Hotspots Project

[Veah]

I'm creating this thread to gather all my updates about the progress with this zoo and asking my fellow forum colleagues whenever I doubt about the next step in the zoo design. innovative suggestions and constructive criticism are appreciated , as always.

The rules are simple: the whole idea is based on the concept of biodiversity hotspots, 36 areas of very high diversity of plant and animal species which have suffered great loss of their natural habitats. I've divided all the hotspots in 5 geographical areas , and each hotspot will have 1 habitat enclosure (no more, no less). Enclosures can include mixed species, and for hotspots with no real representative in the game () I will use the most similar alternative. If there is some good 1-2 exhibit species, I will include them somehow. I'll put an education board about the most characteristic threat for the hotspot (if the default PZ image for the conservation topic doesn't suit the hotspot, I'll make a custom one). Visitor facilities, animal shelters and other buildings will be designed with a strong inspiration in local architecture and other features typical from the hotspot, I'll try to make it my most themed zoo ever (which maybe isn't that much but still).

The Entrance

Quick tour around the entrance area and near facilities before going with each enclosure. For these first steps I used some of Frontiers blueprints and also some workshop help, with a small bus parking with an underground station (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2834387876). As I was going to use all the themed stuff in the proper zoo, I wanted the entrance to be as neutral as possible, so everything is built with lots of New World pieces and some other basic zoo styles.

There is a big shop right before the only exit, so the guests are forced to go through it (or at least that would be IRL, I don't think that can be made in PZ and they will use entrance and exit indifferently). I built part of its interior with some more useful workshop items (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895720668). Next to the shop there is a small rest area with vending machines and a small statue ensemble in an outdated style. In both sides of this area we can also find big staff facilities, specially those basic ones like quarantine

After that, guest reach a kind of a hallway with meander-like paths and various education boards about conservation topics (in fact, every single one). After that, we find the Visitor Center, which includes a restaurant with an open terrace upstairs, and a education area mainly for children, which I've called Discovery Outpost (notice that you can see our real scientists working in the research building through the windows). There is also a big map of the world with the hotspots, of course.

Finally, crossing the Visitor Center, there is a coffee truck and the central lake where the paths for every geographical area of the zoo start around. Tomorrow we will start with the African area, and we will see the first animals!

 

[Veah]

Here we can see a general view of the round central lake, with the central path being the access to the African area. The entrance buildings are blueprints from the North African style, mildly customized by me, and with North African plants, because I thought it was a nice and typical African style but difficult to use in future habitats, as there are few hotspots in Northern Africa.

Madagascar

Starting with the lemur island, they will be obviously the inhabitants of the enclosure as we don't have any other options (it could be argued that the Aldabra tortoise also belongs here, though). Literally the lemur island, as I made an island with a kinda detailed shape of Madagascar, although it can't be seen that much since I placed the trees. Speaking of that, I also tried to recreate the difference between the wet north and eastern coasts and the drier west and southern coasts (the path being its separation), with every plant species being native to Madagascar AFAIK, and some mangrove trees where there are mangrove forests IRL. I've named "Antananarivo" the big climbing frame (with toys and shelter) in the center of the island. Notice I sometimes use a 3-colour scheme (red, green, and white) taken from the country flag.

The island isn't small at all so it has room for about 10 individuals from the 3 lemur species. Each end of the walkthrough path has a bamboo-and-rope bridge and a small house, which work as a double gate (the wooden one for walkthrough habitats, and the plastic one for walkthrough exhibits) walk to prevent breakouts. Sadly, the traversable area map indicated some escape points for the lemurs in the smaller house, even though they could't reach them, and they kept running there all the time (without escaping, because they really couldn't), so I had to cheat a bit and disable breakouts from the sandbox menu ( ). These buildings are square and made of bamboo walls and lots of wooden beams, which is a very traditional Malagasy style. We have no conservation board that fits about Madagascar, so I made a custom one about deforestation. A third more basic and modern building, but also somewhat inspired by Malagasy architecture, include a keeper hut and some staff resting area.

Next time, we will reach mainland Africa, starting with the 3 South African hotspots. I've already planned the broad architecture styles of each enclosure, but I could use a little of brainstorming about topics from the South African coastal areas (not the Kalahari or the inland grasslands, as those are not hotspots): the Karoo plant biodiversity, the vineyards in the Cape, Table Mountain...

 

[Veah]

Hallo! I thought that maybe a map of the hotspots would be useful for everyone following this thread. With some edits and a bit of Planco language, it's the same map I used in the main hall of the Visitor Center.

Cape Floristic Region

Our first stop in mainland Africa is its southernmost point, the Cape region. I decided going for a small mixed enclosure for aardvarks and meerkats, limited with a concrete and glass fence that I think it kinda represents the modern city of Cape Town. There is some rockwork resembling Table Mountain and providing a flat surface so that guests can see the meerkats at eye level. The visitor area is partly covered with blue metal pieces in refurbished shipping container style, as another tribute to the importance of Cape Town harbour.

Being its own floristic kingdom, I tried to use the weirdest local plants (proteas, quiver trees...), but they alone didn't quite achieved the fynbos feel (bushy, flowering) I was looking for, so I had to put some non-African bushes with flowers. Then I also added some vineyards growing in the background walls, to hide some of the concrete and to represent the South African wines.

A second shipping container becomes the first exhibit of the zoo, and shelters a couple of puff adders. This area also has an education board about land sharing, and offers an inside view of the main shelter area of the habitat.

However, given that meerkats and aardvarks are burrowers, they may not be content enough with just a tall and wide shelter, so they also have their narrower burrows (both in big and small sizes). Guests can see them with the cameras, just behind the sitting area.

P.S.: Just while I was writing this post it came that update announcement which will probably overshadow every other forum thread, what a bad timing!

 

[Veah]

Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany

Next stop in South Africa is this hotspot which includes very different landscapes, from valleys with dense rainforests to plains with thickets and grasslands. My main tribute to those rainforests were some tree ferns, but I mainly went for a more typical shrubby savanna because this is the place where the southern white rhino was saved from extinction in the early 20th century, after being reduced to 20-50 animals (so even worse than the Sumatran rhino nowadays). Sharing the enclosure with this pair of rhinos we find 3 warthogs and 3 nyalas, another typical species from the area.

All the tree ferns, the rest of the plants are typical from the bushveld and other South African shrublands: dragon trees, river bushwillows, fever trees... The edge of the visitors fence is furnished with lots of aloe vera. There are 2 shelters, which I've built inspired by the rondavel concept, the traditional rounded huts found all over Southern Africa. Obviously, I took the chance to use the Africa rhino statue, although it's so big it was a bit more difficult than expected... In a real zoo that bronze horn would probably be a safety hazard for guests.

While looking for more vernacultar architecture of South Africa to build this area, I discovered the incredible house painting of the Ndebele people, and I couldn't help designing a visitor facility to decorate it that way, even though I knew it was going to be a lot of painstaking work. Luckly, I went to the workshop just in case, and I found a wonderful Ndebele building which I could use with some edits (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2863034939), thank you very much! Look at how detailed it is, crazy!

This was my first big enclosure in this zoo and I find it a bit emptier than the previous two, at least the building part saved the overall look, I think... Although I guess most savannah habitats for big mammals look the same, as there aren't many landscape features that you can use in them

 

[Veah]

Succulent Karoo

This region is bordering another hotspot, just at the north of the Cape Floristic Region. The Succulent Karoo continues up to southern Namibia, following the coastal desert of Namib without reaching its most arid dunes seas. Gemsboks and springboks are probably its most iconic inhabitants, so I designed this enclosure for a small group of both species, along with a couple of ostriches. So, the basic concept of this habitat is similar to the previous one, a typical savannah with mixed ungulates.

The need for broad spaces for the big mammals and their herbivore diet wouldn't have made realistic having the ground full of bushes, as a recreation of the Succulent Karoo would require. "Luckily" the plant roster of the game lacks succulent plants and other species typical of the South African deserts, so that was never an option. Apart from the very iconic quiver tree, I had to be content with some Acacia caffra, candelabra trees and some non-South African grassland bushes. The two rocky formations have some more delicate flowers, as another way to represent the Karoo.

My inspiration for the animal shelter and other buildings in this area was the ghost town of Kolmanskop (check it out), a former mining settlement, famous for its abandoned buildings that are being slowly filled with desert sand (sadly, it wouldn't have been convenient filling the stable with sand dunes). So I used a lot of Australian theme pieces, with their rusty metal roofs, with some decals in the walls to give them a dilapidated look. I also used the German colonial architecture as an excuse to use a bit of European theme (specially the rustic stone), as I am not going to have many more chances to use it in other hotspots.

Finally, finishing this fourth habitat means we are already halfway () through the African area of the zoo. I have more or less planned what comes next, but there is a hotspot where I haven't yet decided which animal include: the Horn of Africa. The perfect animal for them would be a Grevy's zebra or a Somalian wild donkey, but we don't have them, so it's the best chance for using a big carnivore (the rest of African hotspots I have planned have either very small carnivores like the meerkat or herbivores in mixed enclosures). The most representative carnivore of the region is probably the stripped hyena, but as the only big African carnivore maybe the cheetah or the spotted hyena are more iconic from the overall continent . Other iconic options like African wild dog or the lion aren't as realistic as they have been extirpated from this region. I'd be grateful if you tell me your carnivore choice for the Horn of Africa.

 

[Veah]

Coastal forests of Eastern Africa

Wow, this one took longer than I expected. But I had a lot of fun mixing our African, Indian, Arabian and European pieces into a consistent style. The central part of the Eastern African coast is also known as Swahili coast, so that's the culture I draw the inspiration from. And more specifically from Zanzibar and its Stone Town, with those wood-carven doors and balconies.

As you can see right from the entrance, the habitat species I chose for the hotspot is the Nile monitor (although I had to use the Asian water monitor for the billboard...) and the Egyptian fruit bat is the first walkthrough exhibit animal in this zoo. The main feature of the mini-area is that big 2-storied building with the Indian wooden balcony, the European windows and metal columns, the North African porch... The humble annex at the front has some ATM while the stone tower at the back hides the stairway to the second floor.

The outdoor path allows to see a view of the lower part of the enclosure, where there is a cave shelter for the monitors. Guests are shielded from the sun by those basegame African sunshades, and can improve their education with the monitor board and a conservation board about habitat fragmentation (custom design). There is also a small gate to some backstage areas for staff that will be very useful when the zoo starts functioning at 100%.

The main part of the monitor enclosure is higher and can't be seen from that path. The animals can walk up using a natural rock stair to reach their other shelter or the swimming pond. The vegetation is pretty lush, all of it being plants native to the East African coast, with papyrus and both species of mangroves being used a lot as iconic marsh plants from Eatern Africa. I also put a lot of nest fern in the understory, and a lot of antler fern in the rocks and tree branches as they are native to the region. I'm also very happy because I finally found a realistic use for the Typhonodorum semiaquatic plant, which can be found in Zanzibar, and I normally don't use in PZ because it's too big and it doesn't really look neither a typical understory bush nor a underwater plant.

Entering the building, the first room is the proper walthrough exhibit. I don't know how good this idea would be in real life (they are probably predator and prey, sometimes), but one wall of the exhibit is an underwater view of the monitor pond (hopefully they will be added diving and this feature will be a bit more useful). For the decoration I tried to avoid the overused cave look and be inspired on the real forest habitat of the bats. But then there isn't really much light in here, so the only true plants are some more ferns and then some vines and the fake tree rocks from the Aquatic pack. I think it turned out fine. In the picture you can also see two typical Swahili wood-carven doors, which I made with Indian, Arctic and Indonesian pieces.

And then, using the stairs, you reach the big balcony. It's the best spot to watch the monitors, from above them, maybe sitting in a fancy table, with one of the drinks sold in the two stalls behind. This part of the building is mostly based on the famous House of Wonders from Stone Town.

I have more or less planned what comes next, but there is a hotspot where I haven't yet decided which animal include: the Horn of Africa. The perfect animal for them would be a Grevy's zebra or a Somalian wild donkey, but we don't have them, so it's the best chance for using a big carnivore (the rest of African hotspots I have planned have either very small carnivores like the meerkat or herbivores in mixed enclosures). The most representative carnivore of the region is probably the stripped hyena, but as the only big African carnivore maybe the cheetah or the spotted hyena are more iconic from the overall continent . Other iconic options like African wild dog or the lion aren't as realistic as they have been extirpated from this region. I'd be grateful if you tell me your carnivore choice for the Horn of Africa.

Finishing with good news for the former myself, the Arid Animal DLC has solved all my doubts about which animals should I use in the last African enclosures. I'm really happy! Everything is working at the end! Now I just need a chameleon for the exhibits I made in the Madagascar area... But for the moment, for our next enclosures I'll keep in wet tropical areas...

 

[The Carcharodontogenius]

Hallo! I thought that maybe a map of the hotspots would be useful for everyone following this thread. With some edits and a bit of Planco language, it's the same map I used in the main hall of the Visitor Center.
View attachment 349305

Cape Floristic Region

Our first stop in mainland Africa is its southernmost point, the Cape region. I decided going for a small mixed enclosure for aardvarks and meerkats, limited with a concrete and glass fence that I think it kinda represents the modern city of Cape Town. There is some rockwork resembling Table Mountain and providing a flat surface so that guests can see the meerkats at eye level. The visitor area is partly covered with blue metal pieces in refurbished shipping container style, as another tribute to the importance of Cape Town harbour.
View attachment 349309

Being its own floristic kingdom, I tried to use the weirdest local plants (proteas, quiver trees...), but they alone didn't quite achieved the fynbos feel (bushy, flowering) I was looking for, so I had to put some non-African bushes with flowers. Then I also added some vineyards growing in the background walls, to hide some of the concrete and to represent the South African wines.
View attachment 349310

A second shipping container becomes the first exhibit of the zoo, and shelters a couple of puff adders. This area also has an education board about land sharing, and offers an inside view of the main shelter area of the habitat.
View attachment 349311

However, given that meerkats and aardvarks are burrowers, they may not be content enough with just a tall and wide shelter, so they also have their narrower burrows (both in big and small sizes). Guests can see them with the cameras, just behind the sitting area.

View attachment 349312View attachment 349315


P.S.: Just while I was writing this post it came that update announcement which will probably overshadow every other forum thread, what a bad timing!

What is Planco language?

 

[Veah]

What is Planco language?

The language that Frontier made up for Planet Coaster, therefore the name "Planco," they even made an online dictionary for that game (and it's my main source for my custom PZ signage).
In Planet Zoo the easiest way you can find Planco words is in the education boards (whether the species boards or the conservation panels).

 

[The Carcharodontogenius]

The language that Frontier made up for Planet Coaster, therefore the name "Planco," they even made an online dictionary for that game (and it's my main source for my custom PZ signage).
In Planet Zoo the easiest way you can find Planco words is in the education boards (whether the species boards or the conservation panels).

OK, thanks.

 

[Veah]

Guinean Forests of West Africa

Today's hotspot take us to the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, a region of rainforests (or two regions, split by the Dahomey savannah gap) which shares a lot of species with the more famous Congo jungles. This is a very populated area, so deforestation for agriculture is a big threat, but also bushmeat hunting and mining (remember blood diamonds). Talking about Planet Zoo, I had two options for this enclosure: either Western chimps, or a mixed herbivore habitat. Given how destructive are chimpanzees I though the second option allowed me to recreate the local vegetation more realistically, although I had enough African mixed herbivore habitats and still not a single ape in the zoo. Also, I think that mixed 3 species habitats are usually funnier than just one species. The chosen herbivores to represent the Guinean forests are: red river hog, bongo, and pigmy hippo.

The overall layout of this Guinean mini-area can be see in the above picture. A long corridor (veranda?), partly roofed, with some underwater view so that guests properly enjoy the hippos (deepest water at the left, shallow at the right). Then a bigger square building with a courtyard, with an invertebrate exhibit and a closer view of the habitat, where the animals should come close as it works as a small roofed refuge and there is also a food tray. The main shelter though is that big building at the opposite side of the habitat, with the most privacy for the animals. Zookeepers enter the enclosure through a door at the left side, connected to a very simple staff building made of concrete bricks.

I know, it looks like I'm lazy and/or I was uninspired and I threw some pieces from the basegame African style and called it a day. But the thing is that it's very similar to the traditional architectures of this region! I underestimated Frontier's designers, I'm sorry, I had always seen that particular style as the most steretypical of the game, like "generic African".

After a bit of research I managed to get inspiration from some local styles (Yoruba, Igbo) and mix into these two buildings some of their characteristics: verandas, courtyards, tall thatched roofs... Some walls are just painted but others are decorated with mud reliefs. Also a couple of masks (they are not exactly like the West African ones but it's the closest we can get, obviously) and statue holding a watermelon (slightly inspired by vodun altars).

In the picture below you can see the interior of the courtyard building, with the stairs coming down from the main path, the vodun-inspired "altar", the conservation board, the windows to the main habitat (one-side glasses for more privacy), and the colour scheme in every flexicolour element (red-green-yellow, the Pan-African colours so common in the flags of West African countries). But specially the exhibit box, whose big size I tried to disguise covering it with different kinds of wood. Now its giant tiger land snails can only be seen through those smaller two windows with wooden frames.

I'm happy about how it turned out the vegetation mix, it looks as lush as it can be a big herbivore habitat, and I managed to use only native species: strangler fig, tamarind and oil palm as the big trees; and then custard apple, banana palm and bamboo for the understory. The water area has papyrus and water lilies. The rocks are greatly improved by the staghorn fern and specially the not-so-new basket fern, I don't know how we could build without them before the Tropical DLC.

As you can see, since my last update I learned how to hide the UI to take better screenshots. Sadly, it's also obvious that I'm very bad at taking screenshots, I think when I see pictures from other people's zoos not only those look better but also they show more clearly what they are supposed to show, which is something I think I fail every time.

 

[Veah]

Horn of Africa

This project is far from being dead! Unlike some endemisms of this region, that are very threatened due to overgrazing and uncontrolled hunting.
The enclosures for African hotspots are about to end so I had to make some difficult choices with the animal selection because it felt weird wrapping up an African section of a zoo without getting a giraffe, a zebra, an ape, or a big cat. Both this enclosure and the next (and last) one had emblematic candidates for any of those categories. Finally, I chose the Reticulated giraffe and the Somali wild ass because they allowed me checking two items in one mixed habitat, and I felt an ape wasn't sooo needed after the Madagascar island (sorry, hamadryas baboon!).

The mini-area path starts with a small guest facility based on the typical Somalian architecture of modest bright white buildings. Indoors, however, it is lavishly decorated with blue tiles.
As always, for the plants I tried to use strictly species from this geographical area: dragon blood trees (from Socotra), date and doum palms, frankincense trees, aloe vera...

Some informative panels in one side of the path, including a big logo of the zoo just to remind myself the zoo had one. The track basically surrounds the rocky formations I put between the wider main path of the African section and the actual enclosure, so that guests coudn't see the animals from there and felt forced to come inside the mini-area.

I used another big rocky formation inside the enclosure with a double purpose: giving some visual discontinuity to the back of the enclosure so it felt less straight and square, and planting some lush vegetation that it would be unrealistic if it was down in the ground where the donkeys could reach it so easily. I mean, it's the tricky thing with every big herbivores habitat, they either look like empty sandy rectangles or they look unrealistically decorated.

For the giraffe shelter I needed a very tall building and the Somali architecture had one perfect inspiration. A square fortress, made of whitewashed dry stone, which was interesting to build with lots of decals hiding the limit between the two PZ sets for dry stone and plaster. At the end of the wide indoor room there are smaller spaces where the giraffes can't fit that give the donkeys some privacy.

Overall, pretty happy with how everything turned out, my favourite one from the three savannah mixed enclosures I've done so far in this zoo, and maybe the most realistic, with both a moat and an elevated path allowing visitors to see the giraffes at eye level.
Now, just one habitat left from the African section! I hope it is done more quickly, as I have already everything planned for it...

 

[Veah]

Afromontane

And finally, the last African hostpost, the (Eastern) Afromontane. A very diverse one, including from the Rwenzori cloud forests where the mountain gorillas live to the highest parts of the Sarawat mountains in Arabia, going through many of the Great Lakes and the Ethiopian Highlands. That's why I mixed a bit of this and that, to represent the big diversity of the mountains in the Eastern part of Africa and the Arabian peninsula.

The main habitat here is for a couple of African leopards, which work nice as an African mountain animal (and I needed African carnivore representation, it was my last chance). Due to the inspiration I took for the building, they could be considered Arabian leopards instead, but they also live in the hotspot so both subspecies would work. Personally I think the Arabian leopards would be more interesting and valuable as they are critically endangered in the wild and as uncommon in zoos as the African subspecies.

I downloaded the classical Lion King pride rock from the workshop and tweaked it quite a bit making it much smaller so it worked for a couple of leopards. But it still is a striking reminder that this is a mountain hotspot so it needed a lot of rockwork. The leopards also need plenty of climbing options and not all of them could be trunks and trees because most of the leopards from this area live in areas without much forest cover (Ethiopian highlands, arid Arabian hills...), so lots of rocks it is.

The walls of the enclosure are based on traditional Yemeni architecture, look for the old city of Sanaa (Yemeni capital) and see what I'm talking about. Combining the Indonesian brick set on a brownish colour with the plaster pieces from the North African set works like a charm. The white outlines and geometric patterns are a striking contrast with the muddy bricks, I love how it turned out.

The leopards can choose between two shelters: the more natural one in the pride rock and the one with Yemeni style in one side of the habitat. At the other side of the habitat there is the climbing frame and the zookeeper gate. Between these two parts of the enclosure there is a sizable lake to honor the Great Lakes of the Rift Valley. It also works as a barrier to see the animals without a glass in between. To be honest, I'm not sure if this would work IRL because leopards are notorious escape artists...

The second part of the area is inside the big building made with the sandstone set, which is probably my least used set in the game after that one made of ice cubes. I took inspiration from the famous Lalibela rock-hewn churches and it represents the also famous Ethiopian Highlands. Maybe it looks a bit bare but it is supposed to be made out of the very rock substrate, after all.

Inside of the church there is our exhibit animal, the Goliath beetle. I also placed a Frontier's conservation board about species reintroduction with a leopard on it because IRL there is a big project about reintroducing Arabian leopards in the wild, so the choice was a no-brainer. The rest of the indoor space works as a plant conservatory for highland plants, specially the giant lobelia, which we don't have in the game but it's pretty similar (although very unrelated) to the Andean puyas I used as a stand-in.

 

[Iben]

I know our building styles differ quite a bit, but I'm both enamored with and really inspired by this project! Keep it up, it's an incredible and unique take on a zoo!

 

[Veah]

I know our building styles differ quite a bit, but I'm both enamored with and really inspired by this project! Keep it up, it's an incredible and unique take on a zoo!

Thanks mate, really appreciated. I wouldn't say this zoo is my building style though, but definitely none of my building styles reaches your level Haha