is given in game
months (i.e. the original value divided by 365). This is useful if you know
that the exhibit is too small for the number of adult animals that will be there
when the baby has grown up (i.e. if you have an exhibit that is only big enough
for a pair of animals and they breed then when the baby has grown up the animals
will become crowded and you will need to sell some of them or make the exhibit
larger). Since guests prefer seeing babies it is a good idea to either wait
until the babies have grown up and then sell them or to sell the corresponding
gender adult as animal parents will breed with their own offspring - eugh!).
However, some animals are monogamous and will complain that they cannot find
their mate - sell with caution!
Sick
Chance
The probability that the animal will become sick. The higher the probability
the more likely the animal will become sick.
This ranges from 2 (very low!) for the African and Asian Elephants and the Wooly
Mammoth to 40 (very high!!) for the Giant Panda and T-Rex (what a surprise!).
Sick
Change
The change in happiness caused by being sick - grab a Keeper!
Again this ranges from -5 for the African Warthog (they don't care) to -20 for
the Plains Zebra, American Bison, Unicorn, Siberian Tiger, White Bengal Tiger,
Giant Panda and Dromedary Camel (if you get a sickness message for one of these
animals then pause the game, find a keeper and place them as close to the sick
animal as possible).
Death
Chance
The probability that the animal will die at its TimeDeath.
A high percentage means that an animal is almost certain to drop dead at its
TimeDeath.
This varies from 10 (maybe) for a lot of animals to 90 for the African Elephant
(start digging!). If you can keep track of the lifetime of an animal you may
be able to successfully retire (i.e. sell) old animals before they die but you'll
probably need a big sheet of paper!
Time
Death
The time period at which the animal may die subject to its DeathChance.
Each animal has a specified life-expectancy but fortunately they don't always
die when they're scheduled to!
The figure has been converted to game months for ease of reference.
Compatible
Animals
The compatibility figure takes into account the animal's compatibility with the actual Family as well as the Animal itself. It also now considers the Habitat that the compatible animal comes from.
By example, the African Elephant has a Thomsons Gazelle listed as being compatible with a value of 10. The Gazelle belongs to the Even-Toed Ungulate Family which has a compatibility of -5 with the African Elephant plus the Thomsons Gazelle comes from the Savannah Habitat with a rating of 3 for the African Elephant so the compatibility rating of a Thomsons Gazelle to an African Elephant is
10 (+) -5 + 3 = 8
This therefore excludes the Gemsbok from the Elephant's compatibility list as the Gemsbok comes from the Desert Habitat which has a -10 rating for the Elephant.
If you're trying to construct multiple animal exhibits then you will need to check that not only is Animal A compatible with Animal B and vice versa (!) but also that their terrain/rock/foliage requirements are similar enough for them to happily co-exist.
A list of animals that this animal will eat (given half a chance!)
The type of food that the Zookeeper leaves for this animal.
Whether or not this dinosaur gives birth to eggs (if "no" then it has live births!) A scientist is required to care for eggs.
Time To Hatch (days) (Dino Digs only)
This is the figure for how long a well-tended egg will take to hatch into a young Dino. If there is no scientist to take care of the eggs they will spoil and effectively die. Also some dinosaurs will eat the eggs of other dinos if they're allowed to!
This is the minimum Depth (the maximum is always 28) for Marine Mania animal tanks and should be considered an absolute value. In most cases this is around 4 or 5 (the default depth when a tank is first constructed) but if the animal is a show animal the minimum depth required to join a 'normal' tank to a show tank is 3 depth levels (otherwise the tank portal will not appear). The Beluga is a very odd exception to the rule as it only requires a depth of 2 (confirmed in testing) but Deep Sea animals like the Pacific Octopus and Giant Squid go to the other extreme of over 10 deep!
Skip Trick Happiness (Marine Mania show animals only)
This is the level of happiness below which the animal has a SkipTrickChance (below) of not performing one of the scheduled show tricks. If you find that some of your shows are receiving bad reviews by guests then it is worth checking the happiness state of the animal while it is performing - it may be that you need to lengthen the time between shows, to reduce the number of scheduled tricks, or to address some problem in the 'normal' exhibit tank.
Skip Trick Chance (Marine Mania show animals only)
This is the probability that if the animal's happiness is below the Skip Trick Happiness level then it may not perform one of the scheduled tricks.
Sailinity Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in happiness resulting from changes to the salinity (saltiness) of a tank
Salinity Health Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in health resulting from changes to the salinity of the tank
Poo Water Impact (Marine Mania only)
The reduction in happiness resulting from poo being in the water
Murky Water Threshold (Marine Mania only)
The level at which water is considered murky by the animal
Murky Water Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in happiness resulting from the water becoming murky (this could be due to a broken or missing Tank Filter or even by too many animals in the same tank - if symptoms persist you may wish to build an overspill exhibit or sell some of the animals)
Murky Water Health Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in health resulting from the water being murky. If a murky tank is not cleaned then it may well progress to becoming Very Murky (below)
Very Murky Water Threshold (Marine Mania only)
The level at which water is considered very murky by the animal
Very Murky Water Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in happiness resulting from the water becoming very murky (this could be due to a broken or missing Tank Filter or even by too many animals in the same tank - if symptoms persist you may wish to build an overspill exhibit or sell some of the animals)
Very Murky Water Health Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in health resulting from the water being very murky. If a very murky tank is not cleaned then it may well progress to becoming Extremely Murky (below)
Extremely Murky Water Threshold (Marine Mania only)
The level at which water is considered extremely murky by the animal
Extremely Murky Water Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in happiness resulting from the water becoming extremely murky (this could be due to a broken or missing Tank Filter or even by too many animals in the same tank - if symptoms persist you may wish to build an overspill exhibit or sell some of the animals)
Extremely Murky Water Health Change (Marine Mania only)
The change in health resulting from the water being extremely murky. If an extremely murky tank is not cleaned then many of the animals could become seriously ill and will definitely become very unhappy! This is not good for you zoo!
NOTE - Murky water becomes 1 point murkier every 30 seconds and so can quickly reach the Murky and also Very Murky levels - ensure you have adequate Tank Filters and also Marine Specialists to keep the tanks clean!