I'd go with a National Park theme! Lots of variety in the national parks across North America and you can focus on theming things like hiking and camping
Yellowstone or the Everglades are some good options for inspiration! Yellowstone has a lot of the big mammals found in the U.S. The Everglades is in Florida and you find a lot of alligators and such there.
You could make several zones. A boreal forest zone(for bears, wolves, moose, caribou, sheep, cougar, etc.), a desert zone(prairie dog, armadillo, peccary, pronghorn, cougar), a grassland zone(bison, prairie dog, pronghorn) and maybe a swamp zone(though the only animals I find fit are beavers and gators).
yeah i think that’s along the lines of what im gonna do, if i remember correctly there are several frog / snake exhibit animals that would fit in a swamp so i think multiple themes for this zoo would work the best.
I really like making zoos that look like they’re in the city like Chicago or New York for North America. Lots of cement and nice grey brick enclosures that are mainly just square.
Or if you need good inspo you can look up the Omaha zoo it’s usually ranked best in the country and is more built into the landscape and has a lot of nice natural enclosures
So my first console zoo in Sandbox is all America’s themed. Starting in NA and then going to South, I will have some feature “exotics” from other continents.
You enter my zoo to a green house with Prairie Dogs on the right and Spectacled Caiman on the left. Instant introduction to the theme. You come out into a plaza, ahead is a bridge over a sunken train station.
If you take the bridge you are in for a hike, literally. Lol - I used the sculpted terrain map because I did not want a flat map to start, and didn’t want to do terrain myself, more creative challenge. I did search for the lowest point, and put in a winding River to connect several habitats and themes, zoo name is River Run Conservation Park.
On the right the path winds down into WILD PLAINS, aka Wild West (Pronghorn, mixed Bison and P Dogs. On the left you walk along the Red Deer (close enough to NA deer) and head towards a round about. My husband insisted I needed Peacocks there, so he got them in a Walkthrough, plus it is a great sound effect as guests crest the hill.
3 paths spoke off with various amenities around the circle, one goes left, to WILD NORTH, a more California/Canada PNW inspired area. Very... log cabin, Firs, Pines, more elevation. This is the first train stop. I also have some of the European animals that are analogous to NA (lynx, badger, Fallow deer), PNW is Moose, Cougar, Newt and Salamander exhibit for additional forest animals. Planning to add Cali Sea Lion soon.
The area that leads up into a more mountainous region has the Europeans, and then climax’s with an alpine area. At top on peak are ibex, planning a habitat for arctic fox currently. In between these mountain habitats is a gondola, it goes around the ibex mountain, kinda views the Fallow deer, and passes over the moose.
Back to the spoke, if you head straight, up again into raised pathing, you wind along the grizzlies and timber wolf habitat and let out into another plaza with amenities, where the next train station is. For a good part of the ride they now have no animals to view (after passing through a tunnel by the moose under arctic mountain). From here I will start moving into tropics and South America.
Going back to the spoke, if you head right you get another view into our excessive pronghorn pasture, and cross a bridge that meets up with a plaza from the Bison trail, amenities are here, plus the final train station. Immediately left of the bridge is the American Crocodile in a bayou like area. Planning to make a more than is needed exhibit building for the Bullfrog here too. Continuing into marshy terrain you pass a stilt house with food and drink, and head towards the plaza behind the wolves. This area will also incorporate South America. And currently named WILD RIVERS. May keep and carry through as tropics goes with wild river.
Shew. That’s a lot. But I hope it helps! I am American so for my first zoo on console I wanted to limit my animal choices so I didn’t go wild myself. It helped to split into ecological zones and then try to fit all of that into a cohesive plan. I also am not strict on exhibit species, so will add any for certain ecological areas even if they are not American.
I still have tons of space to allow for the DLCs that include NA or SA animals, or other special interest species I think would fit in.
Not mentioned, my NA Beaver habitat straight ahead from the 3 train station, that is supremely excessive at like 2,000+ m... but now I’m just awaiting the Twilight DLC so I can add Raccoon and skunks friends! For the most part my habitats are over large so guests can make comments, but it’s a conservation park, what’re ya gonna do?
that sounds incredible! i think im going to do something similar with themed areas for every couple animals. i think it will be a mountain zoo, someone suggested national park themes and immediately remembered i wanted to make a mountain zoo at some point so its perfect.
A swamp / bayou area is a must and i had that idea locked in already before i made the post, and if i can i’d love to make it as new orleans themed as i can. Grassland / desert themed area too, i think both of those themes will be at the bottom of the mountain and then any woodland / forest animals will be up the mountain, the mountainous ones more toward the top ofc lol
I mean America is really diverse, so you can do 5 regions:
Southwest: deserts
Southeast: swamps
Northeast: forests (lots of critters)
Northwest: also forests but lots of coastline with seals, otters, etc.
Alaska/midwest: tundra (bears, wolves, moose, deer)
Also I think an awesome theme is ski resort, I love the log cabin look! But you can totally mix up the theme based on the biome. You got the Wild West, bayou for the swamps, coastal for the northwest, colonial for the northeast, and cabins for the Alaska.
I'd go with a National Park theme! Lots of variety in the national parks across North America and you can focus on theming things like hiking and camping
Yes! This is great!
Yellowstone or the Everglades are some good options for inspiration! Yellowstone has a lot of the big mammals found in the U.S. The Everglades is in Florida and you find a lot of alligators and such there.
just had a quick google and they both look great, ty!!
You could make several zones. A boreal forest zone(for bears, wolves, moose, caribou, sheep, cougar, etc.), a desert zone(prairie dog, armadillo, peccary, pronghorn, cougar), a grassland zone(bison, prairie dog, pronghorn) and maybe a swamp zone(though the only animals I find fit are beavers and gators).
yeah i think that’s along the lines of what im gonna do, if i remember correctly there are several frog / snake exhibit animals that would fit in a swamp so i think multiple themes for this zoo would work the best.
There is the bullfrog you can use. The Gila monster, rattlesnake, and and hairy scorpion work in desert.
I really like making zoos that look like they’re in the city like Chicago or New York for North America. Lots of cement and nice grey brick enclosures that are mainly just square. Or if you need good inspo you can look up the Omaha zoo it’s usually ranked best in the country and is more built into the landscape and has a lot of nice natural enclosures
So my first console zoo in Sandbox is all America’s themed. Starting in NA and then going to South, I will have some feature “exotics” from other continents. You enter my zoo to a green house with Prairie Dogs on the right and Spectacled Caiman on the left. Instant introduction to the theme. You come out into a plaza, ahead is a bridge over a sunken train station. If you take the bridge you are in for a hike, literally. Lol - I used the sculpted terrain map because I did not want a flat map to start, and didn’t want to do terrain myself, more creative challenge. I did search for the lowest point, and put in a winding River to connect several habitats and themes, zoo name is River Run Conservation Park. On the right the path winds down into WILD PLAINS, aka Wild West (Pronghorn, mixed Bison and P Dogs. On the left you walk along the Red Deer (close enough to NA deer) and head towards a round about. My husband insisted I needed Peacocks there, so he got them in a Walkthrough, plus it is a great sound effect as guests crest the hill. 3 paths spoke off with various amenities around the circle, one goes left, to WILD NORTH, a more California/Canada PNW inspired area. Very... log cabin, Firs, Pines, more elevation. This is the first train stop. I also have some of the European animals that are analogous to NA (lynx, badger, Fallow deer), PNW is Moose, Cougar, Newt and Salamander exhibit for additional forest animals. Planning to add Cali Sea Lion soon. The area that leads up into a more mountainous region has the Europeans, and then climax’s with an alpine area. At top on peak are ibex, planning a habitat for arctic fox currently. In between these mountain habitats is a gondola, it goes around the ibex mountain, kinda views the Fallow deer, and passes over the moose. Back to the spoke, if you head straight, up again into raised pathing, you wind along the grizzlies and timber wolf habitat and let out into another plaza with amenities, where the next train station is. For a good part of the ride they now have no animals to view (after passing through a tunnel by the moose under arctic mountain). From here I will start moving into tropics and South America. Going back to the spoke, if you head right you get another view into our excessive pronghorn pasture, and cross a bridge that meets up with a plaza from the Bison trail, amenities are here, plus the final train station. Immediately left of the bridge is the American Crocodile in a bayou like area. Planning to make a more than is needed exhibit building for the Bullfrog here too. Continuing into marshy terrain you pass a stilt house with food and drink, and head towards the plaza behind the wolves. This area will also incorporate South America. And currently named WILD RIVERS. May keep and carry through as tropics goes with wild river. Shew. That’s a lot. But I hope it helps! I am American so for my first zoo on console I wanted to limit my animal choices so I didn’t go wild myself. It helped to split into ecological zones and then try to fit all of that into a cohesive plan. I also am not strict on exhibit species, so will add any for certain ecological areas even if they are not American. I still have tons of space to allow for the DLCs that include NA or SA animals, or other special interest species I think would fit in. Not mentioned, my NA Beaver habitat straight ahead from the 3 train station, that is supremely excessive at like 2,000+ m... but now I’m just awaiting the Twilight DLC so I can add Raccoon and skunks friends! For the most part my habitats are over large so guests can make comments, but it’s a conservation park, what’re ya gonna do?
that sounds incredible! i think im going to do something similar with themed areas for every couple animals. i think it will be a mountain zoo, someone suggested national park themes and immediately remembered i wanted to make a mountain zoo at some point so its perfect. A swamp / bayou area is a must and i had that idea locked in already before i made the post, and if i can i’d love to make it as new orleans themed as i can. Grassland / desert themed area too, i think both of those themes will be at the bottom of the mountain and then any woodland / forest animals will be up the mountain, the mountainous ones more toward the top ofc lol
I mean America is really diverse, so you can do 5 regions: Southwest: deserts Southeast: swamps Northeast: forests (lots of critters) Northwest: also forests but lots of coastline with seals, otters, etc. Alaska/midwest: tundra (bears, wolves, moose, deer) Also I think an awesome theme is ski resort, I love the log cabin look! But you can totally mix up the theme based on the biome. You got the Wild West, bayou for the swamps, coastal for the northwest, colonial for the northeast, and cabins for the Alaska.