Native Plants and Enrichment Food and Dung!

[DrStephenMeyer]

I got some link to show some zoo doing this and hope it can come into the game as part of the research of having better food for your zoo animals. I posted a thread about your zoo growing plants to attract wildlife to the zoo and since this is an actually thing done in real zoo i hope it can be part of the game to help educated players on conservation and to also give life to the zoo. If players love their zoo animals they would love the wildlife too! As I saw the Hippo enclosure is totally life less in the game there should be lots of fishes swimming around. I hope this will also spread to other areas in the game too! I want to see a living pond in the zoo or a tree filled with birds where they will nest and have their young there!

Go behind the scenes with Nile hippos Button and Genny at Adventure Aquarium on the Camden, NJ Waterfront. Adventure Aquarium is the only aquarium in the WORLD to feature hippos!

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yAR4gij1M4


Dung of animals
The dung of animal could have a real purpose and that is that it can be used as compose.

How some urban zoos are turning brown into green, in more ways than one.

According to Zoological Society Communications Director Patricia Mills Janeway, the $850,000 facility will result in an annual cost savings of $80,000.*
Detroit isn't the only urban zoo that's taking advantage of its biological waste in dollar-smart—and environmentally-friendly—ways. Many zoos use their animal manure to nourish their own garden displays

https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2014/09/lets-talk-about-zoo-poop/380947/

NATIVE PLANTS
Sequoia Park Zoo is committed to supporting local biodiversity, and this begins with our plant choices. Native plants have evolved with local fauna for millennia, forming complex interdependent relationships that are the foundation of the world’s food web and biodiversity.
http://www.sequoiaparkzoo.net/news-announcements/sequoia_park_zoo_goes_native/

Nearly all of the animals at the Zoo benefit from the enrichment garden. Located in front of the Orthwein Animal Nutrition Center, you will find several medicinal herb gardens. The gardens contain mint, basil, lemongrass, rosemary, fennel and marjoram. These herbs are used for enrichment, which helps keep the animals active and engaged in their habitats. For example, keepers may put herbs in papier-mâché packages that animals can rip up. Keepers also may rub herbs over logs and other parts of a habitat for animals to later find, sniff and enjoy.

https://www.stlzoo.org/about/blog/2018/09/05/gardens-zoo

Hyrodponics

If a small zoo can go through 800 carrots a day, you know that fresh feed for all the animals at a zoo carries a hefty price tag. Even if they do procure all the vegetables and greens at wholesale, imagine how much the monthly grocery bill can be. Hydroponics is proving a solution to reducing the cost of zoo animal feed, and at the same time it’s increasing the nutrient value of their diet.

https://gardenculturemagazine.com/techno-gardens/hydroponics/hydroponics-improve-zoo-nutrition/

Enrichment Garden

Enrichment is a really important part of the work our teams do to make sure the animals remain healthy – both physically and mentally. Growing in our Enrichment Garden you’ll find herbs, flowers, leaves and fruit which will be given to a variety of wildlife, like primates, parrots and tortoises. The main aim is to encourage natural feeding and foraging behaviours,

https://www.chesterzoo.org/our-zoo/plants-and-gardens/enrichment-garden/

Enrichment Meat

Simulating a wild feeding increases the dogs’ mental and physical activity, provides nutritional benefits, and encourages natural sharing behavior unique to this species. Carcass feeding also provides guests with an opportunity to see some of the Zoo’s most active animals displaying their natural behaviors.

http://cincinnatizoo.org/news-tag/enrichment/

 

[WingardiumLevicoaster]

I love the idea of using the dung in the gardens

 

[VetGirl330]

I always disliked how in most zoo games you can plant giant redwoods in one exhibit and tropical palms in the next. With the institution of weather in planet zoo, we will presumably have different climates and map locations. Not all plants will survive in all climates. I would love to see that if you plant the wrong plant in the wrong climate (e.g. tropical palm in temperate climate) it will die, and you will lose your investment in the plant and guests will complain. Some plants may be able to survive outside there natural zones if irrigation or other accommodations are made. We have had hints that we will have greenhouses in the game. I am unsure how these will be coded, but it would cool if we could set the climate inside. For example zoos throughout the world have plenty of tropical greenhouses, but also "desert domes" or "polariums" that would accommodate different flora and fauna. From a management standpoint I would like to see different upkeep costs (calculated per sq. ft. of enclosed space) based on the temperature and humidity we set, in comparison to the outside temperature. E.g. it is going to be more expensive to maintain a polarium in Brazil than New York.
I have also noted that in the screenshots we have seen the exhibits all appear lush, including the elephant and hippo exhibits. In real life these exhibits tend to be quite barren because of how hard these heavy, herbivorous animals are on vegetation. Elephant exhibits especially are usually bare dirt with artificial trees. I would love to see some artificial flora in the game; artificial trees in particular are important enrichment items. I would also like to see wear of the grass on frequent animal trails. Animals should also be able to graze plants to death (this was a feature back to the days of zoo tycoon), or large animals like elephants kill trees by knocking them over, or bears and lions gouging tree bark. Large feature trees, e.g. baobab, should have prices and upkeep costs that reflect the investment zoos put into maintaining these specimens. Generally live trees like this are only found outside of exhibits to help set the atmosphere. They are too costly to place in animal exhibits where they will soon be destroyed.
Planet Zoo could also give us items like tree trunk protectors, elevated, planters, and hot wires to help protect flora in animal exhibits. And then we need to hire gardeners to help care for all the plants!
And don't forget not to put toxic plants anywhere near animal exhibits. Oleander and yew are common landscaping plants that are highly toxic to many animals.