Planet Zoo begins by easing you into the complex task of running a zoo quite slowly. No matter if you are playing on PC, or have Planet Zoo: Console Edition for Xbox Series S|X or PlayStation 5, there are three different zoos for you to manage that are considered tutorials. Each one introduces new concepts and completing them all gives you a good overview of zoo management. Then Nancy leaves.

In some ways, this is a blessing, as she can be quite annoying and sassy, but it also marks the beginning of you having to design and build a zoo pretty much from scratch. If you panicked when you set foot in Maple Leaf Wildlife Park and found only some staff buildings and nothing else, then don't worry. Here's how to build a zoo completely from scratch.

Setting Up Your Staff Facilities

For this guide we're using Maple Leaf Wildlife Park as our example, but the advice is the same for any zoo you need to build from scratch. The only difference here is that we begin this map with a Vet Surgery, Trade Centre, Small Staff Room, Quarantine, and Keeper Hut already in place.

If you don't have these staff buildings, then you'll need them since the heart of your zoo is the staff buildings. Here's what you'll need and the function of each one.

The shell cost is just for the building itself and while it will function, it will have a negative effect on visitors in a larger radius. The building cost included here is for the base game default pre-built option.

Every Staff Building

You can manage without a Workshop and Research Centre initially, but you will want to build a Research Centre early on to help maintain animal welfare. Even level one animal research makes a huge difference, as it unlocks vital enrichment items.

Mechanic Research is less important in the early game, although this varies depending on your aim. Extra shops will improve income, and stronger fences will help reduce the chances of animal escape.

Staff Building Placement

It's recommended to place the Animal Trade Centre, Vet Surgery, and Quarantine close together, as animals will often be transferred between the three.

Staff Rooms and Keeper Huts are best placed in pairs around the zoo. A keeper having easy access to both of these buildings from all habitats or exhibits they will be in charge of helps them work more efficiently.

In this scenario, adding the extra staff buildings just to the right of the existing ones helps keep things together and looks much neater. However, you don't have access to the wooden buildings, so if you want to replicate them you'll need to duplicate the existing ones then edit them to fit the extras.

Your Workshop and Research centre can go anywhere, but we recommend grouping them with the main buildings. It allows vets to get to Quarantine or Surgery faster, and also minimises the negative effects of the building.

Setting Up Your Guest Facilities

There are fewer required guest facilities, but they are equally vital at an early stage, if not more so. If guests aren't provided for, then they will leave. Guest facilities will keep them in the park, and keep them spending and donating to your zoo.

Here are the main categories of guest facilities and their functions.

Every Guest Building

You can also get vending machines and counters for all food and drink stalls, except Bernie's Bakes, which doesn't have a vending machine. All shops (including Bernie's Bakes) have a counter option.

Vending machines are a cheap way to add extra food and drink options in areas which need it, since they just require occasional refills from a mechanic, rather than a dedicated vendor. However, they don't satisfy guests as much as the stalls do.

Guest Facility Placement

You'll want to have at least one food and drink stall, as well as some toilets. Ideally, these should be fairly central to an area of the park with a group of habitats and exhibits, so they are easy to access. As the park expands, include a second set in the new area.

If you have areas slightly out of the way due to the park terrain, add a small set of toilets and a couple of vending machines to help keep guests' needs up.

Every habitat and exhibit should also have a donation box near it. You'll want to add these to any viewing points, or areas where guests congregate. They are cheap, and you will collect a lot of money from them. The happier guests are, the more they will donate. To make them happy you should:

• Increase animal welfare - Happier animals make happier guests.
• Prioritise high appeal animals when possible - The more appealing the animal the more generous the guest.
• Have good guest facilities in the area - Guests who have access to food, drink and toilets are much happier.

It's also good to spread ATMs around, so guests can increase the money in their pockets and donate more of it to your zoo!

Negating The Negative Impact Of Buildings On Guests

Staff facility buildings will have a negative impact on guests that pass by them. The image above shows two different sizes of staff building, both as a shell and with the default shell around them. As you can see, the size of the red area is increased for buildings without any decor.

To avoid negative impact on guests, the best way to negate this negative effect from your staff buildings is actually to add them in the same way the core facilities have been added to Mapleleaf Wildlife Park.

All staff buildings here are together but set aside far enough from the main path that the red markers won't reach it. Access to them is added using a staff path, which means guests won't walk along it.

Similarly, a great way to keep Keeper Huts and Staff Rooms away from guests is to have a staff path running between enclosures and then add the staff buildings at the back, with guest viewing access at the front.

Setting Up An Exhibit

Exhibits are cheaper, smaller, and easier to set up than habitats, and they still keep the guests happy. A good zoo will require a variety of animals, but having a handful of exhibits dotted around a smaller zoo will help hold guest's interest.

A singular exhibit costs $3,000 for the shell or $3,800 with the basic building. You can also purchase the Medium Exhibit building, which holds two exhibit animals, for $7,065 or the Large Exhibit building, which holds four, for $13,700.

Once you've purchased an exhibit, you'll need to head to the Exhibit Trading screen to purchase an exhibit animal to inhabit it.

Exhibit animals start at just $100 or so and the vast majority are under $1,000 each. Exhibits also only have a running cost for power and food. There are no extra costs for terrain, fauna etc.

These will be added automatically to suit the animal, and you'll just need to adjust the temperature and humidity.

An exhibit will start at around 40% suitability and this can be increased via research. Just remember to go into the layout tab of the exhibit to add newly researched items and increase this percentage.

Exhibit animals fill small gaps in the zoo and keep guests interested. Each exhibit will be visible from multiple sides, so you can minimise the crowding. More popular exhibits will need more viewing sites, so use smaller enclosures for these.

Setting Up A Habitat

Next, you'll need a habitat animal to keep guests interested in your zoo and fulfill the level criteria. When you are just starting out the costs of both the animal itself, and creating its exhibit will make a difference. Here are some things to look out for:

• How much space do they need? - A larger enclosure will cost more in fencing.
• How much foliage do they need? - The higher the percentage of foliage they need the more it will cost to meet it.
• How large does the social group of animals need to be? - More animals mean more cost.
• How often do they reproduce? - Offspring can be sold or released for cash or conservation credits so frequenty offspring can produce a source of income.
• How much appeal do they have? - Animals with a higher appeal will attract more guests and in turn more donations.

Balancing these things will help you keep your zoo in order as you add your habitat animals.

Hiring Staff

You'll need to hire some staff to keep things running. Here's what they all do:

All Staff

You will need one keeper per two habitats or four exhibits. For other staff, caretakers, security, guides, and mechanics should be slowly increased with the size of the park. Have at least one vet, ideally two, if you want to keep research steady. You should also have one extra vendor per three or so shops.

Staff Management

The best way to balance staff is to check the Staff List. Here you can assign work zones to staff and also see how tired they are, how happy they are, and how much work load they have. This is the easiest way to balance their needs and your park needs.

Adding All The Extras

You'll also need to make sure you add in all the extras to keep things flowing. These are:

• Utilities - Make sure you have clean water and power covering the park.
• Paths - Everything needs to be connected with a path. Staff paths will only allow staff to walk here, other paths will be used by guests.
• Benches - Make sure guests can sit. It's also good to add picnic benches near food stalls, but these need to be on a path.
• Trash Cans - The more you have, the less trash will be on the ground, ruining your zoo's appeal.

Good infrastructure is vital so think about where guests will walk.

A Checklist For Starting A Zoo

Here's what you need to do, in order, when starting a zoo.

• Add Staff Facilities - You can ignore workshop and research centre initially if you prefer. Make sure to connect them to each other and your main path with staff paths.
• Add Basic Guest Facilities - Toilets, a drink stall and a food stall are the most important so make sure to add these.
• An Exhibit - A dual exhibit is a good starter as one keep can manage this and a habitat.
• A Habitat - Make sure to balance costs and appeal.
• Donation Bin - Add these where guests congregate.
• Paths, Benches and Bins - You should add these to increase guest comfort.
• Hire Staff - A keeper, vet, caretaker, and mechanic are most vital. You can add security and guides later.

Once these basics are in place expand slowly as your funds allow.