Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10 
- Offline: 44/44 (1000/1000)
- Online: 0/44 (0/1000)
- Approximate amount of time to 100020-35 hours 
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2 (1 campaign mode + 1 challenge mode).
- Number of missable achievements: None (level select/free-roam).
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No Cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No
- Glitchy achievements: 1..."Close to the Animals" (see description).
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: None

Introduction:
Zoo Tycoon is a simulation game that has you building and maintaining a zoo. You can hire employees and control wages, place animal exhibits, build restrooms and dining options, decorate, care for animals, advertise, and much more. The goal is to earn a profit which you can then use to further expand you zoo. The game can be played from a birds-eye view, planning your zoo from a distance. However, you can also get up close and personal, heading into third-person through a character on the ground. This is where the beautifully-detailed animals become apparent. The game offers three game modes: Freeform, Campaign, and Challenge.

GENERAL TIPS:

  • Anything done in the tutorial levels will not contribute to any achievements. It only serves to teach the basic game mechanics to the player.
  • If you are unsure about anything in the game, be sure to check out the Zoopedia, found at the far right of the Game Menu (pause menu from within a zoo).
  • The achievements that do not specify a game mode can be done in any game mode.


Step 0a: Prevent the "Close to the Animals" Achievement from Glitching:
Before doing anything in the game, from the Main Menu select Campaign. Ignore the pop-up about the tutorial. Select the Hard level in Canada called "Fame and Fortune, Kidding Around." One of the objectives will be to complete all three interactions. Do so and the achievement should unlock. 

Step 0b: Tutorial Levels:
Play through and complete the 10 levels of the tutorial. This is not necessary for any achievements, but it will help you become familiar with how the game works.

Step 1: Challenge Mode:
Challenge mode lets you grow your zoo from the ground up, starting with just a small sum of money. You have unlimited time to build you zoo, but periodic timed challenges mix things up. Completing these challenges will be vital to growing your zoo effectively. Most of the games achievements can be done in this mode and this is where the bulk of your play time will go. The most time consuming achievements involve breeding all animals in the game and earning $10 million in revenue. 

Step 2: Campaign Mode:
Campaign offers a series of twenty scenarios that increase in difficulty as you progress.  You are given a set of challenges from the start to complete and a time limit. Most of them are quite easy once you become familiar with how the game works. In total, you should expect to spend around 8 to 12 hours on the campaign alone.

Conclusion:
Zoo Tycoon is a fairly laid-back and unique sim game for the Xbox One that may not appeal to everyone. The achievements are mostly straightforward and will unlock with minimal effort. However, some can be considered a little grindy. Overall, Zoo Tycoon is a game that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

[x360a would like to thank Arsenic 17 for this Roadmap]

Zoo Tycoon Achievement Guide

Printable Guide
Show completed achievements
Show secret achievements

There are 44 achievements with a total of 1000 points

  • Receive 5 awards in the same zoo (Challenge Mode only).

    See "The Zoo Tycoon."

  • Make an animal completely happy.

    This achievement requires that you make a single animal completely happy for 20 minutes and can only be done in Challenge Mode. You can check an animal's happiness by going to Edit Exhibit>Animals>View Animals, and then using the bumpers to switch between animals. To unlock this achievement, you must fill then "Animal Happiness" bar the 100% (not just into the green) and keep it there for 20 minutes. This stat is basically just the average of the other four statistics, Hunger, Cleanliness, Habitat Happiness, and Social Need. Dont focus on this achievement as it will unlock early in Challenge mode without any effort most likely.

  • Research 10 items (Campaign & Challenge Modes only).

    See "Red Hot Research."

  • Keep your average animal happiness in the Green for 20 minutes.

    This achievement requires that you keep your average animal happiness in the green for 20 consecutive minutes of real time. Average animal happiness is just that, an average of all your animal's happiness. You can check this by heading to the main gate (in zoo or tycoon view) and holding  to bring up the Zoo Overview. This achievement can be done in any game mode and will probably unlock with no effort. If you are having trouble, start a Freeform zoo and build a single tropical rock mini-exhibit and fill it with three lemurs. Just monitor the happiness of your lemurs for twenty minutes, making sure to keep them in the green. This will at most involve a single refill of the cleaning or feeding stations.

  • Hire a member of staff.

    This achievement requires that you hire a staff member for the first time. There are three types of staff in the game: janitors, breeding specialists, and zoo keepers. Janitor is the cheapest to research and hire when starting a zoo. You will first need to build a janitor's office, found under Facilities. Once the office is built, go to Edit Facility>Staff>Hire. Here you can select someone to hire. Once you hire your first one, the achievement will unlock. This can be done in any game mode.

  • Upgrade an attraction.

    See "Upgrading is for Winners."

  • Repair an attraction or enrichment.

    After you build an attraction (concession, decoration or facility) building or an enrichment in an exhibit, they will slowly degrade with time until they are broken. When you click on them, you can see their health as a stat with a wrench. Go into the respective edit screen and select repair to pop the achievement. You can repair anything. Even attractions that have 100% health. This can be done in any game mode.

  • Research an item (Campaign & Challenge Modes only).

    See "Red Hot Research."

  • Complete a challenge (Challenge Mode only).

    See "World Heavyweight Champ."

  • Receive an award (Challenge Mode only).

    See "The Zoo Tycoon."

  • Build your 1st exhibit.

    This achievement requires that you build your first exhibit and can be done in any game mode. Head to any open area and enter the Build menu. Select the type and size of the exhibit and build it to unlock this achievement. 

  • Start your first zoo.

    This achievement requires that you start a zoo for the first time and can be done in any game mode. From the Main Menu, select any game mode and as soon as it loads, the achievement will unlock.

  • Breed a color variant of an animal.

    See "One of Everything."

  • Breed every animal type.

    See "One of Everything."

  • Breed every animal and their color variants.

    These achievements require that you breed every animal and their color variants (give birth to them, not re-breed) in the game at least one time and can be done in any game mode or combination of game modes. Let's start off with the fact that only animals you can place in the main exhibits can breed (not mini-exhibit animals). In order for animals to breed, you must have at least one male and one female of the same species in the same exhibit. Only animals that are Level 6 or higher (i.e. an adult) can breed. Breeding occurs somewhat randomly, but the odds of breeding can be increased by researching Animal Breeding in the Research Tree at the Main Gate of your zoo (which increases breeding odds for all animals in your zoo) or by assigning a breeding specialist to a specific exhibit (which only increases breeding odds for that exhibit).

    Color variants are a subset of each species. Basically there is a small chance that when animals breed the baby will not be a normal version of that species, but actually a color variant. Each breedable species has one color variant. Completing the third tier of Animal Breeding in the Research Tree will increase your chance of a color variant by 50% so that should be top priority. "Have You Seen This Guy?!" will unlock when you breed you first color variant animal. Once you breed each species one time (color variant or regular), "One of Each" will unlock.

    In total you will need two breed 78 different types of baby animals, broken downs as follows:

    • Bears (18)
    • Chimps (8)
    • Elephants (8)
    • Giraffes (10)
    • Hippos (2)
    • Lions (12)
    • Rhinos (12)
    • Tigers (8)

    This does not need to be in a single zoo, but more than likely it will be as you do not unlock the last animal until you reach maximum Fame Rating at Level 30. Zoopedia will keep track if you adopted, released, and bred each species of animal. However, it does not keep any information about color variants. For this reason, it is suggested you keep track manually all of your breeding. Specifically if you bred both the regular and color variant version of each species. You might find THIS spreadsheet created by xoAly helpful for this (it also has Xbox One exclusive animals in it however). 

    This will probably be your last achievement you unlock and will be quite a grind. Breeding is a slow process. The best way to go about doing this is to create many medium exhibits as possible with specific types on animals together (i.e. have all tigers, all lions, all rhinos, all giraffes in each exhibit). Medium exhibits can hold 6 total animals. Have two species in each exhibit, with a male and a female for a total of 4 animals. This will leave two open spots to be filled by baby animals. Note that if the exhibit is already full, no animals in that exhibit will become pregnant. Make sure you have maxed out your breeding research from the Main Gate, as well as assigned a Level 3 breeding specialist to each exhibit. There are pop-ups for when an animal becomes pregnant, but they are easy to miss. The easiest way to get a gauge if any animals are pregnant is from Tycoon view by hovering over an exhibit and holding . You can see the total number of animals in the exhibit (which in this case should read 4/6). Un-born fetuses will count towards the exhibit animals. Once an animal is pregnant, there will be a gestation period which sometimes feels like it lasts forever. If it seems that an animal has been pregnant for a very long time, try exiting to the Main Menu (and saving!) and reloading into your zoo. This often triggers births either right away or within a minute or two. 

    Each time a baby is born you will hear a crying sound and a pop-up will come on screen. Head to that exhibit and select the newborn and see if it is regular or a color variant. Make sure to take pictures of the color variant babies right away for the "Photographer Extraordinaire" achievement before you forget. After any photos have been taken, it is best just to immediately sell the newborn to make room for a new babies. Two animals can mate multiple times together and the same animal can give birth multiple times, however, blood-related animals will not breed. Once your two breeding animals of a species reach Level 15, release them to the wild as they will hardly (if ever) breed anymore and this will help towards the "Conservationalist" achievement. Keep adopting and releasing the male and female until you have bred both a regular and color variant of that species. Then sell all of that species and move onto the next. Note: Animals will not become pregnant in an exhibit that is already full of animals, or if your Zoo limit is completely full. 

    As mentioned, this is cumulative across all game modes. However, you will want to do this most probably in Challenge mode as you need to progress to Fame Rating 30 anyways in that mode. Once you earn the "World Heavyweight Champ" for completing 100 challenges, you can ignore the challenges with little consequences (except the ones that will confiscate an animal if you complete it). Once you reach Fame Rating 30, everything will be unlocked. However, you will be a long way from earning $10 million. Balance your exhibits and other elements of the zoo to maintain relatively happy guests to keep your revenue coming in. Once you reach $10 million, you no longer need to worry about guests at all. Sell everything that is not a breeding exhibit (save zoo keepers and breeding specialists). This will allow you to build more exhibits. Do so and continue with the breeding. 

    In total, you will likely need to dedicate 10 hours or more towards breeding alone due to the slow nature of breeding, the randomness to color variants, and shear amount of animal species.

  • Refill the animal cleaning stations 250 times.

    This achievement requires that you cumulatively refill the animal cleaning stations 250 times across all your zoos and can be done in any game mode. You can refill a cleaning station by entering the Edit Exhibit menu, then clicking Exhibit Items>Animal Care, using the bumpers to highlight the station and  to select it. Here you will find the refill option. The station does not need to be completely empty of water to refill it, however, it can't be full.

  • Feeder

     

    15

    Restock the feeding stations 100 times.

    This achievement requires that you cumulatively refill the animal feeding stations 100 times across all your zoos and can be done in any game mode. You can refill a feeding station by entering the Edit Exhibit menu, then clicking Exhibit Items>Animal Care, using the bumpers to highlight the station and  to select it. Here you will find the refill option. The station does not need to be completely empty of food to refill it, however, it can't be full.

  • Release one of every animal type into the wild.

    This achievement requires that you release at least one of every animal type into the wild across all of your zoos and can be done in any game mode. To release an animal into the wild, it must be Level 15. Animals increase in level as they age from Level 1 when they are born to a maximum of Level 15. Depending on their level of care, it will generally take around two hours of actual playtime for a single animal to go from Level 1 to 15. Once an animal is Level 15, go into Edit Exhibit>Animals>View Animals. Use the bumpers to highlight the Level 15 animal and then  to select it. Choose Release to Wild and the animal will be removed from your zoo (you do not get anything). Do this for all 52 types of animals (both exhibit and mini-exhibit animals) and the achievement will unlock. Color variants are irrelevant for this achievement.

    The larger main-exhibit animals will be released as part of the breeding process for the "One of Everything" achievement. The mini-exhibit animals should be adopted at as high of level as possible and then aged to Level 15 to be released.

  • Have a successful Viral Advertising campaign.

    This achievement requires that you deploy a viral advertising campaign for your zoo. Advertising is used to increase the amount of guests in your zoo for a period of time and can be found by selecting the Main Gate to enter the Edit Menu. From here, select Advertising and then Viral. Choose any intensity that wish and the achievement will unlock immediately. Note that Viral Advertising will not become available until you reach Fame Rating 20 and you also must research before using it.

  • Clear up 1,000 pieces of poop.

    This achievement requires that you cumulatively clear 1,000 pieces of poop across all your zoos and can be done in any game mode. You can clear poop by entering the Edit Exhibit menu, clicking Poop, and then using the bumpers to highlight the individual pieces of poop and  to clear them. Use the bumpers to rotate through and destroy all the poop in the exhibit. Each animal will periodically poop and it will remain on the ground until you clear it. This achievement is easier if you do not have too many zookeepers, as they will clean the poop for you, slowing your progress toward the 1,000. 

  • Complete all 3 interactions with the animals.

    This achievement requires that you perform all three animal interactions at least once (feeding, hosing, and sensory). See "Play Time" for more information about interactions. 

    *GLITCHY* If you first complete the requirements for the achievement in the tutorial, it will become glitched. It is best to attempt to unlock this achievement ASAP following the Step 0a of the Roadmap. If it does glitch on you, there is a fix. When booting up the game, select a different save location to than the one you normally use (i.e. a USB drive or a cloud). Skip the tutorial and go right into Campaign mode and select the Hard level in Canada. Build and complete all three interactions here to unlock the achievement. 

  • Complete 25 treat interactions.

    See "Play Time."

  • Complete 25 hose interactions.

    See "Play Time."

  • Play with 25 animals.

    These achievements require that you complete each interaction a cumulative total of 25 each times across all of your zoos and can be done in any game mode. There are three types of interactions: feeding, hosing, and sensory (playing). The interactions must first be built in the exhibits before you can do them. Each interaction type can only be performed on specific types of animals, so pay attention to that. For example, the hosing interaction can only be performed on elephants, bears, hippos, and rhinos. These will come naturally while playing through the game, but to get them done quick, you can repeatedly perform the same interaction on the same animal over and over until they unlock. You only need to begin the interaction; it does not need to be completed to count (i.e. you only have to feed one piece of food or hose until the green bar goes up a small amount).

  • Receive all 20 awards in the same zoo (Challenge Mode only).

    These achievements require that you receive all 20 awards in a single Challenge Mode zoo. Awards can be found in the Edit Main Gate Menu, under Awards, and are mostly milestones that you will naturally pass when expanding your zoo. There are awards for reaching Fame Ranking 30, adopting certain animals, building certain habitats/concessions/decorations, having all the exhibits, reaching guest rating 10,000, releasing 100 animals, and breeding 100 animals, plus several easier ones. These will all come naturally as you work through breeding animals for the "One of Everything" achievement. 

  • Complete 25 Challenges (Challenge Mode only).

    See "World Heavyweight Champ."

  • Complete 100 challenges (Challenge Mode only).

    These achievements require that you complete a cumulative total of 1, 25, and 100 challenges across all of your Challenge Mode zoos. Challenges are usually simple tasks which frequently pop-up and must be completed within a given time. You can check your current challenges by pushing down on the  from within the zoo (while not in any menus). Example challenges include taking a photo of a specific animal, hosing 3 animals, completing a buggy race, releasing or breeding a specific amount of animals, building certain decorations/concessions, and maintaining animals/guest happiness levels for a given amount of time. The whole purpose of Challenge mode is to complete challenges, so you should have no problem getting 100 completed with ease.

  • Build every type of concession in the same zoo.

    This achievements requires that you build every type of concession in the same zoo in either Challenge or Campaign Modes. From the Build Menu, go to Concessions. There are 8 entertainment and 7 Food+Drink concessions to build. The last concession does not unlock until a later Fame Rating. They must all be present in the zoo simultaneously. This could be an issue with the zoo limit. Temporarily sell some other building to make room for you to quickly construct all the concessions if your zoo limit has been reached. 

  • Upgrade an attraction to level 3.

    These achievements require that you upgrade attractions and must be done in any mode ("Upgrading is for Winners" can not be done in Freeform Mode). "We Can Make it Better" requires you upgrade any attraction to level 2, while "Upgrading is for Winners" requires you upgrade any attraction level 3 (the maximum). Attractions are anything that can be upgraded, including facilities, decorations, and concessions. Click on the attraction once it is built to enter Edit mode and then hit Upgrade. A Fame Rating near 10 is required to upgrade an attraction to level 3. 

  • Increase your Fame level 100 times across all your zoos.

    This achievement requires that you earn a cumulative total of 100 Fame Rating increases across all of your zoos in Campaign and Challenge modes. Fame increases in your zoo by doing just about anything that involves expansion, happy animals, or upgrades. This will unlock naturally when finishing Challenge and Campaign modes, but if you want to unnecessarily grind this, it is easiest just to keep starting zoos and advancing to level 10 or so by constructing buildings, as initially Fame level increases are quick, but slow as you expand your zoo towards the zoo limit. 

  • Fill a photo album.

    See "Photographer Extraordinaire."

  • Fill all the photo albums.

    These achievements require that you fill all the photo albums in the game. Photo albums can be found in the Game (Pause) Menu under Albums while playing any game mode. To take photos, you must be in Zoo view (third-person of your avatar) and then push . Use the sticks to zoom-in or look around. Snap a photo with 

    There are two types of photo albums you need to fill: Animals and Hidden Coins. For the Animals, there are 24 albums, one album for each type of animal in the game. You essentially need to snap a picture with the camera of every animals species in the game, as well as all of the color variants. In total, this will require 166 photos. You will have to adopt each of the regular species, but the color variants can only be bred. See "One of Everything" for more info on breeding color variants. For the Hidden Coins, there is one album consisting of 25 pictures of the Hidden Coins in the game. These coins are hidden among various exhibits, usually embedded in the walls/roof of the rock shelter of the exhibit, but not always. The coins are bronze in color and are a little larger than your in-game characters head. The specific coins and the exhibit they are found in are listed below (thanks to Van Uden for compiling the list):

    • Meerkat: Tundra Large
    • Chimp: Alpine Medium
    • Iguana: Temperate Large
    • Antelope: Savannah Large
    • Sloth: Tundra Medium
    • Binturong: Savannah Medium
    • Red Panda: Alpine Large
    • Lion: Savannah Large
    • Elephant: Temperate Large
    • Zoo Keeper: Alpine Large
    • Lemur: Temperate Medium
    • Parrot: Alpine Small
    • Peafowl: Alpine Large
    • Mongoose: Tundra Small
    • Giraffe: Grasslands Medium
    • Rhinoceros: Grasslands Large
    • Hippopotamus: Grasslands Large
    • Capuchin: Tropical Medium
    • Komodo: Tundra Large
    • Flamingo: Tropical Large
    • Tortoise: Tropical Large
    • Tiger: Temperate Small
    • Snake: Tropical Small
    • Bear: Grasslands Small
    • Fossa: Savannah Small

    Use the video below to find the exact location of each coin (credit: Youtube user Amanda f).

    After taking a photo of an animal or coin, make sure to push  to keep it. A pop-up will come on screen stating that "You picture was saved to the __ album." It needs to say either Hidden Coin or Animal album. If it says Photo Journal instead, take the photo again. You can check the albums to see what photos you are missing from each album. Blank spots will appear for the photos you are missing.

  • Complete a scenario (Campaign Mode only).

    See "Correction, the Mad SkillZ."

  • Complete 5 scenarios (Campaign Mode only).

    See "Correction, the Mad SkillZ."

  • Complete all the scenarios (Campaign Mode only).

    These achievements require that you complete all 20 scenarios of Campaign Mode. This mode will task you with numerous objectives to complete on a limited budget and within a time limit. There are 4 scenarios labeled as Easy, 8 as Normal, and 8 as Hard. These scenarios will really test your zoo managing and multitasking skills. Most of them will likely only require one attempt to complete but a few may require a couple. Completing previous missions are sometimes needed to unlock subsequent ones. Most can be completed well under the time limit, but you will probably find yourself coming down to the wire on more than one occasion. Just keep at it, they really are not that difficult, especially after you are familiar with the game mechanics from playing Challenge Mode. 

    See the "General Tips" section in the Roadmap for information on succeeding in the game.

  • Train a member of staff up to level 3.

    This achievement requires that you hire a staff member and upgrade them to level 3. There are three types of staff in the game: janitors, breeding specialists, and zoo keepers. Janitor is the cheapest to research and hire when starting a zoo. You will first need to build a janitor's office, found under Facilities. Once the office is built, go to Edit Facility>Staff>Hire. Here you can select someone to hire. Make sure to hire someone that is not already level 3 (the number of stars is their level). Once they are hired, select their name and then Upgrade. If you hired a level 1, you will need to upgrade twice. If you hired a level 2, you will only need to upgrade once. There is no Fame Rating requirement for upgrading staff and this can be done in any game mode.

  • This achievement requires that you move on foot for a total of 10km. You are on foot only when in Zoo view. All of the foot travel in all of your zoos in all game modes will count towards this achievement. This will most likely come before finishing all of the other achievements in game. However, it can easily be boosted by simply running around the zoo. A solid one to two hours should net you this achievement. To help with the grind, you can simply build a structure at the very far end of your zoo so that a long, straight, and unpopulated sidewalk forms. Use this for your running. 

  • This achievement requires that you drive the buggy for a total of 25km. To call for a buggy, you can push  while roaming in Zoo view. Enter the buggy with . All of your driving in all of your zoos in all game modes will count towards this achievement. This will most likely come before finishing all of the other achievements in game. However, it can easily be boosted by simply driving around the zoo. A solid one to two hours should net you this achievement. To help with the grind, you can simply build a structure at the very far end of your zoo so that a long, straight, and unpopulated sidewalk forms. Use this for your driving.

  • Have a guest rating of 10,000 in your zoo (Challenge Mode only).

    This achievement requires that you attain a guest rating of 10,000 in a Challenge Mode zoo. The guest rating gauges how many guests are coming to your zoo and is displayed as the number on the right in the top middle of the screen. Reaching 10,000 is quite easy and will occur somewhere around Fame Rating 20 to 25. Just keep creating exhibits, upgrading, building, decorating, and cleaning. To temporarily boost your guest rating, you can use advertising campaigns, but it is definitely not needed. Just be patient in Challenge Mode.

  • Customize 50 different attractions.

    This achievement requires that you customize a cumulative total of 50 different attractions across all your zoos and can be done in any game mode. The description is misleading as it can be the same attraction over and over. The quickest and easiest way to unlock this achievement is to build any decoration or facility. Make sure you are in Tycoon view and hover over the building. Now jam the  as fast as you can. Doing this will enter the Edit menu, then select Customize, then Select Trees, and finally choose a custom tree type. Quickly going through these menus to select the same tree type over and over will count towards this achievement. You can have this done in less than two minutes.

  • Earn $100,000 (Campaign & Challenge Modes only).

    See "A Multimillionaire, Who's Also a Ninja."

  • Earn $1,000,000 (Campaign & Challenge Modes only).

    See "A Multimillionaire, Who's Also a Ninja."

  • Earn $10,000,000 (Campaign & Challenge Modes only).

    These achievements require that you earn a cumulative total of $100k, $1 million, and $10 million across of all of your zoos in Campaign and Challenge Modes. You do not need to have the amounts in your account at one time. Instead, they represent your lifetime revenue from your zoos. While this may initially seem like a daunting task, your progress towards these achievement will be exponential as your zoo grows and gains a larger guest rating. Most of this will be earned in Challenge Mode and you should not have to much trouble reaching this by the time you earn the rest of the achievements in the game. Once your zoo is large enough, you will be raking in hundreds of dollars per second.

  • Research everything (Campaign & Challenge Modes only).

    These achievements require that you research one, ten, and every item in the game. This is cumulative across all of your Campaign and Challenge Mode zoos. Almost everything in the game requires researching, which involves the payment of a small fee and a chunk of time to unlock. To earn this achievement, you must have researched everything in the game. This includes things like exhibits, decorations, food stands, animal interactions, animals themselves, animal care stations and enrichments, advertising, and much more. The last items/animals unlock at Fame Rating 30, so dont plan on earning this achievement before then. To speed up the research times by 25%, be sure to fully research that category to Level 3 (unlocks at Fame Rating 20) in the Research Tree.

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