The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a medium-sized Asian mammal. It is an adoptable animal in all Zoo Tycoon games except for Zoo Tycoon (Xbox).
Description[]
Perhaps one of the world's most iconic animals, the giant panda is a member of the bear family identified by its black and white coloration. Males can weigh up to 160kg (350lbs), with females being smaller. Although it is a member of the order Carnivora, the giant panda has adapted to eat mostly plants. Although a wild panda may eat grass, flowers, tubers, eggs or meat, 99% of its diet consists of bamboo leaves and stalks. It can eat up to 14kg (30lbs) of bamboo a day, holding it in its paws using a modified wrist-bone like a thumb and crunching through the thick stalks with its powerful jaws. However, the Giant Panda cannot get much nutrition from bamboo, so it must spend most of its day eating or resting.
The giant panda is native to the mountainous bamboo forests of China, with the greatest numbers found in Sichuan. Although primarily terrestrial, they are good climbers. Adults are typically solitary and come together only to mate. Females will usually give birth to twins, although she will typically only raise one and abandon the other. Habitat loss, combined with a low birth-rate, are the main threats to wild giant pandas and at one point it was estimated there were only 1,000 adults left in the wild. Captive breeding and conservation awareness have since resulted in numbers increasing, although the species is still considered "conservation-reliant".
Zoo Tycoon[]
The giant panda is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon and is available in the base game. It can only be adopted after being researched. It is the last animal obtainable by research. Furthermore, it is the focal animal of the base game's final scenario.
The giant panda is a Highland animal with a strong preference for coniferous forest floor and also likes a little snow, grey stone, grass and a small amount of fresh water in their exhibit. Its favorite foliage is Bamboo, though they also like the Himalayan Birch Tree and the Himalayan Pine Tree. They also like some elevation and a small amount of rocks.
It is very hard to get the giant panda to breed, its happiness has to be at least 99% in order for the giant panda to breed. When the giant panda's happiness is very high, they will occasionally grab their feet and roll over.
Interestingly, the giant panda gets more suitability from the Himalayan Birch Tree than Bamboo, which can quickly help 100% their habitat suitability.
Zoo Tycoon 2[]
The giant panda is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon 2 and is available in the base game. It is available to adopt once a zoo reaches a rating of 5-stars. Like all 5-Star animals, the giant panda is very expensive to adopt. The giant panda is again the focal animal of the base game's final campaign scenario.
The giant panda lives in the Temperate Forest biome and is a herbivore that only eats bamboo. Giant pandas can use a variety of enrichment items including several balls, the plastic barrel, car tire and squeaky toys, they can also use many shelter varieties such as the Shade Structure, caves, cubbing den and hollow tree stump. The giant panda has one of the lowest breeding chances in the game, only having a 25% chance of getting pregnant without the Conservation Breeding Center, which increases the chance to 37.5%.
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The giant panda is best known for its distinctive black and white markings. Giant pandas live in bamboo forests at high elevations and feed primarily on bamboo, which is not highly nutritious. The giant panda's so-called sixth front toe is not a digit or claw but an enlarged wrist bone that functions as a thumb in grasping food. Unlike other bears, they vocalize by bleating rather than roaring. |
Other Games[]
DS Games[]
The giant panda is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon DS and Zoo Tycoon 2 DS. In each game, it follows a similar role to its main series counterparts. In Zoo Tycoon 2 DS, it is listed as a "Star Animal".
Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile[]
The Giant Panda is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile. It is the last animal to be unlocked by the player in every version of the game. It is a Highland animal that likes snow, grass and water in its exhibit along with the Bamboo Tree and Small Rocks to decorate its exhibit. The Giant Panda is also the only animal in the game to use the Bamboo Shoots feed.
Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game[]
The giant panda is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game, where it is classed as a Level 2, Carnivore "Main" species native to the Montane Forest. It is unique in that only one player may adopt a giant panda during a game and as such it only possesses two meeples and a single animal card. In order to adopt a giant panda, the player must have a popularity rating of 15 and a predefined number of Carnivora species.
The giant panda was originally marketed as a Kickstarter exclusive animal, possibly replaced by the Asiatic Black Bear in future, retail versions of the game. This idea was ultimately scrapped after the campaign ended in favour of making a Kickstarter exclusive version of the animal's card instead. The panda's Meeples in future retail versions will also lack the deluxe paint shown on the Kickstarter version[1].
Gallery[]
Zoo Tycoon[]
Zoo Tycoon 2[]
Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile[]
Java
Nokia
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Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game[]
Trivia[]
- Both Zoo Tycoon and Zoo Tycoon 2 feature a scenario and campaign, respectively, with the goal of breeding a giant panda.
- Despite liking a small amount of snow in their exhibit, the giant panda doesn't like snowy rocks.
- The Giant Panda is the only animal in Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile to use the Highland biome.
- The giant panda is one of only two animals in Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game that require both a specific species number and popularity value in order to adopt, the other being the Asian Elephant.
- Players who supported Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game on Kickstarter receive an exclusive giant panda card with a different artwork to the standard game.
- Additionally, the giant panda is the only Main Species where the meeples are the same color, whereas all the others are darker-colored for the males and lighter for the females. This is because the giant panda can only be obtained by one player and are always adopted as a pair, making distinguishing between males and females unnecessary.
- While most species in the series in real life can be acquired for zoos without much issue, the giant panda is one of the few exceptions, as real life zoos are only allowed to rent pandas as a form of diplomacy from their native range. This is referenced in the series by that fact that the giant panda is typically one of the last and hardest animals to acquire.
- In Zoo Tycoon and its DS counterpart, the giant panda is always the last animal to be researched and takes significantly longer than any other animal to acquire.
- In Zoo Tycoon 2, the giant panda is a five-star animal and one of the last available in Campaign and Challenge mode; notably, it is the only five-star animal in the base game.
- The final scenario of both games, excluding expansions, has the player attempt to breed giant pandas. In these scenarios, titled Breeding Giant Pandas and The Mysterious Panda respectively, the player will only be able to adopt a giant panda if their zoo exhibits at least 15 other species for the former and has a 5-star rating for the latter, and even then they will only be permitted to adopt a pair. Both scenarios mention the fact that only zoos with exceptional reputation are viable to receive pandas.
- In Zoo Tycoon 2 DS, the giant panda is a "star animal" that must be unlocked by winning scenarios.
- In Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game, the giant panda can only be adopted when a player reaches a zoo popularity level of 15. In addition, only one player is able to acquire giant pandas at any point in the game.
References[]
Zoo Tycoon DS animals | |
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Standard Animals | African Buffalo ā¢ African Elephant ā¢ African Lion ā¢ African Warthog ā¢ American Bighorn Sheep ā¢ American Bison ā¢ Arctic Wolf ā¢ Bengal Tiger ā¢ Black Bear ā¢ Black Leopard ā¢ Black Rhinoceros ā¢ California Sea Lion ā¢ Cheetah ā¢ Chimpanzee ā¢ Clouded Leopard ā¢ Common Wildebeest ā¢ Dromedary Camel ā¢ Emperor Penguin ā¢ Gemsbok ā¢ Giant Anteater ā¢ Giant Panda ā¢ Giraffe ā¢ Gray Wolf ā¢ Greater Flamingo ā¢ Grizzly Bear ā¢ Hippopotamus ā¢ Ibex ā¢ Jaguar ā¢ Leopard ā¢ Lowland Gorilla ā¢ Mandrill ā¢ Markhor ā¢ Moose ā¢ Okapi ā¢ Olive Baboon ā¢ Ostrich ā¢ Plains Zebra ā¢ Polar Bear ā¢ Red Kangaroo ā¢ Saltwater Crocodile ā¢ Siberian Tiger ā¢ Snow Leopard ā¢ Spotted Hyena ā¢ Thomson's Gazelle ā¢ White Bengal Tiger |
Unlockable Content | Asian Elephant ā¢ Kouprey ā¢ Onager ā¢ Orangutan ā¢ Unicorn |
Zoo Tycoon 2 DS animals | |
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Standard Animals | African Elephant ā¢ Black Panther ā¢ Black Rhinoceros ā¢ California Sea Lion ā¢ Cheetah ā¢ Chimpanzee ā¢ Dolphin ā¢ Dromedary Camel ā¢ Galapagos Giant Tortoise ā¢ Giant Sable Antelope ā¢ Gray Wolf ā¢ Greater Flamingo ā¢ Grizzly Bear ā¢ Komodo Dragon ā¢ Lion ā¢ Masai Giraffe ā¢ Moose ā¢ Nile Crocodile ā¢ Ostrich ā¢ Orangutan ā¢ Polar Bear ā¢ Pygmy Hippopotamus ā¢ Red Kangaroo ā¢ Spanish Lynx ā¢ Wolverine ā¢ Zebra |
Star Animals | American Beaver ā¢ Emperor Penguin ā¢ Giant Panda ā¢ Koala ā¢ Mountain Gorilla ā¢ Sea Otter |
Amazing Animals | Saber-toothed Tiger ā¢ Triceratops ā¢ Unicorn ā¢ Yeti |
Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile animals | |
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Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile | African Elephant ā¢ Bengal Tiger ā¢ Black Rhinoceros ā¢ Cheetah ā¢ Chimpanzee ā¢ Giant Panda ā¢ Giraffe ā¢ Lion ā¢ Lowland Gorilla |
Marine Mania Mobile | Bottlenose Dolphin ā¢ Giant Pacific Octopus ā¢ Great White Shark ā¢ Green Sea Turtle ā¢ Manta Ray ā¢ Orca ā¢ Rockhopper Penguin |