Hayo Zookeepers!
It's nearly summer, the sun is shining, and what better way to celebrate than with some Planet Zoo news? Join us below as we take a look at what you can expect in the free 1.10 Update of Planet Zoo, available from 21 June. If you missed it yesterday, be sure to also check out the announcement of the Planet Zoo: Conservation Pack which will be coming to you on the same day! ✨
Education Stations
Educators had an upgrade in Update 1.9 when we added in the ability to explore your zoo and educate on the go with the Roaming Educator functions! However, there are more ways to learn than only from Educators, right?
Now your zoo guests can have a more immersive experience than ever before with new Education Stations!
These are new path facilities that, when placed, will provide an item for child guests to interact with and then gaining a minor education and happiness boost. These will have a set education topic and will not be able to be customised, but will come in 3 different types:
- Height Measuring Station - compare your height against the Giraffe and Gorilla in your zoo! Are you taller?
- Soundboard Station - press a button and hear a sound from one of the animals in your zoo! Did you know they make that sound?
- Pawprint Station - compare your hands to the paws of the animal! How big is yours in comparison?
Child guests interacting with your Education Stations will also boost your zoo's Conservation Rating, but be careful! They can be vandalised, which will require repair from a Mechanic or direct replacement from yourselves.
Group Photos
Child guests aren't the only ones gaining a new behaviour! Currently, guest groups take photos of animals, but now your guests will join each other for even more fun by taking Group Photos! 📸
When this occurs, one member of the group will take the role of photographer with 1-5 others grouping together as the subjects. From here they will line up and happily pose together to capture a snapshot and remember the amazing time they had in your zoo!
To prompt a group photo to be taken, guests must be viewing a habitat and have an overall happiness rating of above 50%.
Animal Sniffing Behaviour
So, your guests have gained some new behaviours... but what about your animals? 🤔
Watch your animals engage with their surroundings even more than before with the new Sniffing Behaviour!
While some animals already have a sniff animation, this new feature adds sniffing as an active behaviour for the majority of animals in your zoos, but not all. See below for a list of which will be excluded! When placing items in your habitat, the game will generate a set of "sniff points" that your animals can then interact with - after all, they'll want to find the most interesting places to smell! These "sniff points" will exist per enclosure and, when a habitat is destroyed, they will be removed as well - and new ones will be regenerated if you rebuild or use the undo button! - so make sure you're okay with this adjustment before doing any removals.
Animals that will not have the new Sniffing Behaviour:
- Aardvark
- Aldabra Giant Tortoise
- Chinese Pangolin
- Galapagos Giant Tortoise
- Gharial
- Greater Flamingo
- Hippopotamus
- Indian Peafowl
- Indian Rhinoceros
- Nile Monitor
- Saltwater Crocodile
- Pygmy Hippo
- Komodo Dragon
- Koala
- Grey Seal
- King Penguin
- Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
- African Penguin
- Southern White Rhino
- American Alligator
- California Sea Lion
- Platypus
- Red Crowned Crane
- Spectacled Caiman
Animal Chorus Behaviour
That's not all! Now some of your animals can try their hands - or rather, their voice! - at musical stardom, with the new Animal Chorus Behaviour 🎵
Some animals, including the new Siamangs coming in the Conservation Pack, are known to perform group "calling" as a social activity. This new behaviour comes to Planet Zoo as the Arctic and Timber Wolves, alongside the new Siamang, will be able to perform Chorus Calls with each other - even while wading or climbing! There will be a range of calls available which the Chorus Leader (the animal who starts the Chorus) will randomly select one from, and will continue until all animals in the Chorus have joined in. After this, they will either randomly select a new call to continue the Chorus or will end the Behaviour.
New Climbing Enrichment
What better way for your animals to show their excitement this summer than with a new climbing frame to enjoy in the sun?
This new climbing frame enrichment can be used by your animals that can make use of thin climbing pieces. However, that's not all! For our new Siamangs, these become a playground of high-flying fun thanks to their new brachiation behaviour! Brachiation means you'll see the Siamangs swinging around your frames, in ways you've not seen before.
Small Habitat Gates
You'll now have even more control over the look of your habitats with our new Small Habitat Gates!
These gates provide a shorter alternative gate for habitat entrances, allowing a sleeker look for low-walled enclosures. A small variation of all current habitat gate styles will be included.
Additional Shop Counters & Signs
Shop Counters and Small Signs were added in Update 1.8, providing a counter-only version of some of your favourite shops so that you could really go wild with your store customisation. As of Update 1.10, we'll be adding these variations for all of the missing shops! This will include:
- Cosmic Cow Ice-cream
- Gulpee Soda
- Pipshot Juice
- Pipshot Water
- Mexelente
- Missy Good
- Monsieur Frites
- Pizza Pen
- Hats Fantastic
- Just A Momento
- Loony Balloons
- Information Center
As always, Update 1.10 will also come with various fixes alongside all of this new content, which will be included in the Update Notes upon release on 21 June.
All of these new features should come together to really make your zoo a lively and thriving place to be! What are you most excited about?
Join us on our social media in the run-up to launch as we take a look at the animals and some of the scenery coming to you later this month in the Planet Zoo: Conservation Pack.
You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, be sure to tune in to our Planet Zoo community streams every Tuesday at 17:00 BST on Twitch, Youtube, and Steam!