In Planet Zoo 2, you have a lot on your plate as you take in more animals and try to locate new ones. But progression only happens if you learn new things about the animals you are taking care of. That’s where researching various animals comes in. Completing several research topics will enhance the way your zoo runs, and you can unlock new sections to your zoo as well.
Running a zoo is not easy if you don’t know what you are doing, so you need to assign the right people to oversee this section as early as possible. This guide will detail how to perform research, what it does, and all about the different research topics in Planet Zoo 2.
Planet Zoo 2 – What Does Research Do
While exploring the Staff Facilities in Planet Zoo 2, you’ll notice a Research Center. This building is an integral aspect of the game, as it helps make advancements in animal care. This helps keep your staff informed across various fields, whether it be for animal caretaking, controlling diseases, or improving the overall health of your animals and your park in general.
Each time you find an animal in the wild, you can add it to your research tree to learn more about it. This includes learning about its habitats, enrichment, compatibility, and a whole lot more. There are different research types as well, and each pertains to one specific specialization. Under each research type, you will find a few hundred topics to work on to help increase your animal’s Thriving capabilities.
All Research Types in Planet Zoo 2
There are four main branches of research: Species, Diseases, Enrichment, and Education. Under each, you will find different topics to perform research on. Each group unlocks different aspects of your zoo to make it better and more enriching.
| Research | Description | Total Topics |
| Species | Improves educational content, needed for improved Thriving conditions, improves breeding potential and animal release conditions. | 136 |
| Diseases | Advancements in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Pharmacology. | 52 |
| Enrichment | Animal enrichment topics like Toys and Food. | 22 |
| Education | Adds educational signboards, interactive stations, and animalistic and ambience sounds. | 7 |
How to Build Research Centers
Select the Facilities tab at the bottom of the screen and select the Staff tab on the left. You can then search for the Research station and purchase it. Different center sizes will offer different prices, such as paying $1,000 for a small research center as compared to $4,000 for a large center. After placing a research center down, you need to hire Vets to work here. Also, you need to add designated Staff paths from the center to the veterinary station and other facilities.
How to Do Research
At the bottom of the screen, select the Research option and select any main topic from the menu. After selecting a topic, you need to select the niche topic within the research topic that you want to work on. Then, select the list of available vets on the left and drag and drop them onto the research screen. You can only add one vet per topic. The vet assigned will continue to do research on that particular topic up to a particular point.
While checking out your research tree, you will find separate sections called Research Gates. To unlock these gates, you need to hover your cursor over them to find the requirements. In the meantime, your assigned vet will continue researching all the previous topics at hand until they reach the Research Gate. After which, you need to fulfil the requirement to advance further.
If you wish to advance further into research but don’t have the means to, then you can hop into Franchise mode and let the others take the lead while you work on what’s best for your zoo in Planet Zoo 2.
