Building The Basics

Add The Access

  • Raise or Lower Path (without placing) - U and J Adjust Vertical Height - Shift and Arrows/Mouse Adjust Path Length - = and - Adjust Path Width - [ and ] Path T Junction - X Create Y Junction - Hold Z while making a junction Toggle Curved Slopes On/Off - V Toggle Align To Placement Suggestions On/Off - B

Once your paths are in place make sure you add the keeper door and access paths in the same way.

Making The Habitat Suitable

The easiest way to ensure the habitat is suitable is to add the animal, click them to bring up their information tab then pause the game. You can navigate the tabs along the top of the info panel to find the correct terrain, plant, and space requirements.

The sliders for both plants and terrain will change while the game is paused, although it needs to be in live mode to assess the water, space, and climbable space requirements.

For the King Penguin, you need to change the terrain in two steps to ensure it’s all correct. You can see above that the first step was adding the water into the space we created earlier. Since it is more than four-meters deep you can see that the navigable space, swimmable space, and deep water requirements are all met.

The main requirement for the King Penguin that’s not as immediately obvious is the cold temperature requirement. You can find the temperature information in the Zoopedia entry for each animal.

You’ll need to place some coolers and set them to around -18, which is in the middle of the preferred temperature range you can see in the image above.

In terms of terrain, the penguin requires mostly sand, soil, and short grass. You can use any combination you like since the specific percentages of each are far more flexible than most animals.

Once these are in place and the coolers are set, add snow to the exhibit for a more authentic feel and to keep those penguins happy.

Finishing Touches

King Penguins don’t actually want or need plants and trees but they will tolerate a couple so it’s worth adding them to enhance the look of the exhibit. You’ll also need to make sure you add the essentials for food and water.

King Penguins don’t need an extra water source but there is an underwater feeder that provides feeding enrichment. You’ll notice that there’s also a small feeding tray on the ground in the image above. This was added in case zookeepers have issues routing to the underwater feeder on occasion.

Penguins also love other enrichment items including the new floating platform and rubber duck you can see above. You can also add bubble machines or sprinklers.

Once these are in place you just need to make sure your guests are happy as well. You can add education boards and speakers to the paths to enhance education and happiness and you can even use the new animal talks feature.

Benches and bins are always good to have and don’t forget the all-important donation buckets!

With all this in place, your penguins can now live happily in the zoo. Just make sure you have a keeper assigned to the habitat and ideally at least two males and two females in the exhibit since they love to live in groups.

If you want more help with your zoo planning make sure to check out our other Planet Zoo articles.