Planet Zoo Weird mixed exhibits that work (and ones that don't but should)...

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While Planet Zoo does have a "mixed-species enrichment" option for certain species (including both some odd inclusions and glaring omissions), I'm curious more broadly about people's experiences with mixed-species exhibits in the game.

I've found at times there are mixed-species exhibits that in real life would pretty clearly not work, but in game work with little-to-no issues:
  • Indian Elephant and Greater Flamingo: To be completely honest, I tried this by accident, but as an end result I found that including the flamingos in a very large exhibit due to the elephants ended up reducing their stress levels from what I tend to experience in-game. In real-life, I'd be very surprised if this mix didn't have flamingo casualties.
  • Black Rhino and Ostrich: I figured I'd try a black rhino mix in game, since I know in real life they are notoriously poor mixers. So far I've only put ostriches in with them, to no problems. I wonder if anyone has had luck putting other species in with black rhinos?
  • Collared Peccary mixes: I find it very surprising that in the game collared peccaries can be mixed, with no issues (not even stress issues) with giant anteaters, capybaras, tapirs, and capuchins.
I've also found that some mixes work in real life, but not in game:
  • Aldabra Tortoise and Lemurs: This has been done in real-life, but in game I found there to be high stress levels from all species.
  • Cape Porcupine and Meerkat: I've seen this one in real life, but in game it caused high stress levels to the meerkats, and after moving the meerkats to their own exhibit the stress levels went back to normal.

What mixed-species exhibit experiences in Planet Zoo has anyone else had?
 
ZooNew2004 said:
Indian Elephant and Malayan Tapir: Honestly, I have no idea where frontier got this from as I can't find a single zoo that even attempted to mix the two, let alone successfully.
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I feel the same way about the fact there's interspecies enrichment for Japanese macaque with red-crowned crane! I know I certainly wouldn't trust macaques to play nicely with cranes!
 
ZooNew2004 said:
Indian Elephant and Malayan Tapir: Honestly, I have no idea where frontier got this from as I can't find a single zoo that even attempted to mix the two, let alone successfully.
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I mean, the closest there is to that being successful would be Denver's Asian elephant/Indian rhino/Malayan tapir rotation, though given how sunny the main pachyderm yards are, the tapirs are in a shady side yard while the elephants and rhinos rotate...
 
Neil chace said:
Black Rhino and Ostrich: I figured I'd try a black rhino mix in game, since I know in real life they are notoriously poor mixers. So far I've only put ostriches in with them, to no problems. I wonder if anyone has had luck putting other species in with black rhinos?
Click to expand...
Update of this mix: I've since added both blue wildebeest and Thompson's gazelles to this same mixed-species exhibit. Despite only being barely over the minimum size requirements for all individuals, I've still had a surprisingly stress-free exhibit. In the future, I'm definitely planning to add an additional antelope species or two (and possibly giraffes), but this would require an expansion. I'm waiting for the residents of three adjacent exhibits to pass away first.
 
Neil chace said:
Cape Porcupine and Meerkat: I've seen this one in real life, but in game it caused high stress levels to the meerkats, and after moving the meerkats to their own exhibit the stress levels went back to normal.
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Isn't this a mix that has had similar issues, of high stress levels from the meerkats, in real life? I seem to recall in one of the zoo shows (Chester, I think) they eventually had to create a secondary area the porcupines could not get to in order to get the meerkats to start breeding again.

My other question, and this is less relevant but just out of curiosity, are we talking the African Crested Porcupine from the Arid Pack or actually the Cape Porcupine mod from Leaf?

I use the compatibility chart in this Google Sheet to help me decide on mixed species exhibits, but now notice it has not been updated with more recent packs, as the Crested Porcupine is not apart of it.
 
NSU42 said:
My other question, and this is less relevant but just out of curiosity, are we talking the African Crested Porcupine from the Arid Pack or actually the Cape Porcupine mod from Leaf?
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I don't use mods- I'm talking about the African crested. Sorry for using the "wrong" name!
 
Honestly I don't even bother with welfare in sandbox. Although - while I do think about species mixes that would (logically) make sense, I can't help but wonder about proposed species mixes that would genuinely be fantastic if pulled off properly; such as sloth bears, axis deer and Indian peafowl as proposed in Woodland Park's 1976 Long Range Plan.
 
Lately, I've been playing around with essentially random mixes, just to observe what happens. Many of these mixes I've observed were ones I did not expect to work, but there were some surprises!

Successes so far include:
  • Galapagos giant tortoise and red-crowned crane: While I didn't see any reason this wouldn't work going in, they are two very different species from very different regions of the world, so I was pleasantly surprised that there weren't really any issues in this mix, over the span of multiple generations.
  • red-necked wallaby and Indian peafowl: There weren't any animal-related issues for a while with this one, however two quick-breeding species makes for a real nightmare from a population/animal management perspective. Disease later ensued when this exhibit became overstocked, but in principle no problems with this one.
  • Ostrich and greater flamingo: I suppose this one is less surprising, but it was amusing to see an ostrich swimming amongst a flock of flamingos.
  • Platypus and little blue penguin: This one really surprised me. It's hard enough to breed a platypus in real life, but in game I successfully bred platypus multiple times when sharing an exhibit with a colony of penguins! No stress for the platypus in this case, however this is one that obviously would not be advisable in real life.
  • Chinese pangolin and Northern brown kiwi: Those interested in rare, endangered small animals would be happy to know both species successfully bred in this mixed-species set-up.
One mix so far was a complete failure: pronghorn and Aldabra giant tortoise. Stress was a major issue for both species, but especially the pronghorn in this mix.
 
Neil chace said:
I don't use mods- I'm talking about the African crested. Sorry for using the "wrong" name!
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Not a problem! Was just curious. I haven't really used mods yet in Planet Zoo (mainly because I don't have enough time to play and am still working my way through the career modes, despite having the game since its original release), but always loved them when playing Zoo Tycoon 2. They added so much more life to the game for me as there were such a wide variety of animals, amongst other things, to choose from.
 
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Work well :
Capybara, Baird's Tapir and Nile Lechwe : 3 tropical aquatic species, despite the Lechwe comes from Africa.

Not working :
Nile Lechwe and Gemsbok : I see Lechwe (Red Lechwe) mixed with Gemsbok in Sigean, but in the game, Gemsbok needs many sand and Nile Lechwe doesn't need sand.
 
So I created a fifteen species mixed-species exhibit, that as I developed it became increasingly absurd, and in real life probably would've failed in about twenty different ways.

This mix initially started as a South American Pampas type exhibit with a large water feature:
Species 1: Baird's Tapir (1.1 plus offspring)
Species 2: Capybara (Large breeding group- at times topping 30 individuals)
Species 3: Collared Peccary (smaller breeding group- just over 10 individuals at its peak)
Species 4: Giant Anteater (1.1 plus offspring)

Eventually, given that there was an excess of space, I added a fifth South American species, and a stand-in for a sixth:

Species 5: Llama (2.2 initially, eventually up to 2.4)
Species 6: Emu (stand-in for rhea, 1.2 plus offspring)

At this point, things started to get increasingly absurd. Considering that there was a large water feature and few animals that utilized it frequently, I considered what I could add that would routinely use this large body of water. While not something I'd recommend in real-life given their saltwater nature, I remembered hearing about zoos which historically mixed pinnipeds with other species, so settled on this as my next choice:

Species 7: California Sea Lion (1.2 plus offspring)

At this point, for transparency's sake, I also added a short-lived species, the maned wolf, which ended up failing shortly after its addition since it kept escaping in a way no other species ever did.

After the maned wolf failure, the next few additions actually came from other exhibits in my zoo, either due to overpopulation and/or in order to free-up space:

Species 8: Indian Peafowl (17.0, as a result of another exhibit becoming overpopulated)
Species 9: Mute Swan (3.4, in order to free-up their exhibit for the addition of otters)
Species 10: North American Beaver (1.1, as a result of another exhibit becoming overpopulated)
Species 11: Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman (5.0, as a result of too many offspring in another exhibit, resulting in space issues)

Realizing there was another South American species possible, I acquired another new species:
Species 12: Galapagos Giant Tortoise (1.2)

The otters ended up escaping the former swan exhibit multiple times, so I added them to this exhibit as a possible solution:
Species 13: Asian Small-Clawed Otter (1.1)

Lastly, for no apparent reason, I decided to add a species I'm personally a big fan of to this exhibit, and it fit in well despite being a seemingly odd choice:
Species 14: Takin (1.2)

Due to the inclusion of emu, I figured why not add another Australian species:
Species 15: Red-Necked Wallaby (1.2)

When I added the otters, I also had a short-lived addition of a sloth bear to this exhibit, knowing bear mixes have been successful elsewhere, however it was removed after predating on a dwarf caiman and a peafowl, leaving this mix with fifteen species total- many of whom have bred successfully. While I 100% would NOT try this mix with real animals, and there is a certain seeming absurdity to what this mix turned into, it is none the less a weird choice of mixed-species exhibit in which all of the animals somehow have good welfare. I may experiment with more animals in the future, however for now this is it (alphabetical order):

- Asian small-clawed otter, Baird's tapir, California sea lion, capybara, collared peccary, Cuvier's dwarf caiman, emu, Galapagos giant tortoise, giant anteater, Indian peafowl, llama, mute swan, North American beaver, red-necked wallaby, takin
 
Neil chace said:
So I created a fifteen species mixed-species exhibit, that as I developed it became increasingly absurd, and in real life probably would've failed in about twenty different ways.

This mix initially started as a South American Pampas type exhibit with a large water feature:
Species 1: Baird's Tapir (1.1 plus offspring)
Species 2: Capybara (Large breeding group- at times topping 30 individuals)
Species 3: Collared Peccary (smaller breeding group- just over 10 individuals at its peak)
Species 4: Giant Anteater (1.1 plus offspring)

Eventually, given that there was an excess of space, I added a fifth South American species, and a stand-in for a sixth:

Species 5: Llama (2.2 initially, eventually up to 2.4)
Species 6: Emu (stand-in for rhea, 1.2 plus offspring)

At this point, things started to get increasingly absurd. Considering that there was a large water feature and few animals that utilized it frequently, I considered what I could add that would routinely use this large body of water. While not something I'd recommend in real-life given their saltwater nature, I remembered hearing about zoos which historically mixed pinnipeds with other species, so settled on this as my next choice:

Species 7: California Sea Lion (1.2 plus offspring)

At this point, for transparency's sake, I also added a short-lived species, the maned wolf, which ended up failing shortly after its addition since it kept escaping in a way no other species ever did.

After the maned wolf failure, the next few additions actually came from other exhibits in my zoo, either due to overpopulation and/or in order to free-up space:

Species 8: Indian Peafowl (17.0, as a result of another exhibit becoming overpopulated)
Species 9: Mute Swan (3.4, in order to free-up their exhibit for the addition of otters)
Species 10: North American Beaver (1.1, as a result of another exhibit becoming overpopulated)
Species 11: Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman (5.0, as a result of too many offspring in another exhibit, resulting in space issues)

Realizing there was another South American species possible, I acquired another new species:
Species 12: Galapagos Giant Tortoise (1.2)

The otters ended up escaping the former swan exhibit multiple times, so I added them to this exhibit as a possible solution:
Species 13: Asian Small-Clawed Otter (1.1)

Lastly, for no apparent reason, I decided to add a species I'm personally a big fan of to this exhibit, and it fit in well despite being a seemingly odd choice:
Species 14: Takin (1.2)

Due to the inclusion of emu, I figured why not add another Australian species:
Species 15: Red-Necked Wallaby (1.2)

When I added the otters, I also had a short-lived addition of a sloth bear to this exhibit, knowing bear mixes have been successful elsewhere, however it was removed after predating on a dwarf caiman and a peafowl, leaving this mix with fifteen species total- many of whom have bred successfully. While I 100% would NOT try this mix with real animals, and there is a certain seeming absurdity to what this mix turned into, it is none the less a weird choice of mixed-species exhibit in which all of the animals somehow have good welfare. I may experiment with more animals in the future, however for now this is it (alphabetical order):

- Asian small-clawed otter, Baird's tapir, California sea lion, capybara, collared peccary, Cuvier's dwarf caiman, emu, Galapagos giant tortoise, giant anteater, Indian peafowl, llama, mute swan, North American beaver, red-necked wallaby, takin
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Sounds like something South Lakes would have!
 
I don't know if this counts: the game says bactrian camels and Przewalski's horses gain an interspecies enrichment bonus from each other, but if you put them in the same habitat their terrain needs are completely incompatible. It just seems bizarre to me that they would even include that bonus in the game if you can't house them together without one species' terrain needs being forced to remain at 0%
 
You can mix any of the following with Western Chimpanzees without consequence
  • Aardvark
  • Aldabra giant tortoise
  • B&W ruffed lemur
  • Bongo
  • Bonobo
  • Common warthog
  • Coquerel's Sifaka
  • Greater flamingo
  • Mandrill
  • Nyala
  • Okapi
  • Red ruffed lemur
  • Ring tailed lemur
  • Western lowland gorilla
All of this per Villanelle's data chest compatibility tables. Beyond maybe the bonobo, I cannot imagine housing chimpanzees with anything else. A lot of the carnivores in the game are marked as no-compatibility at all (you cannot, for instance, combine grizzly bears with anything else) and I'm surprised that the great apes didn't get the same treatment.
 
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