Planet Zoo Species Challenge 2023

Leaf Productions

Leaf Productions

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Hello everyone, I am hoping to start a fun challenge for this year, in line with my history of Planet Zoo, I think it would be fun to see who is able to see the most amount of animals from the game officially as possible.

For the sake of all, I am including a template below to help you all stay organized:
Planet Zoo Species Challenge

This is all for fun. No reward or anything, just a fun way to document what species within a predefined list that you have seen. The list can be found below.

African Savannah Elephant
Grizzly Bear
West African Lion
Plains Zebra
Hippopotamus
Timber Wolf
Ring Tailed Lemur
Galapagos Giant Tortoise
Reticulated Giraffe
Western Chimpanzee
Pygmy Hippo
Komodo Dragon
Thomson's Gazelle
African Wild Dog
Cheetah
Saltwater Crocodile
Springbok
Black Wildebeest
Lesser Antillean Iguana
Indian Peafowl
Boa Constrictor
Bengal Tiger
Brazilian Wandering Spider
Spotted Hyena
Bactrian Camel
Green Iguana
Bornean Orangutan
Common Ostrich
Common Warthog
Lehmann's Poison Frog
Snow Leopard
Aldabra Giant Tortoise
Goliath Birdeater
Titan Beetle
Yellow Anaconda
Indian Rhinoceros
Okapi
Indian Elephant
Gharial
Pronghorn Antelope
Aardvark
Mandrill
Baird's Tapir
Himalayan Brown Bear
Goliath Frog
Giant Forest Scorpion
Gemsbok
African Buffalo
Red Panda
Western Lowland Gorilla
Sable Antelope
Formosan Black Bear
Nile Monitor
Golden Poison Frog
Bongo
Bonobo
Chinese Pangolin
Giant Tiger Land Snail
Siberian Tiger
Greater Flamingo
Giant Panda
Nyala
Brazilian Salmon Pink Tarantula
Eastern Brown Snake
Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion
Red Ruffed Lemur
Japanese Macaque
Amazonian Giant Centipede
Gila Monster
Puff Adder
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
Common Death Adder
American Bison
Goliath Beetle
Giant Burrowing Cockroach
Mexican Red Knee Tarantula
Polar Bear
Reindeer
Arctic Wolf
Dall Sheep
Llama
Jaguar
Giant Anteater
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
Colombian White-Faced Capuchin Monkey
Red Kangaroo
Dingo
Southern Cassowary
Eastern Blue Tongued Lizard
Koala
King Penguin
Giant Otter
Grey Seal
Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
Diamondback Terrapin
European Fallow Deer
Sun Bear
Clouded Leopard
Proboscis Monkey
Malayan Tapir
North Sulawesi Babirusa
Binturong
Dhole
Giant Malaysian Leaf Insect
African Penguin
Meerkat
Fennec Fox
Southern White Rhinoceros
Sacred Scarab Beetle
American Alligator
American Bullfrog
North American Beaver
Moose
California Sea Lion
Cougar
Arctic Fox
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur
Eurasian Lynx
Alpine Ibex
European Badger
Fire Salamander
Capybara
Platypus
Wild Water Buffalo
Nile Lechwe
Asian Small-Clawed Otter
Red-Crowned Crane
Spectacled Caiman
Danube Crested Newt
Przewalski's Horse
Amur Leopard
Siamang
Scimitar-Horned Oryx
Axolotl
Raccoon
Red Fox
Common Wombat
Striped Skunk
Egyptian Fruit Bat
Red Deer
Nine-Banded Armadillo
Maned Wolf
Emu
Caracal
Red-Necked Wallaby
Striped Hyena
Blue Wildebeest
Cloudless Sulphur
European Peacock
Menelaus Blue Morpho
Monarch
Old World Swallowtail

For the purposes of making the challenge actually doable (and fun), I have made exceptions for Himalayan Brown Bear (Any Brown Bear Sub), West African Lion (Any Lion), Tiger and more. I am happy to discuss this more as more people join.

Thank you all for being a fun community, here is a fun game, let's have fun :)
 
Does this follow the basic ZooChat challenge ruleset, or can we see the species in any way (ex. in the wild or at a pet store).
 
Leaf Productions said:
Hello everyone, I am hoping to start a fun challenge for this year, in line with my history of Planet Zoo, I think it would be fun to see who is able to see the most amount of animals from the game officially as possible.
Click to expand...

There appears to be rather a lot missing from this Challenge - i.e. any sort of rules or even simple guidelines.

I'm gathering that these species are to be seen in real life, and not just in the game?

If in real life, can they only be seen in zoos, or in both zoos and wild? Do pet shops count (or, indeed, someone's own pets)? Do they have to be alive?

And you realise that you are going to have to be collating all the results for the entire year and checking them for accuracy?
 
The only zoo I've been to thus far is Banham Zoo, but I've seen the following...

1. Ring-Tailed Lemur
2. Reticulated Giraffe
3. Cheetah
4. Bactrian Camel
5. Snow Leopard
6. Red Panda
7. Siberian Tiger
8. Llama
9. Red Kangaroo
10. Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
11. African Penguin
12. Meerkat
13. California Sea Lion
14. Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
15. Black & White Ruffed Lemur
16. Asian Small-Clawed Otter
17. Siamang
18. Axolotl
19. Maned Wolf
20. Emu

Sounds fun, although you'll have to consider the odds the animal list may grow if new packs come out.
 
What about species like the Proboscis Monkey, which you didn't give any exceptions for even though they are impossible to see in captivity in the United States?
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
What about species like the Proboscis Monkey, which you didn't give any exceptions for even though they are impossible to see in captivity in the United States?
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If Bronx was able to get Indian gharial back, I'm sure they can hash something out with the governments of Borneo and Malaysia to bring them back.

All poor attempts at a joke aside, Leaf did say that "equivalents" would be acceptable with stuff like the Himalayan brown bear (impossible to see in a zoo in the US, so something like a Eurasian brown bear or an ABC Island bear would be acceptable). I have no way of seeing a Chinese pangolin anytime soon unless I go to Prague, which is a highly unlikely for me. HOWEVER - I did see Indian pangolin when I went to the Alipore Zoo in January, so *a* pangolin species (white-bellied in the States) would be acceptable.
 
StoppableSan said:
If Bronx was able to get Indian gharial back, I'm sure they can hash something out with the governments of Borneo and Malaysia to bring them back.

All poor attempts at a joke aside, Leaf did say that "equivalents" would be acceptable with stuff like the Himalayan brown bear (impossible to see in a zoo in the US, so something like a Eurasian brown bear or an ABC Island bear would be acceptable). I have no way of seeing a Chinese pangolin anytime soon unless I go to Prague, which is a highly unlikely for me. HOWEVER - I did see Indian pangolin when I went to the Alipore Zoo in January, so *a* pangolin species (white-bellied in the States) would be acceptable.
Click to expand...
I guess this does fit in with the "no rules" which appears to apply in this Challenge. So any species can be substituted for any animal in the list.
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
What about species like the Proboscis Monkey, which you didn't give any exceptions for even though they are impossible to see in captivity in the United States?
Click to expand...
then you wouldn't see it lol, it's not really a swappable animal like the chinese pangolin
Chlidonias said:
I just looked at your "template to help you all stay organized", and you have a section on there for where the animal was seen which is titled "Zoological Facility or Wild"?
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whoops that's from the other challenges with my friends, i know zoochat tends to be pretty anal about zoo's only :P
birdsandbats said:
Yeah, you can't see Chinese Pangolin in the US so just sub in any Chinese animal. I did a Peregrine Falcon though, so close enough since they are both found in China.
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well in that case i would sub out chinese pangolin for any pangolin species lol
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
What about species like the Proboscis Monkey, which you didn't give any exceptions for even though they are impossible to see in captivity in the United States?
Click to expand...
Proboscis Monkeys are in the same tribe as the langurs, so perhaps seeing a langur would be an acceptable alternate for proboscis monkey?

A few others that are impossible to see in zoos would be lehman's dart frog and goliath frog. I'm not aware of either species being found in US Zoos (or zoos anywhere, for that matter). Another would be reticulated giraffes. Unless you're referring to generic hybridized giraffes, in which case they are easy to find, but purebred reticulated giraffes are not kept in US zoos. A few of the other herps/inverts may also be impossible, but I'm not as certain on those.
 
Two more questions:

Does Grizzly Bear count towards both the Grizzly Bear AND Himalayan Brown Bear requirements?

Also, do animal IDs have to be accurate down to the subspecies level? Or is species level ok? I am assuming the former, but the typical zoochat challenges use the latter.
 
Leaf Productions said:
then you wouldn't see it lol, it's not really a swappable animal like the chinese pangolin

whoops that's from the other challenges with my friends, i know zoochat tends to be pretty anal about zoo's only :p

well in that case i would sub out chinese pangolin for any pangolin species lol
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Personally I think you should stick with as few substitutions as possible, I wouldn't even do pangolins. It just ends up being a slippery slope I think, and this game wouldn't be super unbalanced towards any part of the world. No one will get to see every species and that's okay.
 
Substitutions should really only apply to subspecies level, I think, and even then when it's not completely clear what the animal you're looking at is. I mean, you see an African Lion, are you going to lose sleep over the fact it's not a West African Lion specifically? Especially as it's a subspecies that technically no longer exists?

It's not like no zoos have Proboscis Monkeys. An incentive to go to Singapore Zoo, perhaps?
 
I will join in but it will take me a while to do my list, I am on well over 50 at a quick run through.
As mentioned surely it would be easier to stick to species level only so any 1 subspecies of tiger, brown bear, Asiatic black bear etc
 
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My list so far:

Colchester ( 2 visits)

1 African Elephant
2 Lion
3 Plains Zebra
4 Grey Wolf
5 Ring-tailed lemur
6 Reticulated Giraffe
7 Chimpanzee
8 Spotted Hyaena
9 Green Iguana
10 Bornean Orangutan
11 Warthog
12 Aardvark
13 Mandrill
14 Red Panda
15 Siberian Tiger
16 Giant Anteater
17 Eastern Blue tongued lizard
18 Sun Bear
19 Binturong
20 Meerkat
21 Fennec fox
22 White Rhino
23 Black & White ruffed lemur
24 Amur Leopard
25 Red necked wallaby

Linton Jan 2nd

26 Snow Leopard
27 Red Kangaroo
28 Aldabra Giant Tortoise
29 Red ruffed lemur

Hamerton

30 Cheetah
31 Greater Flamingo
32 Gila monster
33 Dingo
34 Southern Cassowary
35 Asian small clawed otter
36 Red crowned Crane
37 Common Wombat

Whipsnade

38 Common Hippo
39 Pygmy Hippo
40 Bactrian Camel
41 Ostrich
42 Indian Rhino
43 Indian elephant
44 Gemsbok
45 Bongo
46 Eurasian Lynx
47 Reindeer
48 European fallow deer
49 Babirusa
50 African penguin
51 Prezwalskis Horse
52 Emu
53 Scimitar horned oryx

Drusilla's

54 Boa constrictor
55 Capybara
56 N American Beaver
57 Black tailed prairie dog

One missed from Colchester

58 Komodo Dragon

I think I've seen a couple of the spiders and some butterflies but didn't take much notice at the time!
 
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This is what I've seen so far:

Alipore Zoo
Bengal Tiger (!!!)
Saltwater Crocodile
Indian Rhinoceros
Jaguar
Indian Elephant
Plains Zebra
Common Ostrich
Chimpanzee (unsure if Western or Common)
Indian Pangolin (best equivalent for Chinese Pangolin I can get)
 
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