Diagram of where Planet Zoo 2 Conservation Credits come from and what they are spent on, with the 300 credits a new Franchise starts with — Diagram: drawn by planetzoo2animals.com from official data, not a game screenshot

Franchise and conservation

Planet Zoo 2 Conservation Credits: How to Earn and Spend Them

Conservation Credits (CC) are the second currency of Planet Zoo 2, next to cash. You need them to adopt many animals, run conservation projects and, in Franchise, open new zoos. A new Franchise starts with 300. Here is every way to earn more and what they buy.

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

Ways to earn Conservation Credits

Quick Release animals. Send an animal to Storage at the Trade Centre and choose Quick Release: in any game mode it leaves your zoo for credits. Animals with higher appeal, in their prime and with better genes earn more. Only healthy, stable adults can be traded; juveniles, pregnant, elderly, sick and injured animals cannot.
Release animals into Wildlife Reserves. Frontier says reserves earn Conservation Credits. You release animals in release groups, then build a Research Network to study them; the Planet Zoo 2 Wildlife Reserves guide walks through it, and the release groups finder shows which reserve takes each animal. In Franchise each release group shows the credits it earns; Update 1.0.4 fixed that number.
Complete conservation projects. FEN offers projects from the Planet Hub. Most reward credits; some give animals or release groups instead, which you claim under Gifts in Animal Trading.
Sell animals to other players (Franchise). List an animal in Trading at a price you choose. Another player can adopt it for that many credits while the listing runs; if nobody does, it goes back to your Storage. The Planet Zoo 2 Franchise mode guide covers the rest of the mode.
Community Challenges (Franchise). Every Franchise zoo can take part in Community Challenges, which also pay credits.

Exhibit animals bring in credits as well: Frontier's list of fixes for the next update includes credits from exhibit animals not being kept after a reload.

What Conservation Credits buy

Animals. Trading prices each animal in credits or in cash, so many adoptions need credits. Which animals you can buy at all depends on your accreditation tier; the Planet Zoo 2 accreditation tiers page lists them.
Conservation projects. Projects can ask for credits as well as cash, staff, animals or release groups.
Wildlife Reserves (Franchise). Opening a Wildlife Reserve in Franchise costs credits; Update 1.0.5 corrected how much.
New Franchise zoos. Create New Zoo in the Planet Hub costs 100 credits.

Credits in each game mode

Mode	Starting credits
Franchise	300
Sandbox (Default and Creative presets)	Unlimited
Career	Not confirmed yet

In Franchise, credits belong to the whole Franchise: every zoo you open there draws on the same balance, while each zoo keeps its own cash. Franchise is played online.

AI-edited view of a research vehicle beside elephants and a waterhole in a reserve — A research vehicle beside elephants at a waterhole: reserves are one of the ways to earn credits. AI-edited game image: Planet Zoo 2 © Frontier Developments View full size

Conservation projects

Projects come from FEN and are found in the Planet Hub, shared across your zoos. There are six types: Animal Reintroduction, Research, Habitat Restoration, Habitat Connectivity, Outreach and Wildlife Care. A project takes some of your zoo's resources for a while: cash or credits, staff who leave the zoo to work in the field, animals or release groups. In return it pays credits, and sometimes animals or release groups.

In Career, projects are part of the story: Aardvark Reintroduction, for example, appears in the Career task list.

If your credits disappear

Frontier's Under Investigation article of 20 October 2026 lists a fix being tested for Conservation Credits from exhibit animals not being kept after a save is reloaded. Until it is out, Frontier advises saving by hand often and loading saves through My Saves on the main menu, so an autosave does not overwrite them. New updates are on our Planet Zoo 2 updates page.

Planet Zoo 2 Conservation Credits questions

How do you get Conservation Credits in Planet Zoo 2?

Quick Release animals you no longer need, release animals into Wildlife Reserves and research them there, and complete conservation projects. In Franchise you can also sell animals to other players for credits and take part in Community Challenges.

How many Conservation Credits do you start with?

A new Franchise starts with 300 Conservation Credits. In Sandbox, the Default and Creative presets give unlimited credits.

Are Conservation Credits shared between zoos?

In Franchise, yes: credits are shared by every zoo in your Franchise, while each zoo keeps its own cash.

What are Conservation Credits used for?

Adopting animals in Trading, where many animals are priced in credits rather than cash; meeting the requirements of conservation projects; and in Franchise, opening Wildlife Reserves and creating another zoo, which costs 100 credits.

Why did my Conservation Credits disappear?

If credits earned from exhibit animals vanish after you reload a save, it is a known bug. On 20 October 2026 Frontier listed a fix for it as being tested for the next update. Until then, save often and load through My Saves on the main menu, as Frontier advises.

Sources

Checked against the official pages on October 21, 2026. How to trade, release and share credits is official. Starting credits, the cost of a new Franchise zoo and how projects work were checked against released-game footage. Official information can change.