Biomes are a recurring concept in the Zoo Tycoon series. They are an indication of an animal's natural habitat, as well as a guideline on how to properly house them at the zoo. Foliage and rocks are also usually assigned to a biome.
 Zoopedia entry
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| Biomes, also known as life zones, are defined by all plants, animals, and other organisms -- as well as the physical environment -- in a particular area. A biome is characterized by its plant life; the types of plant life are determined by a location's climatic conditions, latitude, and altitude. For example, northern boreal forests exist in subarctic portions of North America and Asia. Farther north, though, the conditions are too harsh and the season too brief to sustain a forest. Here, in place of trees, the short vegetation of the tundra thrives. The same phenomenon occurs in high-altitude mountainous regions, where trees give way to short alpine vegetation.
Major terrestrial biomes include alpine, tropical rainforest, boreal forest, temperate forest, tundra, desert, grassland, savannah, scrub, and wetlands. Although not necessarily associated with marine environments, the term biome is sometimes used by ecologists to describe such marine life zones as: the littoral zone, located in shallow water; the pelagic zone, located in the open ocean; and the benthic zone, located on the ocean floor. |
Zoo Tycoon[]
In the original Zoo Tycoon, there are 10 biomes:
Lion icon with savannah background.
Each biome is associated with a certain type of terrain, e.g. Savannah (biome) with Savannah grass (terrain). Terrain can be changed in the construction panel. Each type of terrain costs a certain fee per tile.
Every animal, and most foliage and rocks, belong to a certain biome, indicated by the background of their menu icon, or by checking the Animal Information panel. Semiaquatic animals will show half of a land biome, and half of an aquatic biome. As a general rule, animals will like items belonging to the same biome (and location) as themselves, and dislike items from other biomes.
The type of terrain tiles is a fundamental component for reaching high exhibit suitability for every land or semiaquatic animal, while marine animals will care about water salinity and tank depth. Animals will usually prefer their exhibit to consist of mostly (75-90%) the main type of terrain, with some additional tiles of different terrain. Most land animals will require some tiles of freshwater, for example.
Zoo Tycoon 2[]
In Zoo Tycoon 2, there are 10 biomes, half of which return from the first game, with 4 additional ones being introduced in Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania:
Zoo Tycoon 2 Biomes[]
Marine Mania Biomes[]
Temperate Forest biome brush window.
Biomes are "painted" on the ground using the biome brush tool. Each biome can be selected from a drop-down menu and consists of a "ground" texture (e.g. dirt, rock), a "ground cover" texture (e.g. grass, snow, sand), and water. The biome brush can paint the ground, the cover, a mix, and two versions of water; shallow and deep. These biome modifications have no monetary cost. In addition, some filters allow for automatically placing any combination of plants, trees, and rocks belonging to the selected biome.
Biome is one of the main tools for fulfilling the animal's environment need, the others being space, and tank depth for marine animals.
Like in the first game, every animal, foliage and rock belongs to a certain biome (known as "primary biome" for animals), visible in their selection window and Zoopedia entry.
The greater flamingo's primary biome is wetlands, but it can also be comfortable in tropical rainforest, with a compatibility value of 0.
Animals have a certain compatibility value for each biome, going from -10 to 10. They will be happy in a biome with a compatibility of 0 and higher, while lower compatibility will cause their biome need to go yellow or red, and be unhappy. Animals have a compatibility of 10 in their primary biome, except for extinct animals which only have a compatibility of 3 even in their preferred biome. Whether the exhibit consists of biome ground, ground cover or a mix, has no effect on compatibility.
Common zebra drinking biome water.
The biome water brush can be used to create shallow and deep water bodies, as well as waterfalls. Terrestrial animals will drink from biome water, lowering their thirst need, if no food dishes or troughs with water are available. Many animals will perform behaviors relating to water, such as swimming, wandering, resting and splashing. Though not apparent, semiaquatic animals might require water in their exhibit to fulfill certain needs (e.g. Nile crocodile needs to submerge in water to lower its privacy need). If an animal which can't swim ends up in deep water, the player will get a notification, and if not helped it might eventually drown and die.
When a new tank is created, the water in it will automatically be the same biome as the terrain where it was created. It can be changed by using the biome brush on top of the tank.
Extinct Animals introduced three enrichment items that help lower the biome need depending on the animal's primary biome; the Misty Spring (Grassland, Temperate Forest, Tropical Rainforest, Wetlands), Glacier (Alpine, Boreal Forest, Tundra) and Tar Pit (Desert, Savannah, Scrub). Using an item from a different group will have a negative effect on the animal's biome need. Marine animals are unaffected. The appropriate biome item is required to fully satisfy the biome need of extinct animals.
Zoo Tycoon (Xbox)[]
Zoo Tycoon (Xbox) has 6 exhibit biomes, along with 5 types of mini-exhibits. The Ultimate Animal Collection adds another 2 exhibit biomes and 3 mini-exhibits, bringing the total of each type to 8.
Base Game - Exhibit Biomes[]
Base Game - Mini-Exhibits[]
Ultimate Animal Collection - Exhibit Biomes[]
Ultimate Animal Collection - Mini-Exhibits[]
Zoo Tycoon 2 DS[]
All 10 of the original Zoo Tycoon 2 biomes return in Zoo Tycoon 2 DS. However, there is now only one terrain type per biome, plus both Aquatic biome types from the original Zoo Tycoon.
List of Biomes/Terrain types:
Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game[]
Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game features three main biomes:
Base Game Biomes[]
The New Shores expansion adds three more main biomes, as well as certain species with multiple compatible biomes (e.g. the Puma can be placed in a Montane Forest, Tundra, Rainforest, or Dry Forest exhibit).
New Shores Biomes[]
Trivia[]
- There exist 2 unused biomes in Zoo Tycoon, being boreal forest and scrub. However, it is unknown as to what animals or foliage would've used either of these biomes.
- Interestingly, both of these biomes would appear in full for the game's sequel.
- The only things that use the Many biome in Zoo Tycoon are the small, medium and large rocks, the Holiday Tree, as well as all three Undersea Ruins from the Atlantean Theme Pack.
- In Zoo Tycoon 2, there was a patch that created an additional "Zoo Decorations" biome to exist solely for flowerbeds to not appear in the zookeeper recommendations of a Grassland animal. In the game's files, it is referred to as a "dummy 'biome'".