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Planet Zoo 2 group sizes: herds, minimum groups and pairs

How group limits are spread

The table counts species by their maximum group size, split by enclosure type. Most species sit at the low end: the median maximum across all 136 is 5, and only 13 species allow more than 20 animals.

Terrestrial habitats have the highest median maximum. Flying habitats look small on this measure because eight of the twelve birds stop at two, even though the flamingo's 500 ties for the largest maximum of any species and the vulture's 80 is the next largest after that. On the minimum side, 99 species start at 1, 15 at 2 and 14 at 3; only eight need more than three animals from the start.

The biggest groups

These 17 species allow 20 or more animals. The space columns use each species' main area type (land in terrestrial habitats, flight space in flying habitats, deep water in aquariums) and show how much that area grows from the smallest allowed group to the largest.

Both 500-animal species add very little per animal. A group of six African Penguins needs 195 m² of land, and 500 need 1,677 m², because each extra penguin adds only 3 m². The flamingo adds 2 m² of flight space per bird and goes from 98 m² at 20 birds to 1,058 m² at 500.

The steepest growth on the list comes from species that can start with one animal and add a lot per head. The Red Lionfish needs the same 16 m² of deep water for every fish, so a group of 20 needs 20 times the space of one. The White-Backed Vulture, Greater Flamingo, Indo-Pacific Leopard Shark and Asian Elephant all grow tenfold or more from their minimum groups. At the gentle end, a full group of Ring-Tailed Lemurs needs only 2.0 times the land of the smallest group of 3.

Species that must start as a group

There are 22 species that can't be kept below three animals. All but one are habitat animals; the exception is the Javanese Cownose Ray, with a minimum of 5.

A higher minimum means a higher starting footprint. Even the smallest legal group of six penguins needs 195 m² of land, and the minimum group of three Asian Elephants needs 1,128 m². Another 15 species start at two. In the aquarium, only the cownose ray and the Sand Tiger Shark have a minimum above one, and every exhibit-only species can be kept singly.

Species capped at two

No species in the data has a maximum group of one. The smallest cap is two, and all 32 species with that cap have a group size of 1 to 2, so you can keep one animal or a pair. They come from every enclosure type:

• Terrestrial (12): Aardvark, African Leopard, Eurasian Brown Bear, Goodfellow's Tree-Kangaroo, Grizzly Bear, Komodo Dragon, Malayan Tapir, Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Sumatran Tiger, Sun Bear, Sunda Pangolin.
• Flying (8): Eurasian Bittern, Golden Eagle, Javan Green Magpie, Long-Eared Owl, Secretarybird, Shoebill, Toco Toucan, White-Tailed Sea-Eagle.
• Aquarium (2): Clown Triggerfish, Great Hammerhead.
• Exhibit only (10): Amazonian Giant Centipede, Boa Constrictor, Common Bluetongue, Giant Malaysian Leaf Insect, Giant Slippery Frog, Golden Poison Frog, Lehmann's Poison Frog, Mexican Redknee, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Yellow Anaconda.

For the 22 of them with a main area listed, the second animal adds anywhere from 13% to 100% of the first animal's figure. The Malayan Tapir is at the low end: 430 m² of land for one and only 56 m² more for a second. The bears and big cats on the list sit close behind at about 15%. At the top, six species need their full first-animal main-area figure again for the second animal, so a pair needs exactly double: the Clown Triggerfish, Eurasian Bittern, Golden Eagle, Komodo Dragon, Sunda Pangolin and White-Tailed Sea-Eagle.

By class, 11 are mammals, eight are birds and five are reptiles. The rest are three amphibians, three invertebrates (a centipede, an insect and an arachnid), one ray-finned fish and one shark.

How much each extra animal adds

For the 106 species with a main area listed, the table groups them by how much space each extra animal needs, as a share of the first animal's figure.

Most species fall in the middle: 71 of the 106 need more than 10% and up to half of the first-animal figure per extra animal. The single most common figure is exactly 30%, shared by 22 species, 21 of them shoaling fish. At the low end, an extra penguin needs 1.7% of the first penguin's land and an extra Galápagos Giant Tortoise 2.2%, so adding one more of either changes the total very little.

Working out the space for any group size

The formula is the same for every species and area type: first-animal minimum + (number of animals − 1) × the amount for each additional animal. The Meerkat needs 180 m² of land for the first animal and 14 m² for each extra, with a group size of 2 to 30:

Apply the same sum to each area type a species lists, such as aquatic or climbable space, using that area's own figures. The habitat planner does the arithmetic for one or several species at the counts you choose, and adds shelter, the strictest barrier and the shared temperature.

Exhibit animals

The 30 exhibit-only species all have a group size starting at 1, with maximums of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. Seven allow up to 8, among them the Cloudless Sulphur, Diamondback Terrapin and European Peacock. The Zoopedia lists no area for them; they are collected on the exhibit animals page.

Group limits are the official Zoopedia's (checked 2026-10-14); counts, bands and the space at each group size are worked out on this site. Read how the data is collected for the details.