Animals

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Navigation:Main Index>The Game World>NPC>AnimalsPage Updated: Version 40.43

“	“Finally you’ll be able to wander around the countryside trying to shoot rabbits with a shotgun.”
	— Will Porter

Animals play a minor role in Project Zomboid, currently only appearing as items rather than roaming throughout the landscape. There are various types of animals - including game, fish and insects - and each has their own methods of obtaining them.

Items

Game

Most game animals can only be obtained through trapping, however dead rats and dead mice can be found in various containers, kitchen counters in particular.

Animal	Meat	Trap	Bait
Dead Mouse	Small Animal Meat	Mouse Trap	Cheese Processed Cheese Peanut Butter Chocolate Bacon Bits Apple Orange Tomato
Dead Rabbit	Rabbit Meat	Trap Box Trap Crate Snare Trap Cage Trap	Carrots Lettuce Potato Tomato Corn Bell Pepper Apple Banana Peach
Dead Rat	Small Animal Meat	Mouse Trap	Cheese Processed Cheese Peanut Butter Chocolate Bacon Bits Apple Orange Tomato
Dead Bird	Small Bird Meat	Stick Trap	Bread Bread Slices Worm Corn Cereal
Dead Squirrel	Small Animal Meat	Trap Box Trap Crate Snare Trap Cage Trap	Cereal Peanuts Peanut Butter Instant Popcorn Lettuce Corn Bell Pepper Apple Peach Orange

Fish

Most fish can be obtained through fishing, however certain fish require specific types of bait.

Animal	Meat	Trap	Bait
Little Bait Fish		Fishing Net Trap
Bass	Fish Fillet		Worm Cricket Grasshopper Cockroach Fishing Tackle
Catfish	Fish Fillet		Worm Cricket Grasshopper Cockroach Fishing Tackle
Crappie	Fish Fillet		Worm Cricket Grasshopper Cockroach Fishing Tackle
Perch	Fish Fillet		Worm Cricket Grasshopper Cockroach Fishing Tackle
Pike	Fish Fillet		Worm Little Bait Fish
Sunfish	Fish Fillet		Worm Cricket Grasshopper Cockroach Fishing Tackle
Trout	Fish Fillet		Worm Cricket Grasshopper Cockroach Fishing Tackle

Insect

Insects are obtained by foraging (and rarely by looting refrigerators or vehicles); worms can also often be dug from grass tiles using a trowel.

Animal	Edible	Foraging Skill	Bait
Worm	Raw	2	Fishing and Trapping
Cricket	Raw or Cooked	4	Fishing
Grasshopper	Raw or Cooked	6	Fishing
Cockroach	Raw or Cooked	6	Fishing

Future features

This article/section is about an item or mechanic that is currently unimplemented and planned for build 42. It has either been previewed or found in the game files and does not exist yet.

Animals with their own AI that wander the landscape are planned to be included in build 42. The first iteration of animals won't be utilising Lemmy's AI code, and will instead have very basic functionality. These animals are intended to suppоrt the new crafting features coming in build 42, therefore will likely only include animals utlised in animal husbandry, such as cows, sheep, pigs and chickens, providing a renewable source of milk, hide, wool, etc.

Angus Cow debug info panel showing some statistics.

Functionality

In Project Zomboid lore, the noise caused by animals will attract zombies, however they won't be driven to attack them.

Each animal type will have various definitions:

• Livestock: determines the type of animal, e.g. cow.
• Breed: there will be various breeds of animals, each breed with its unique properties, e.g. "Anugus" (meat breed) or "Holstein" (milk breed).
• Gender: male or female, determines its set of functionlity, e.g. breeding, milking, etc.
• Age: determines various functions, e.g. ability to breed (too young or too old) and amount of milk produced. Will eventually die when too old.
• Size: the minimum and maximum size an animal can be. Larger animals will provide more resources.
• Can be milked: some animals can be milked, e.g. cow. Will generate milk for a certain period after delivering a calf.
• Flee humans: determines if the animal runs away from humans, e.g. mouse.
• Can be attached: a rope can be used to attach certain animals so they can be led or stop from wandering away.
• Hunger: animals will need to eat, with the amount dependant on the breed. An animal left hungry or thirsty will gradually lose health until it dies. Will eat from a trough.
• Food types: determines the types of food it can eat from a trough. Some animals can graze on grass if trough is empty, however won't grow as big.
• Enclosure size: enclosure must be a minimum size, otherwise the animal won't grow as big, providing fewer resources.

Animal breeding

All animals will have a genetics system, encouraging breeding of animals. Each animal type will have a set of abstracted genes that each contain two alleles inherited from parents, including: “milk quantity”, “life expectancy”, “strength”, “appearance” genes, and more. Characters with appropriate skills will be able to inspect an animal to get an idea of its health-related attributes (aka genes).

Each animal will carry two sets of alleles in their genome, one being contributed randomly from each parent. There are dominant and recessive alleles, meaning the player must be careful when in-breeding, as animals may have recessive genes for genetic illnesses of varying types.

Planned animals

• Cow and Bull (source of milk, hide, steak)
• Sheep (source of wool, mutton chop and milk)
• Pig (source of pork chop and bacon)
• Chicken (source of chicken and lays eggs in a henhouse)
• Deer
• American Black Bear
• Birds (source of small bird meat)
• Rabbit (source of rabbit meat)
• Red Bear
• Squirrel (source of small animal meat)
• Mouse (source of small animal meat)
• Rat (source of small animal meat)
• Elk

Gallery

• 

  Rabbit model.

• 

  Bull model.

• 

  Sheep models.

• 

  Grazing deer.

See also

• Planned features

References