Problems with aquatic habitats and some possible solutions

[Villanelle]

Hi there!

Aquatic habitats are currently limited to a single land mass, or islands connected by a bridge for zookeepers to cross. This imposes a limitation on our creativity when building aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats.

Here are a few examples:

1. I wanted to build a zoo based around a large circuitous river with a boat tour going around it. I had a couple of habitats (pygmy hippos, caiman) where the land was on either side, and the boat tour could pass through the center of the habitat. This worked perfectly, except that I had to find a way for the zookeeper to get to the other side. My only option was to build a bridge going over the boat tour. The width of the river meant that this was quite a long bridge, and the height needed to go over the boat meant that it was impossible to conceal, and really ruined the wild look I was going for. Also the animals started using the bridge, which looked silly. I used construction pieces instead of paths, so that it could be as small and unobtrusive as possible, but I wished that my keeper had another way of accessing the other side of the habitat.

2. Island habitats for apes and monkeys. These were intended to be a few small islands, connected by climbing pieces for primates to swing/climb/brachiate across. Again though, bridges were needed for the keepers, ruining the idea and look that was desired.

3. Giant otter habitat with a riverbank at either end. I used the floating platform to connect them as a last resort. It worked, but wasn't the look I was going for and I felt my creativity was limited.

For greater flexibility and creativity with aquatic habitat builds, here are some possible solutions:

• optional secondary keeper entrances, or 'cleaning' gates
• keepers can clean any area of the habitat from a distance / suck up poo across water bodies (then one land mass could be used for feeding and the rest just need a clean up)
• null bridges
• keepers can traverse water inside habitats (animation of them wading for shallow water / getting in a little dinghy / wetsuit for deep water)

 

[NZFanatic]

Thinking about it, it's not even that realistic that keepers just walk into habitats. I understand the need for keepers to actually do something, but in a real zoo the animals tend to be locked away or kept at a distance when cleaning is done and food is placed. Obviously such a realistic process wouldn't work in the game, due to the speed of the passage of time, but it's for that reason I'm not opposed to the idea that keepers can do it all from the habitat gate. They could walk in, inspect, then head away to the keeper hut. Prepare the feed, gather supplies, head back. Stand at the gate, perform an animation, feeders are refilled, poop is cleaned.

In the same way that we have to imagine there's a hidden egg stage for baby birds and reptiles, we would also simply have to imagine that the animals have been locked away and separated and the keeper team has gone in and done its job.

 

[RightWhale]

Thinking about it, it's not even that realistic that keepers just walk into habitats. I understand the need for keepers to actually do something, but in a real zoo the animals tend to be locked away or kept at a distance when cleaning is done and food is placed. Obviously such a realistic process wouldn't work in the game, due to the speed of the passage of time, but it's for that reason I'm not opposed to the idea that keepers can do it all from the habitat gate. They could walk in, inspect, then head away to the keeper hut. Prepare the feed, gather supplies, head back. Stand at the gate, perform an animation, feeders are refilled, poop is cleaned.

In the same way that we have to imagine there's a hidden egg stage for baby birds and reptiles, we would also simply have to imagine that the animals have been locked away and separated and the keeper team has gone in and done its job.

I’m all for this idea, I’ll give an example:

I was trying to build an indoor rainforest for my gibbons, and it’s incredibly annoying that half of the enrichment items and all foodstuffs have to remain close to the ground for keepers to reach. So it really limited how I made my build, I didn’t want to keep using the same handful of enrichment items but I didn’t have a choice.

 

[BiologicalHorror]

Thinking about it, it's not even that realistic that keepers just walk into habitats. I understand the need for keepers to actually do something, but in a real zoo the animals tend to be locked away or kept at a distance when cleaning is done and food is placed. Obviously such a realistic process wouldn't work in the game, due to the speed of the passage of time, but it's for that reason I'm not opposed to the idea that keepers can do it all from the habitat gate. They could walk in, inspect, then head away to the keeper hut. Prepare the feed, gather supplies, head back. Stand at the gate, perform an animation, feeders are refilled, poop is cleaned.

In the same way that we have to imagine there's a hidden egg stage for baby birds and reptiles, we would also simply have to imagine that the animals have been locked away and separated and the keeper team has gone in and done its job.

This would solve many issues! We could finally build massive safaris without keepers getting tired or have split habits where we can actually have enrichment items on both sides and have it bee cleaned. It’d also solve the newer issue of not being able to keep only guests out of certain areas in animal encounter habitats. 100% support but I’d still like the keepers to walk around a little.

 

[Spiderhawk]

I still hate how you have to have land over the glass for guests to have a clear view underwater.

 

[Xrystal]

I still hate how you have to have land over the glass for guests to have a clear view underwater.

Yeah that has messed me up with an otter indoor underwater display. I usually don't bother with an underwater view, unless I have tons of money in the zoo to spend on terrain changes to set up the path and habitat glass.