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Grassland (id: grassland) is a biome in Zoo Tycoon 2. The biome is used in the official game for extant animals from Africa, North America and Asia and extinct animals from Pleistocene and Holocene Africa; Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene North America; Pleistocene and Holocene Europe and Pleistocene and Holocene South America, with additional foliage from Europe. User-made additions include extant animals from Europe, Oceania and South America, extinct animals from Holocene North America and cryptid animals from North America and Europe.

Exhibit Animals (eight official + 17 user-made)

Ambient Animals (four official + four user-made)

Trees (three official + eight user-made)

Plants (six official + six user-made)

Other plants list Grassland as their biome but instead appear under the Zoo Decorations filter.

Rocks (three official)

Zoopedia Entry

Grassland is defined as an ecosystem in which grasses, sedges, and other forage plants are the dominant vegetation. Although temperate grasslands may have more than 50 species of vascular plants, and tropical grasslands more than 200, two or three species of grasses usually dominate upward of 60 percent of the biomass above ground.
Grasslands are natural, seminatural, and cultivated. Natural grasslands occupy, or once occupied, large areas of continental landmasses, including the prairies and plains of North America, the pampas and paramos of South America, the veld of South Africa, and the steppes of Eurasia. Temperate natural grasslands develop in regions characterized by an annual rainfall between 250 and 750 mm (10 and 30 in), a high rate of evaporation, and seasonal and annual droughts.
Tropical grasslands develop in regions with marked wet and dry seasons. On the periphery of these climatic regions, fire is important in maintaining grasslands by preventing the encroachment of forests in moist regions and desert shrubs in semiarid regions.
Seminatural grassland occupies areas where moisture is sufficient to support forests. Also called successional grassland, these areas resulted from deforestation and will return to trees unless maintained by burning, mowing, or grazing. Cultivated grasslands, such as hayfields and pastures, are artificially planted and maintained. They usually consist of one or two species of grass and a legume such as clover or alfalfa.
Native grasslands of the world support, or once supported, a diverse fauna. In North America, large grazing herbivores such as the bison and their large predators were dominant. Associated with such mammals are herbivorous rodents, including prairie dogs and mice; seed-eating birds; hawks; snakes; and insects, especially grasshoppers.
Grassland soils are inherently fertile. Due to low rainfall, soluble nutrients in the soil have not washed away, and due to the absence of a tree canopy, the flourishing grasses have built up organically rich topsoil. As a result, native grasslands of the north temperate regions have been converted to grain crops such as corn and wheat. The native grazing herbivores have been replaced by domestic cattle and sheep, and the large predators have been destroyed.

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