Zoo Tycoon is a business simulation game developed by Blue Fang Games and released by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001. A version for the Nintendo DS was released in 2005, called Zoo Tycoon DS. It was followed by two expansion packs, Dinosaur Digs and Marine Mania, which were released in 2002, as well as a sequel, Zoo Tycoon 2, released in 2004.

Gameplay

The goal of Zoo Tycoon is to create a thriving zoo by building exhibits to accommodate animals and keeping the guests and animals happy. Exhibit-building is one of the primary goals of Zoo Tycoon. To keep the guests and animals happy, exhibits should be suitable to the animal. For example, a lion is best suited to a savanna environment. Choices in rocks, terrain, foliage, shelters, fences, toys and the presence of zookeepers all contribute to the suitability of an exhibit and the happiness of the animal. Guest happiness is dependent on animal choice, animal happiness, buildings, and scenery. Buildings include attractions, bathrooms, restaurants and food stands, gift shops, animal houses, such as insect houses, primate houses, reptile houses, nocturnal houses and aviaries, plant houses, petting zoos, and entertainment buildings like movie theaters. Scenery involves aesthetics that raise guest happiness slightly, such as topiary art, light posts, and benches. Keeping both animal and guest happiness high allows the player to gain monetary awards and maintain a steady income. To help manage the expanding zoo, the player can employ maintenance workers, zookeepers and tour guides. If the animals escape from their enclosures, they can attack and possibly kill guests and employees. Each of the animals have a predefined set of other species they can attack. If both incompatible animal species are placed in the same exhibit, the attacker will immediately run towards and attack the victim, a cloud of dust will appear shortly, and the animal will get killed. This behavior is not limited to carnivores, as some large herbivores are also able to kill other animals. Baby animals, with an exception for some dinosaurs, will normally not attack other animals. Fences decay over time, so the player will have to replace them to prevent animals from escaping. If the player has poor zoo maintenance and receives too many complaints about unhappy animals, they must fix their habitats or they will not adopt any more of them.

There are three modes in Zoo Tycoon: Tutorial, Scenario, and Freeform. Tutorial teaches the player how to build exhibits and keep guests happy. Scenario mode tasks the player with completing a series of objectives under restrictions. These objectives may include achieving a certain guest and animal happiness, achieving a certain exhibit suitability, displaying a certain number of animals, or breeding a certain animal. Freeform allows the player to choose the amount of money and the map with which they start. They are presented with an open lot and a limited selection of animals, buildings, and scenery available for purchase. As the game progresses, more animals and items become playable. Additional animals and items may be researched, where money is invested to make them playable.

Animal roster Base game Common Name Scientific Name Notes African buffalo Syncerus caffer African elephant Loxodonta africana African lion Panthera leo African warthog Phacochoerus africanus American bighorn sheep Ovis canadensis American bison Bison bison Arctic wolf Canis lupus arctos Bengal tiger Panthera tigris tigris Black bear Ursus americanus Black leopard Panthera pardus Black leopards in real life are just melanistic. Black leopards are included as a separate species in the game due to technical limitations Black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis California sea lion Zalophus califorianus californianus (now recognized as Zalophus californianus) At the time of release, California sea lions were seen as the same species as Galapagos and Japanese sea lions, hence the distinction of the California sea lion being a subspecies in-game. Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes Clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa Common wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus Dromedary camel Camelus dromedarius Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri There is a glitch where the emperor penguin can kill any other species in the game. Gemsbok Oryx gazella Giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla Giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis Gray wolf Canis lupus Despite the Arctic wolf in the game being correctly assigned to C. l. arctos, the gray wolf was not assigned to any specific subspecies. Greater flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus Grizzly bear Ursus arctos horribilis Hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius Ibex Capra ibex Jaguar Panthera onca Leopard Panthera pardus Lowland gorilla Gorilla beringei graueri Mandrill Mandrillus sphinx Markhor Capra falconeri Moose Alces alces Okapi Okapia johnstoni Olive baboon Papio anubis Ostrich Struthio camelus Plains zebra Equus burchellii (now recognized as Equus quagga) Polar bear Ursus maritimus Red kangaroo Osphranter rufus Saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus Siberian tiger Panthera tigris altaica (now recognized as Panthera tigris tigris) Since the release of the game, tiger's have been reassigned as only two subspecies, with both Bengal and Siberian tigers being placed into the same group. Snow leopard Uncia uncia (now recognized as Panthera uncia) Spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta Thomson's gazelle Gazella thomsonii (now recognized as Eudorcas thomsonii) Triceratops Triceratops horridus Triceratops is unlockable by naming any exhibit 'Cretaceous Corral'. White Bengal tiger Panthera tigris tigris White tigers in real life are just Leucistic. White tigers are included as a separate species in the game due to technical limitations as mentioned above. Unicorn No scientific name Unicorns are unlockable by naming any exhibit "Xanadu".

Downloadable content Common name Scientific name Notes African wild dog Lycaon pictus Asian black bear Ursus thibetanus Asian elephant Elephas maximus Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra Bongo Tragelaphus eurycerus Gallimimus Gallimimus bullatus This DLC would exclusively work with the Dinosaur Digs expansion. Great barracuda Sphyraena barracuda This DLC would exclusively work with the Marine Mania expansion. Llama Lama glama Macrauchenia Macrauchenia patachonica This DLC would exclusively work with the Dinosaur Digs expansion. Giant ground sloth Megatherium americanum This DLC would exclusively work with the Dinosaur Digs expansion. Mexican gray wolf Canis lupus baileyi Also released as part of the Endangered Species Theme Pack. Mountain lion Puma concolor Plateosaurus Plateosaurus engelhardti This DLC would exclusively work with the Dinosaur Digs expansion. Reindeer Rangifer tarandus Sable antelope Hippotragus niger Yeti No scientific name Magnet Ursus maritimus Magnet was a real polar bear who lived in the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. He won best in show in Zoo Tycoon Best Zoo Animal contest in December 2001, and was then added to the game as a DLC animal.

Dinosaur Digs Animal House Installment Notes Allosaurus Allosaurus fragilis Ankylosaurus Ankylosaurus magniventris Apatosaurus Apatosaurus excelsus (now recognized as Brontosaurus excelsus) At the time of release, the genus Brontosaurus was considered invalid. The species has since been determined to be distinct from other Apatosaurus species and reassigned to Brontosaurus. Camptosaurus Camptosaurus dispar Caudipteryx Caudipteryx zoui Coelophysis Coelophysis bauri Deinosuchus Deinosuchus hatcheri Deinosuchus is unlockable by naming any exhibit 'Super Croc'. Giant tortoise Meiolania platyceps Herrerasaurus Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis Iguanodon Iguanodon bernissartensis Kentrosaurus Kentrosaurus aethiopicus Lambeosaurus Lambeosaurus lambei Plesiosaurus Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus Sabre-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis Spinosaurus Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Stegosaurus Stegosaurus armatus (now recognized as Stegosaurus stenops) Since the release of the game, S. armatus as a species has been invalidated as a dubious junior synonym of Stegosaurus stenops. S. stenops has replaced S. armatus as the type species. Styracosaurus Styracosaurus albertensis Triceratops Triceratops horridus Triceratops is acquirable normally in this expansion. Tyrannosaurus rex Tyrannosaurus rex Velociraptor Velociraptor mongoliensis Woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius Wooly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis

Marine Mania Common name Scientific name Notes Atlantic swordfish Xiphias gladius Beluga Delphinapterus leucas Bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus Bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus Giant Pacific octopus Enteroctopus dofleini Giant squid Architeuthis dux Great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran Great white shark Carcharodon carcharias Green moray eel Gymnothorax funebris Green sea turtle Chelonia mydas Harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae Lion's mane jellyfish Cyanea capillata Manta ray Manta birostris (now recognized as Mobula birostris) Mermaid No scientific name Narwhal Monodon monoceros Northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris Orca Orcinus orca Southern sea otter Enhydra lutris nereis Shortfin mako shark Isurus oxyrinchus Sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus Tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier Walrus Odobenus rosmarus divergens The O. r. divergens subspecies of walrus, specifically refers to the Pacific population. West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus

Endangered Species Theme Pack Common name Scientific name Notes Bigfoot No scientific name Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus Common sawfish Pristis pristis Japanese serow Naemorhedus crispus (now recognized as Capricornis crispus) Javan rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis Loch Ness Monster No scientific name This species would exclusively work with the Dinosaur Digs expansion. Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus Mexican gray wolf Canis lupus baileyi Also released by itself. Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus Przewalski's wild horse Equus przewalskii (now recognized as Equus ferus przewalskii) Whale shark Rhincodon typus

Animal houses Animal house Exhibits Installment Notes Bat House Dawn Bats of Southeast Asia Giant Fruit Bats of Southeast Asia Sulawesi flying foxes of the Southeast Asia Zoo Tycoon (2001, base game) Image used: Dawn bat (a.k.a. cave nectar bat), Sulawesi flying fox and fruit bat Bird House Birds of the Tropical Rainforest Birds of Africa Raptors of the World Zoo Tycoon (2001, base game) Image used: Keel-billed toucan, grey parrot and bald eagle Crustacean House Crayfish of the Mississippi Horseshoe Crabs of Delaware Bay Spider Crabs of the North Atlantic Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania (2002) Icon images used: crayfish, Atlantic horseshoe crab and spider crab Insect House Scorpions of the Africa Venomous Spiders Zoo Tycoon (2001, base game) Icon images used: emperor scorpion and tarantula Lepospondyl House Triadobatrachus Karaurus Diplocaulus Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs (2002) Primate House Primates of the Southeast Asia Lemurs of the Madagascar Endangered Primates of the World Zoo Tycoon (2001, base game) Image used: chimpanzee (not from Southeast Asia) , sifaka and juvenile orangutan Pteranodon House Rhamphorhynchus Pterodactylus Dimorphodon Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs (2002) 'Pteranodon' specifically refers to a single genus of large flying reptile. The building should be 'Pterosaur House' to refer to the broader group of animals. Reptile House Reptiles of the Tropical Rainforest Deadly Snakes of the World Zoo Tycoon (2001, base game) Image used: Galapagos tortoise and king cobra Tropical Aquarium Clownfish of the Pacific Angelfish of the Amazon Blue Tang of the Bermuda Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania (2002) Image used: ocellaris clownfish, angelfish and blue tang

Development