Savannah (id: savannah) is a biome in Zoo Tycoon 2. The biome is used in the official game for extant animals from Africa and extinct animals from Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene Africa and Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene Asia, with additional foliage from Oceania. User-made additions include extant animals from South America and cryptid animals from Africa.
Contents
Exhibit Animals (16 official + 11 user-made)
- African Elephant (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- African Wild Dog (Endangered Species)
- Black Rhinoceros (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Cheetah (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Common Zebra (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Dwarf Mongoose (Savannah Pack)
- East African Oryx (Savannah Pack)
- Giant Anteater (Forgotten Animals)
- Giant Sable Antelope (Endangered Species)
- Giant Warthog (Extinct Animals)
- Grevy's Zebra (Savannah Pack)
- Hyacinth Macaw (Jungle Escape)
- Lion (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Masai Giraffe (African Adventure)
- Nandi Bear (Paranoia!)
- Olive Baboon (Forgotten Animals)
- Ostrich (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Quagga (Extinct Animals) (unlockable by releasing every Extinct Animals species to the wild or obtainable by cloning fossils)
- Radiated Tortoise (Savannah Pack)
- Reticulated Giraffe (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Sivatherium (Extinct Animals)
- Spotted Hyena (Forgotten Animals)
- Springbok (Savannah Pack)
- Thomson's Gazelle (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Toco Toucan (Jungle Escape)
- Warthog (African Adventure)
- Wildebeest (African Adventure)
Ambient Animals (two official)
Trees (four official + one user-made)
- Acacia Caffra Tree (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- African Blackwood Tree (Savannah Pack)
- Boabab Tree (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Umbrella Acacia Tree (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Yellow Ipe Tree (Endangered Species)
Plants (four official + two user-made)
- African Daisies (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- African Mushrooms (Savannah Pack)
- Blackthorn Bush (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Cattleya Violacea (Savannah Pack)
- Elephant Grass (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Red Oat Grass (Endangered Species)
Rocks (three official + one user-made)
- Large Savannah Rock (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Large Savannah Rock (Jungle Escape)
- Medium Savannah Rock (Zoo Tycoon 2)
- Small Savannah Rock (Zoo Tycoon 2)
Zoopedia Entry
The Savannah is a tropical grassland with a scattering of shrubs and small and large trees. Savannahs may result from soil conditions, from periodic fires caused by lightning or set by humans, or from climatic influences.
Climatically determined savannahs, as found in western and southwestern Africa, develop in regions with marked wet and dry seasons, where rainfall ranges between 100 and 400 mm (4 and 16 in) a year. These savannahs vary from open-canopied forests with a grassy understory to true savannahs in which grasses are dominant. When the rainfall is 100 to 200 mm (4 to 8 in), generally only grasses can survive the dry season. When rainfall reaches 300 mm (12 in), the soil holds enough water to sustain shrubs through the dry season as well. When rainfall exceeds 300 mm, enough water is left to support solitary trees; and when rainfall exceeds 400 mm, enough moisture remains during the dry season to allow trees to grow more densely and to form a canopy, shading out the grasses
In regions of higher rainfall, such as eastern Africa, savannahs vegetation is maintained by periodic fires. Consuming dry grass at the end of the rainy season, the fires burn back the forest vegetation, check the invasion of trees and shrubs, and stimulate new grass growth. These savannahs are also influenced by large grazing mammals such as wildebeest and zebra. When abundant, the animals can so reduce the vegetation that the grassy cover cannot carry a fire. Woody vegetation then increases, changing savannahs to woodland. Such woody growth can be reduced, in turn, by large browsers such as elephants
Soil-determined savannahs include the llanos of Venezuela and the campos cerrados of Brazil. The latter are characterized by a hard crust in the soil, formed by ferric oxides. Grasses grow in the soil above the crust; trees grow where roots, following cracks in the crust, can reach deeper groundwater.