Animals

Planet Zoo 2 Breeding Guide: Every Animal’s Life Cycle

When each animal mates, how long until its young arrive and how hard it is to breed. Look up an animal, list every animal at one difficulty, or read how breeding, nests, genetics and contraception work below.

Last updated October 21, 2026Game version: Update 1.0.5 (October 16, 2026)

Look up an animal's breeding

Choose an animal (85 with breeding data)Or type a name

Or list every animal at one difficulty

Giant Panda

Breeding difficulty: Very Difficult
Mating season: Spring
Age of sexual maturity: 6 years
Gestation or incubation: 4.2 months
Young per birth or clutch: 1
Time between births: 20 months
Lives up to: 30 years
Mating system: Promiscuous
Offspring that leave the group: All offspring

How breeding works in Planet Zoo 2

Healthy adult animals mate during their mating season, as long as they are not already raising young. Some species have a set season such as spring or winter; 27 of the 64 animals in our table breed all year. Conception is more likely when welfare is high, when no other potential mate distracts the pair, and once you unlock fertility boosts through Research on the species.

Nests for egg-laying animals

A mixed group of egg-laying animals needs at least one nest per pair, and only pairs with a nest they can reach will mate. Each species uses its own nest type: filter the Bedding, Shelters and Nests section of the Habitats browser by species, or select the Nesting Sites need in the animal's Info Panel to see which nests fit. Some species want their nest out of sight of guests.

Genetics and choosing mates

Every animal inherits a mix of genes from both parents, so young can be better or worse than either. The Compare Mates panel in the Genetics tab shows the likely result of a pairing. Vitality and Longevity improve when both parents carry good genes; Fertility and Immunity improve when the parents are different from each other, and fall with inbreeding. Animals from the Trade Centre with a high Genetic Rating lift the rating of their offspring.

Young, outsiders and sterility

Newborns start as juveniles that need less space and only bond with their parents. When they mature, some species push certain offspring out of the group; these outsiders only fight the others and should be moved. The table below lists which offspring leave for each animal. Some species also become sterile at a set age.

Shoals and colonies

Shoal fish and colony animals in exhibits do not pair up. The whole group grows each mating season depending on the species, Research, its size and its welfare, and splits in two once it reaches its maximum size. Poor welfare or predation shrinks it.

Stopping animals from breeding

Turn on Apply Contraceptives in an animal's Info Panel, or use the Contraceptives toggle under Management, Animals. Animals on contraception do not breed, and shoals and colonies on it do not split. Keeping the sexes in separate habitats works too.

Why your animals are not breeding

Open Compare Mates in the Genetics tab: it names the problem, such as low welfare or illness, and nothing breeds until it is fixed.
Check the mating season below; outside it, nothing happens.
Egg-layers need a nest per pair that both can reach.
A pair that is still raising juveniles waits until they grow up.
Make sure contraception is off and neither animal is past its age of sterility.
Related animals lose Fertility with each generation; bring in an unrelated mate.

Easiest and hardest animals to breed

Very Easy (16): the Bactrian Camel, Black Wildebeest, Blue Wildebeest, European Bison, Galápagos Giant Tortoise, Gemsbok, Greater Flamingo, Meerkat, Mountain Hare, Plains Zebra, Red Panda, Sable Antelope, Spotted Hyena, Springbok, Thomson's Gazelle and Wild Boar.

Very Difficult (5): the Giant Panda, Great Hammerhead, Komodo Dragon, Sand Tiger Shark and Sunda Pangolin. The Giant Panda is the classic case: it becomes an adult at 6 years, mates only in spring and has a single cub about every 20 months. The African Savannah Elephant is slower still, with a 22 months pregnancy and 108 months between calves. The longest pregnancy in our table, 22 months, belongs to the African Savannah Elephant and Asian Elephant.

Breeding pairs need space for their young as they grow; the Planet Zoo 2 habitat planner gives the official area for any adult count, and the Planet Zoo 2 Zoopedia guide explains the rest of each entry.

AI-edited view: A giant panda among bamboo — A giant panda: adult at 6 years, one cub at a time and Very Difficult to breed. AI-edited game image: Planet Zoo 2 © Frontier Developments View full size

Life cycle of every animal

64 animals, A to Z. The in-game Lifecycle panel rounds months to whole numbers, so a 4.2 month pregnancy shows as 4 months there. Litter is the number of young per birth or clutch.

Animal	Difficulty	Mating season	Adult at	Gestation	Litter	Between births	Lives up to	Offspring that leave
Aardvark	Easy	Summer	2 years	7 months	1	17 months	28 years	None
African Leopard	Average	All year	2.5 years	3.2 months	1–2	21 months	20 years	All offspring
African Savannah Elephant	Difficult	All year	10 years	22 months	1	108 months	86 years	Male offspring
African Wild Dog	Easy	Summer	1.5 years	2.5 months	1–6	12 months	17 years	Female offspring
Asian Elephant	Difficult	All year	11 years	22 months	1	96 months	70 years	Male offspring
Asian Small-Clawed Otter	Average	All year	2 years	2.3 months	1–3	10 months	16 years	None
Bactrian Camel	Very Easy	Spring	6 years	13 months	1	23 months	45 years	Male offspring
Binturong	Difficult	All year	2.5 years	3 months	1–3	9 months	25 years	All offspring
Black Rhinoceros	Difficult	All year	7 years	15 months	1	9 months	45 years	None
Black Wildebeest	Very Easy	Spring	2 years	8.5 months	1	4 months	22 years	Male offspring
Blacktip Reef Shark	Average	Summer	6.5 years	9 months	2–5	3 months	15 years	None
Blue Wildebeest	Very Easy	Spring	2 years	8.5 months	1	4 months	21 years	Male offspring
Cape Buffalo	Easy	All year	4 years	11.5 months	1	12 months	32 years	Male offspring
Common Hippopotamus	Average	All year	7 years	8 months	1	16 months	55 years	None
Common Warthog	Easy	Summer	2 years	5 months	1–5	7 months	21 years	Male offspring
Eurasian Beaver	Average	Winter	2 years	3.5 months	1–4	9 months	24 years	None
Eurasian Brown Bear	Easy	Summer	4 years	7.5 months	1–4	52 months	26 years	All offspring
Eurasian Lynx	Average	Spring	3 years	2.3 months	1–4	22 months	24 years	All offspring
European Bison	Very Easy	Autumn	3 years	8.7 months	1	15 months	28 years	Male offspring
Galápagos Giant Tortoise	Very Easy	Spring	25 years	2 months	2–6	22 months	170 years	Male offspring
Gemsbok	Very Easy	All year	2 years	8.5 months	1	10 months	23 years	Male offspring
Gharial	Easy	Winter	16 years	2 months	2–9	10 months	65 years	None
Giant Panda	Very Difficult	Spring	6 years	4.2 months	1	20 months	30 years	All offspring
Golden Lion Tamarin	Easy	Autumn and Winter	3 years	4.3 months	1–3	8 months	20 years	None
Goodfellow's Tree-Kangaroo	Easy	All year	3 years	9.8 months	1	14 months	20 years	All offspring
Great Hammerhead	Very Difficult	Spring and Summer	15 years	11 months	1–6	13 months	44 years	None
Greater Flamingo	Very Easy	Summer	3 years	0.7 months	1	11 months	50 years	None
Grey Wolf	Easy	Spring	2 years	2.3 months	1–5	10 months	12 years	None
Grizzly Bear	Easy	Summer	5 years	7.5 months	1–4	52 months	26 years	All offspring
Hawksbill Turtle	Difficult	Spring	25 years	2 months	2–4	34 months	50 years	None
Indo-Pacific Leopard Shark	Average	All year	8 years	6.5 months	2–6	6 months	30 years	None
Javanese Cownose Ray	Average	Summer	5 years	12 months	1–2	12 months	20 years	None
Komodo Dragon	Very Difficult	Summer	8 years	1.4 months	1–4	11 months	30 years	None
Lion	Easy	All year	3 years	3.6 months	1–3	32 months	20 years	Male offspring
Malayan Tapir	Easy	Summer	3 years	13.1 months	1	11 months	36 years	None
Masai Giraffe	Easy	All year	4 years	14.2 months	1	22 months	37 years	Male offspring
Meerkat	Very Easy	All year	3 years	2.2 months	1–3	10 months	20 years	None
Mountain Hare	Very Easy	Spring and Summer	1 year	1.6 months	1–4	10 months	10 years	None
Nile Monitor	Average	Summer	4 years	1 month	2–8	11 months	20 years	None
North Sulawesi Babirusa	Easy	All year	2 years	5.3 months	1–2	7 months	24 years	Male offspring
Nyala	Easy	Autumn	1.5 years	7 months	1	5 months	23 years	Male offspring
Ocellated Eagle Ray	Easy	Summer	5 years	12 months	1–3	12 months	30 years	None
Plains Zebra	Very Easy	All year	4 years	13 months	1	11 months	40 years	Male offspring
Przewalski's Horse	Easy	Spring	2 years	12 months	1	12 months	36 years	Male offspring
Red Deer	Easy	Autumn	4 years	8.2 months	1	4 months	27 years	Male offspring
Red Panda	Very Easy	Spring	1.5 years	4.3 months	1–3	8 months	15 years	All offspring
Reticulated Giraffe	Easy	All year	4 years	14.2 months	1	22 months	35 years	Male offspring
Ring-Tailed Lemur	Easy	Summer	3 years	4.4 months	1	8 months	27 years	Male offspring
Sable Antelope	Very Easy	Summer	1.5 years	8.5 months	1	3 months	22 years	Male offspring
Saltwater Crocodile	Easy	Spring	14 years	1 month	1–4	11 months	114 years	None
Sand Tiger Shark	Very Difficult	Autumn and Winter	6 years	9 months	1–2	27 months	30 years	None
Siamang	Average	All year	8 years	8 months	1	28 months	50 years	None
Snow Leopard	Average	Winter	3 years	3 months	1–3	21 months	25 years	All offspring
Spotted Hyena	Very Easy	All year	3 years	3.6 months	1–3	11 months	20 years	Male offspring
Springbok	Very Easy	All year	1 year	6 months	1	6 months	14 years	Male offspring
Sumatran Orangutan	Easy	All year	10 years	8.8 months	1	105 months	58 years	Male offspring
Sumatran Tiger	Average	All year	4 years	3.4 months	1–4	21 months	20 years	All offspring
Sun Bear	Easy	All year	4 years	6.8 months	1–3	29 months	30 years	All offspring
Sunda Pangolin	Very Difficult	All year	2 years	5.9 months	1	6 months	20 years	All offspring
Thomson's Gazelle	Very Easy	All year	2 years	6 months	1	6 months	20 years	Male offspring
West Indian Manatee	Average	Summer	7 years	13 months	1	23 months	50 years	None
Western Chimpanzee	Average	All year	14 years	8 months	1	52 months	60 years	Female offspring
Western Lowland Gorilla	Average	All year	10 years	9 months	1	60 months	60 years	All offspring
Wild Boar	Very Easy	Autumn	1 year	3.7 months	2–5	8 months	27 years	Male offspring

Aviary birds, most aquarium fish and the exhibit animals are not in this table yet: their life cycle values did not pass our check. Their breeding difficulty, where we have it, is in the lookup above. These values were checked on October 21, 2026.

Planet Zoo 2 breeding questions

How do you breed animals in Planet Zoo 2?

Keep a healthy adult male and female together in a habitat that meets their needs. They mate in their mating season if they are not already raising young. Egg-laying species also need one suitable nest per pair. Better welfare, better Genetics and species Research all raise the chance of conception.

Why are my animals not breeding in Planet Zoo 2?

Open the Genetics tab of the animal’s Info Panel and compare mates: it lists what is blocking conception, such as low welfare or illness. Also check that it is the mating season, that egg-layers have a nest per pair, that the pair is not still raising juveniles, that contraception is off and that neither animal has reached its age of sterility.

How do you stop animals breeding in Planet Zoo 2?

Turn on Apply Contraceptives in the animal’s Info Panel, or use the Contraceptives toggle under Management, Animals for any animal in your zoo. You can also keep the sexes in separate habitats. Contraception also stops shoals and colonies from splitting.

Which animals are hardest to breed in Planet Zoo 2?

Giant Panda, Great Hammerhead, Komodo Dragon, Sand Tiger Shark and Sunda Pangolin have Very Difficult breeding in the Zoopedia. 16 animals, including the Bactrian Camel, Black Wildebeest, Blue Wildebeest and European Bison, are Very Easy.

How long is a giant panda pregnancy in Planet Zoo 2?

About 4.2 months. Giant pandas mate in spring, become adults at 6 years, have one cub at a time about 20 months apart, and are Very Difficult to breed.

Sources

Planet Zoo 2 player guide: Animals, on breeding, nests, genetics, shoals and contraception (official)

Checked against the official pages on October 21, 2026. How breeding works is official. Each animal's values were compared across two independent tables and against the in-game Zoopedia Lifecycle panel in released-game footage; only values that agree are shown.