Planet Zoo 2 Animals: All 136 Species in the Full List

How many animals are in Planet Zoo 2?

The groups come from the "class" field on each Zoopedia card (Mammalia, Actinopterygii, Aves and so on); we only translated the Latin. Frontier called its final pre-launch reveals "the final reveals for Planet Zoo 2 at launch," so this is the launch roster, not a teaser list. Its store page also pitches "fully aquatic and flying species for the first time," and the numbers back that up.

Not everyone thinks 136 is enough. One player with about 35 hours at the time, who praises the aquariums and exhibits, still lists the roster first among the negatives: "The roster is incredibly shallow with limited birds and entire continents." Fourteen birds out of 136 is the number behind that complaint.

Screenshot: Steam store page (Frontier Developments)

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The 6 Deluxe animals

These six are tagged "Deluxe" on the Zoopedia. They come with the Deluxe Upgrade Pack, which Steam describes as "an additional 6 animal species from across the globe" plus exclusive animal signs:

• Blue and Gold Fusilier. A ray-finned fish, Least Concern on its card. Skip it unless you're filling a big aquarium.
• European Bison. A hoofed mammal (order Artiodactyla), Near Threatened. Pick it if you want a big land animal from the pack.
• Golden Lion Tamarin. A primate, Endangered on its card. Nice for a conservation-themed zoo.
• Great Hammerhead. A shark, and Critically Endangered on its card. Pick if you're building around aquariums; it's the pack's headline for us.
• Longfin Batfish. Another ray-finned fish, Least Concern. Skip unless you want aquarium variety.
• Secretarybird. A bird of prey (order Accipitriformes), Endangered. The oddball of the six, and the one we'd most want for a savanna build.

Our call: the pack is worth it only if the hammerhead or the bison is the animal you've been waiting for. With 130 species in the base game, you won't be short of animals. Our Planet Zoo 2 worth-it breakdown covers the Base versus Deluxe price math in full.

Conservation status across the roster

Each Zoopedia card lists a conservation status. Counted across all 136:

That's 57 species in the three threatened tiers, 42% of the roster. The Critically Endangered 14 include the black rhinoceros, Sumatran orangutan, western lowland gorilla, Sunda pangolin, gharial, hawksbill turtle, axolotl and African penguin. If you play Planet Zoo for the conservation side, that list is your shortlist. It also ties into the new Wildlife Reserves, where the store page says you "release your species" into large customisable areas.

Screenshot: Steam store page (Frontier Developments)

What the announcement trailer showed first

Frontier's announcement trailer is 1:28 long and picks its animals carefully. At 0:12 a child stands at a huge aquarium window as a shark passes. At 0:20 a keeper in a diving helmet swims through the tank. At 0:36 an elephant walks with a calf, at 0:44 a crocodilian rests on a platform in a pool, and at 1:08 two large birds fly over the Planet Zoo logo. The 1:16 card reads "Coming 13 October 2026." Water and flight come first, exactly as the final roster suggests.

Planet Zoo 2 animals: the full list

Sorted by group, then alphabetically. Status is as printed on each Zoopedia card.

Things to know before you plan a zoo

• Missing Deluxe animals can be a bug. Frontier's Under Investigation page lists a fix in testing for the Zoopedia "hiding unowned DLC species regardless of the 'Hide unowned DLC Species' toggle." If you don't own the pack and its six animals are missing from your in-game Zoopedia with that toggle off, that's the bug.
• Lower accreditation levels will get more species. The same page says "a greater volume of species" is coming to lower accreditation levels in Franchise Mode, to better reflect each species' ease of care. If an animal seems locked behind a high tier right now, check again after the next patch.
• Accreditation is separate per mode. Frontier clarified that Career progress "will not advance your Franchise accreditation."

If you're new to building sims, the base-building and colony sim list and our Empires of the Undergrowth review are two other ways in. Aquarium fans who want a smaller game can look at the tank in our Besmirch fishing guide or the Dave the Diver mods list. For building more than managing, start with Paralives and its house-building guide, and if you're waiting for a discount on Planet Zoo 2 itself, our Steam sale calendar has the dates.

Want a management game with a different hook? Our Masters of Albion review covers a god game, Combolands mixes city building with roguelike runs, and our automation and logistics list is for players who care more about systems than scenery. On a tight budget, the best indie games under $20 is the cheaper shortlist.

And if a calmer sim is what you're after while Frontier patches, try the Paralives guide hub, our Dressmaker review for a cozy sewing sim, or the Farm to Table early access breakdown for farming plus a restaurant.

Our take

We'd plan a first zoo around the water. Thirty-five fish, sharks and rays, plus the West Indian manatee, the hawksbill turtle and the African penguin, are the side of the roster the store page calls a first for the series, and the announcement trailer leads with them. Skip the Deluxe pack unless the great hammerhead or the European bison is on your wish list; 130 base species is plenty for a long time.

How we checked this

We haven't played Planet Zoo 2. On October 22, 2026 we loaded Frontier's Zoopedia, counted all 136 cards ourselves and recorded each card's class and conservation status; read the Steam store page, the Deluxe Edition listing, the Zoopedia update posts and Frontier's Under Investigation page; and stepped through the announcement trailer every eight seconds for the timestamps above.

References

1. Planet Zoo 2 Zoopedia, Planet Zoo official site
2. Planet Zoo 2 on Steam, Steam
3. Final Zoopedia Reveals, Frontier on Steam
4. Zoopedia Update, October 6, Frontier on Steam
5. Under Investigation, Planet Zoo official site
6. Planet Zoo 2 announcement trailer, Planet Zoo 2 on YouTube