If you love both animals and management simulation games, you need to try Planet Zoo.
Frontier Developments created Planet Zoo as a spiritual successor to the beloved Zoo Tycoon franchise.
And this time around, it’s focused on wildlife conservation and providing a decent habitat for both common and endangered species.
Keeping animals happy while still bringing in guests and making them spend money at gift shops has proven too complex for some gamers. Still, I know those of you who want a challenge will love it nonetheless.
And one of the best ways to make Planet Zoo even better is through modding.
If you’re not sure about where to start your modding experience, let me give you a tour showcasing some of the best out there.
Creator Wyzermods brings us a high-quality addition to our zoo in the form of the Spectacled Caiman.
Named after the small spectacle-like “ridge” between its eyes, the spectacled caiman is a common sight in rivers all across Latin America, though it has been spotted further up-north as well.
Also known as the white or common caiman, this slimy-looking reptile is as dangerous as you’d expect – but you don’t have to worry too much about that in Planet Zoo.
Then why do they get disgruntled if I fill up their living space with so much flora that they can’t even move?
Stupid questions aside, I was pretty surprised at how low the tolerance for vegetation was for some animals. It puts a damper on our landscaping possibilities – unless, of course, we get this mod by PureWinter.
Also called the Arabian Camel, this single-humped camelid used to be found all around the Sahara Desert, but after 4000 years of changes, only domesticated varieties continue to exist.
They’re the tallest camel species, probably because they can put all of their energy into growing that single hump on their back.
It’s a common misconception that they use these humps to store water. Instead it’s fat storage, just like your uncle’s majestic beer belly.
A zoo can’t be complete without a dromedary camel. So definitely snag this mod by NicholasLionRider.
It includes everything a base game species would have, including a Zoopedia entry and some fun facts.
Lions are some of the most majestic creatures we’ve ever found in the natural world.
They’ve made their way deep into our culture. I think we want to be fierce and independent like them – which, ironically, makes them super-popular at zoos worldwide.
Creator Havok1199 honors these great felines with hugely improved textures.
Your West-African lions will now look much less cartoony. They have a better facial structure, a magnificent mane, and lots of minute details previously missing from the model.
Usually, you’d only find lions so regal in Senegal or Nigeria – but thanks to this mod, you can have them in Planet Zoo.
I challenge you to find an adult animal that’s cuter than an otter!
The North American river otter may not be the cutest otter variety – after all, sea otters hold hands while they sleep – but they’re still delightful.
This semiaquatic mammal is super-gregarious, and you’ll go “aww” if you watch them long enough.
The best way to do this is to get them into your zoo, so you don’t have to explore the rivers of North America looking for one of these furry critters.
And this mod by NicholasLionRider will take care of it for you.
The cougar is one of the unsung champions of the feline family.
Native to the Americas, these large cats can be found almost all across the region, from the Canadian Yukon to the Andes’ southernmost limits.
It’s their incredible adaptability that has carried them this far.
Their adaptability will surely help cougars survive in our zoo. Creator GloomyBooty offers us a fantastic take on this ambush predator with which to amaze our guests.
Cougars are also known as panthers, pumas, and mountain lions too.
Reptiles are majestic creatures that look like they belong in the Late Cretaceous period.
They’ve surely been around for way longer than we have, and we should treat them with respect.
This Tropical Reptile House brings stylish reptile-watching installations where both your guests and the animals will have everything they need to thrive.
There’s even a bridge crossing over a pond you can fill with crocodiles for maximum impact. Sounds fun to me.
I especially like the honeycomb-shaped glass ceiling.
It has nothing to do with reptiles, but it’s still very modern and appealing.
No self-respecting zoo-owner is satisfied without a large-scale monument to marine life, and this Aquatic Centre by creator Zekin is one of the best available for Planet Zoo.
It features a very modern and angular design that’s reminiscent of low-poly art. This unique look is inspired by the Bremerhaven Zoo in Germany.
Inside, you’ll find plenty of habitats for penguins, seals, otters, and any other water-loving critter you want to keep around in your zoo.
There are also gift shops, food and drink stalls, and everything else you need to keep your guests happy and spending.
Tigers are among the most awe-inspiring animals in the animal kingdom, and zoo-comers love them.
Despite being big and robust, these animals skulk around silently like they were walking on a mattress.
Once you see them, it’s already too late.
Well this mod by PureWinter will add tons of variety to your large felines by adding colors reminiscent of the world’s rarest tigers, including the Maltese Blue, the extinct Java Tiger, the Stripeless White, and more.
With this, you’ll give the Tiger King a run for his money.
If you want your guests to remember the moment they arrived at your zoo for the rest of their lives, this massive bear-shaped entrance is the way to go.
And I’d argue this mod by MissCritHit is pretty self-explanatory.
It’s a colossal rock formation in the form of a bear that’ll make your guests feel as if they were entering the home of a forest bear deity.
Go even further back in time and you’ll find the Quagga – yet another animal hunted to extinction by our colonizing ancestors, this time in 1883.
Quaggas are a subspecies of zebra that looks like a cross between the striped beasts and a regular horse.
This unique look caught European settlers’ attention upon arriving in Africa, and you can picture what happened later.
It’s horrible that our species caused the disappearance of so many unique lifeforms, and it’s a loss we’ll never recover from – but I’m thankful for games like Planet Zoo (and mod creators like PureWinter) that let me marvel at echoes of these majestic creatures.
The Maned Wolf may look like a fox, but actually it’s neither a fox nor a wolf.
This majestic beast is the only member of the Chrysocon genus – meaning “Golden Dog”.
It’s a large canine from South America inhabits grasslands and low-altitude mountainous regions.
Interestingly, the Maned Wolf is omnivorous and will happily eat fruits if it can’t hunt any small animals. They’re vital to the spread of wolf apple seeds.
And this mod by NicholasLionRider adds them to your zoo. It’s truly pretty appealing, and it includes everything from research to a Zoopedia entry and even some fun facts.
If you ever wanted to visit Elsa’s snowy castle in Frozen, you’ll find the Penguin Ice Cathedral to be the perfect addition to your big-budget zoo.
Creator Kaltrosebd made a colossal ice-sculpted three-story structure with enough space for about 400 penguins at max happiness and up to 500 if you cut corners.
The Cathedral comes with massive guest and employee facilities, including food, drinks, ATMs, and restrooms.
There’s also a vet, a workshop, accommodations for the zookeepers, and more.
Few things are as exciting for a breeder as getting an animal with an appealing aesthetic mutation.
This was just as true when Linda Koehl discovered the LaPerm breed of curly-haired cats as it is when we find and albino or melanistic critter in one of our habitats.
In real life, the chances of this happening are remarkably slim – but with ChallengeOfTheDark’s More Albino and Melanistic Animals mod, it can be pretty common in Planet Zoo.
Once installed, one out of every four animals will have one of these remarkable traits.
One of the most creative builds for Planet Zoo is Syrrael’s Nautilus Education Center, here to teach your zoo-comers about evolution and the animals that preceded us.
As its name suggests, this structure was built in the shape of a Nautilus Shell.
Guests enter from where the animal’s head would be located and follow an inward spiral as the scenery around them changes to match each of the nine exhibits – from the first snails to the relatively recent birds.
There’s a nifty board located behind the Education Center, where you’ll find settings to customize your building with whatever colors you want.
Circles of Africa by Ratwomancola is a complete large-scale zoo with a total of 21 unique circular habitats along with restrooms, food & drinks, and everything your guests need.
The architecture is grand and includes pyramids, ziggurats, and even what looks like the Colosseum – all surrounded by plenty of xerophytic flora.
The warm orange and brown colors give it a steampunk appearance when looked at from the air. But on the ground, it feels like walking through an ancient African city lost to the sands of time.
After creating the stand-alone Vegetation Tolerance mod, creator PureWinter decided there were just too many things they wanted to fix.
This Animal Overhaul mod contains all the minor fixes and improvements the prolific mod author has made since the game was launched.
These include increasing albino odds in creative mode, making animals not care that there’s too much vegetation, and rebalancing feeding costs – among other things.
Along with the addition of feeding stations and even petting zoo areas, this will help you build supermassive zoos like you couldn’t before.
If Jeff Bezos decided to invest in a zoo, this would be it.
The Atlantis Zoo by Syrrael is basically Zootopia, but with an updated ancient Greek aesthetic imitating the mythical city of Atlantis.
Along with the central city, there are the Temple Districts, the Harbor, the Farming District, the Quarry, the Shipyard, and the Cemetery – housing a total of 32 habitats and 22 exhibits for a truly massive zoo.
Everything is perfectly illuminated and well-supplied, and guests will find no shortage of commodities – including ATMs, restaurants, gift shops, and so on.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
