Can elephants actually use the water pool enrichment from Australia pack?

FoxyDee

FoxyDee
So I have been watching my elephants ALOT, but I never seen them actually use this enrïchment item. There is also some inconsistency. In the tags there are both african and indian elephants, but in the suitable species description, there is only indian elephant. Anyone actually seen their elephants using this? I am not sure if it is not bugged.

I also think many more species could use this items please! I wanted a pool enrichment for so long, would be great if more species could have use of it. From top of my head, anteaters, jaguars, tigers, tapirs...and I am sure many more.
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jcp011c

jcp011c
That would really be great if they could open this up to more species. Especially the ones you mentioned. Hippos and Polar Bears as well and I would think all the canine species would enjoy.
 

podna86

P
Just my 2 cents but if an elephant or a hippo requires a certain percentage of their habitat to be water anyway, why would i want to add a dinky pool? I haven't purchased the Australia pack yet so I haven't tried it but my personal opinion is that I would prefer my animals to have more natural water to play in rather than something artificial. But that may have to do with animations and such.
 

FoxyDee

FoxyDee
podna86 said:
Just my 2 cents but if an elephant or a hippo requires a certain percentage of their habitat to be water anyway, why would i want to add a dinky pool? I haven't purchased the Australia pack yet so I haven't tried it but my personal opinion is that I would prefer my animals to have more natural water to play in rather than something artificial. But that may have to do with animations and such.
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Zoos often have more artificial pools rather than natural sources of water. It is easier to clean. For realism, it would be great to have a choice. + As you said, animals do not really interact with shallow water if they cannot swim in it. If there is an enrichment item, at least they could interact with it. Even seen an anteater, capybara or tiger just chill in a small pool of water in their exhibit? Either laying in it or sitting in it? It is impossible now in PZ, because animals just go to natural water just to swim or drink. It would be nice to have variety and more interaction with it.

But anyway, since the elephants are listed as being able to use this item, this can be another enrichment for them, so it is a problem if it is bugged.
 
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[VR] Deggial

[VR] Deggial
I didn’t purchase the Australia DLC (so far), hence I don’t know exactly, which behaviors are displayed with the item. But I definitely can relate to what @podna86 wrote: I generally prefer natural looking bodies of water.

I am wondering, though: isn’t it the pool itself (its position in the habitat and its dimensions), that triggers the related animations?
And if this is true, wouldn’t it be possible to create an “invisible pool” like (or combined with) a special effect, that, when placed properly*), invites animals to display exactly the same behaviors - just in natural shallow water?
I guess, splashing water effects could “simply” (yea, I know!) be used with such an item as they are with a “physical” represented enrichment item?

Personally, I would enjoy this.

*) which means: the body of water has to be big enough and must not exceed a certain depth in order to be a valid target.
 
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FoxyDee

FoxyDee
You can try to combine different objects sure. But it would be nice to get something that you simply place like an enrichment that you do not have to spend much time on. We already have it, so why not getting the best out of it? :) It is absolutely fine if you prefer natural water pools! But I personally tend to make my habitats at least semi realistic and zoos often have these artificial pools for their animals. Would love it see if more animals could use this item, especially since it is already in game, but only 1 type of animal apparently can use it :)
 
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Aramar

Aramar
Chante Goodman said:
Hey @FoxyDee, I passed this along to the team. These enrichment items are for juvenile Elephants only. We tested this and both Indian and African juvenile Elephants will happily use this item. Can you let us know if this isn't the case for you? Thank you! :)
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Hello Chante! Thanks for this info. Are there any other items that can be used only for juvenile animals? Is there any way to know that? I would have never guessed it.
 

FoxyDee

FoxyDee
Hi, so I am reporting the results here:
I have made a habitat that contained 1 african and 1 indian juvelnile elephants and watched them whole time. The water pool was the only toy enrichment available in the habitat, but as seen in the picture below, it was not used once in 12 months. I am unsure if I do something wrong or if the animation triggers rarely, would be great if someone else could test it.
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DrBurrito

DrBurrito
@Chante Goodman I'm guessing the adults are just too big for the item to be able to interact with it. How about them not going in it, but standing at the edge to spray water on themselves? I feel like this could be a good solution so that the adults can also use the pool enrichment.
 
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Chante Goodman

Community Manager
Frontier
Hello again! Sorry I didn't follow this up sooner, I had to take the last two days off. After speaking to the team, these pools are the only enrichment items that just the Elephant juveniles can use and not their adult counterparts. Other than that, there's just the small balls (only the Red Kangaroo juveniles, not the adults, can use those). Hope this helps! :D
 

Urufu1997

Urufu1997
DrBurrito said:
@Chante Goodman I'm guessing the adults are just too big for the item to be able to interact with it. How about them not going in it, but standing at the edge to spray water on themselves? I feel like this could be a good solution so that the adult can also use the pool enrichment.
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I would love this and it's exactly what I've expected when I've placed it in the Indoor Area of my Elephant-Enclosure
 

Danny_zoo

Danny_zoo
FoxyDee said:
Hi, so I am reporting the results here:
I have made a habitat that contained 1 african and 1 indian juvelnile elephants and watched them whole time. The water pool was the only toy enrichment available in the habitat, but as seen in the picture below, it was not used once in 12 months. I am unsure if I do something wrong or if the animation triggers rarely, would be great if someone else could test it.
View attachment 195328
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FoxyDee I think I have the answer to your second question and why they were not using it. It is not enrichment item I use, but I tested out since your post got me curious. I designed an exhibit exactly like yours, and they did not used it either. So I took away the natural pool, and they started using it then. Not sure if by now you figured it our or not, but in case you did not, just do not give them access to any other water. Only the two juvenile elephants used it, understandable since the pool is made out of wood, not a very good idea for elephants. It can be covered with plaster in a slick way that allows for every animation to take place smoothly and the pool looks a little more realistic.
 

FoxyDee

FoxyDee
Danny_zoo said:
FoxyDee I think I have the answer to your second question and why they were not using it. It is not enrichment item I use, but I tested out since your post got me curious. I designed an exhibit exactly like yours, and they did not used it either. So I took away the natural pool, and they started using it then. Not sure if by now you figured it our or not, but in case you did not, just do not give them access to any other water. Only the two juvenile elephants used it, understandable since the pool is made out of wood, not a very good idea for elephants. It can be covered with plaster in a slick way that allows for every animation to take place smoothly and the pool looks a little more realistic.
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Thank you for testing it Danny, appreciated, I though I was going crazy with it.

If that is the case I think the enrichment need some fixing then, because the adult elephants require water, so I have to have a natural source of water in the enclosure,but if it disables the juveniles to use this enrichment it really seems bugged.
 

Danny_zoo

Danny_zoo
FoxyDee said:
Thank you for testing it Danny, appreciated, I though I was going crazy with it.

If that is the case I think the enrichment need some fixing then, because the adult elephants require water, so I have to have a natural source of water in the enclosure,but if it disables the juveniles to use this enrichment it really seems bugged.
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I completely understand what you mean. I play on sandbox only, so I always forget that a lot of things are just not possible with animal welfare turned on. Hope they do look into it for you, I'm sure there are many other players that want to take advantage of this. Maybe they can create a larger pool that can accommodate the adults, and still engage them in looping animations. A standard concrete pool that the players could decorate if needed would be ideal, since it would allow for maximum flexibility.
 
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