Animals
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Wild animals occasionally spawn on the map according to the biome and from random events. These wild animals and tamed animals will wander and graze on vegetation, including player-grown plants, regardless of type. Growing food outdoors can sometimes attract animals to your base perimeter. Animals are an important source of food by the meat they provide once hunted and butchered.
Raiders will target tamed animals as often as colonists.
As of version 0.14.1234 (15 July 2016) animal trainers receive 90 XP per training attempt, which is increased from 60 in Alpha 13. Taming an animal also grants 90 XP per attempt, which previously did not occur. When animals nuzzle a colonist, it counts as a social interaction and is logged in the social tab of both the colonist and animal.
Animals Tab
The Animals tab is in the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. The default hotkey is F4.
- The Animals tab lists all the colony animals. Clicking an animal name will center the map to that animal.
- A button lists the animal's master, if it has one. Click the button to assign a new master.
- Allowed areas are also listed here including Unrestricted, Home area, and animal areas. Each animal stays in its assigned area unless its master is drafted.
- The [Manage areas...] button at the top of the tab opens a window to edit allowed areas.
As of version 0.14.1234 (15 July 2016) several features have been added to the Animals tab:
- Gender and life stage informational columns
- A "Slaughter" checkbox column to allow easy slaughtering of multiple tamed animals at once
- Checkbox columns for each trainable skill to allow easy training of many animals
Appearance
Most animals appear to have no limbs, just as colonists do.
Some animals have different appearances between males and females.
Behavior
- Wandering: Animals will wander the area when they have nothing else to do, e.g. eating or hunting. When wandering, some species of animals will tend to stay together in a herd. Others will spread out alone across the map.
- Filth: While walking on constructed floors they can leave animal filth. The rate of producing filth is proportional to body size and wildness.
- Forbidden food: Hungry tame animals will eat forbidden food and may even leave their allowed area.
Mating
Occasionally tamed males will approach a tamed female of the same species to initiate mating. The female will stand there, allowing males to mate with her. Afterwards the female can get pregnant.
More than one male can mate with the same female at once.
Wild animals do not mate.
Fleeing
Passive animals will mostly flee when harmed. They will not flee if they are engaging in combat with an adversary.
More aggressive animals will turn and attack instead of fleeing.
If a member of a herd is harmed or killed, the rest of the herd will flee as well, scattering around.
Aggression
Sometimes a single animal may go mad, or every animal of the same species be driven mad by a psychic wave, and attack any humans not behind closed doors.
If injured by a colonist or tamed pet, certain species of animals will become maddened into a manhunter state and will relentlessly seek out humans to attack. Sometimes nearby animals of the same species will be simultaneously enraged. Unless otherwise neutralized, a maddened animal will eventually return to a normal mood. Animals in manhunter state will attack doors if colonists try to go in and out of them.
Predation
Most carnivores are predators. When hungry, a predator will prefer an easy meal. They'll first go for meals or food types within their diet. They may go for a downed or dead animal or a human corpse. But when a hungry predator has no other food nearby, they will hunt, kill and consume almost any animal smaller than them, including your tamed animals or even your colonists. This can especially be a problem on maps with little wildlife, like on Ice sheets when a polar bear wanders in. Still, predators tend to choose more vulnerable and weaker animals, and wisely avoid boomrats and boomalopes. Their attacks usually stun their prey, leaving them unable to fight back or flee. A predator will focus all their attacks on their downed prey, so if they do down your colonists or livestock and you have a colonist nearby, then direct them to Rescue that downed pawn. It could mean the difference between life and death.
Predators include Arctic fox, Arctic wolf, Cat, Cobra, Cougar, Fennec fox, Grizzly bear, Lynx, Panther, Polar bear, Red fox, Timber wolf, Warg.
Body heat
Animals will give out body heat, slightly heating up their surroundings. This is insignificant most of the time, but in enclosed barns with many animals packed, the heat can quickly become a problem.
Breeding
Animals are born by live birth or by hatching from a fertilized egg.
Live Birth
Female animals that give live birth become pregnant when a male animal approaches them and mates. Only tamed animals may breed. An animal's gestation period specifies how long a female's pregnancy will last.
A pregnant animal suffering malnutrition or is injured may miscarry. Miscarriages are noted by an in-game message.
Live births produce amniotic fluid (see Filth).
Some animals will give birth to multiple young. The probability of this is determined by a curve, and is different for each animal.
Animals can breed with their own family members without penalty, even for repeated generational incest.
| Early stage (hidden) | : Starts at 0%. This stage is not displayed but may be surmised by the vomiting it causes. |
|---|---|
| Middle stage | : Starts at 33%. At this stage Moving is reduced by 15%. |
| Late stage | : Starts at 66%. At this stage Moving is reduced by 30% and may include vomiting. |
| Full term | : At 100%. At this point the female will give birth. Some species may have multiple offspring in a litter. |
Eggs
Egg-laying animals include Cassowary, Chicken, Cobra, Duck, Emu, Goose, Iguana, Ostrich, Tortoise, Turkey. Females become fertilized after mating with males, causing them to lay fertilized eggs. Most animals will not lay unfertilized eggs, with the exception of chickens.
Fertilized eggs display their progress on the inspect pane and hatch when ready.
Fertilized eggs can be ruined by temperature if not kept within their safe temperature range of 1 °C (33.8 °F) to 49 °C (120.2 °F).
- Eggs may start to overheat at/above 50 °C (122 °F).
- Eggs may start to freeze at/below 0 °C (32 °F).
The inspect pane will indicate 'Overheating' or 'Freezing' followed by a percentage rising up to 100%. This status is halted when safe temperate is restored, but it is not reset - if the temperature is unsafe again, it will pick up where it left off. If it reaches 100% the egg is 'ruined by temperature' and will not hatch even if returned to a suitable area. A ruined egg still has full nutritional value and can be used to make a meal (or eaten raw, with a mood debuff).
Diet
While most carnivorous animals can eat raw meat, corpses, kibble, and meals, Wargs can only eat raw meat and corpses.
All strictly herbivorous animals and some omnivorous animals (notably pigs and boars) can eat live plants (except trees) and haygrass.
Dendrovorous animals such as the alphabeaver and the thrumbo can eat trees, in addition to other plant-based foods.
Because all animals except wargs can eat meals, kibble, and pemmican, it is possible to feed meat to herbivores or plants to carnivores if it is prepared first.
Health
Animals have the same set-up as humans when it comes to health, minus the ability to operate on them (except euthanasia)(The option to amputate an infected limb can become available once infection sets in, at least on Thrumbos—assuming other animals as well). They feel pain, and have all of the different health stats that human pawns possess. Needs to have an animal bed (or sleeping spot) to be healed.
Like humans, they have a life expectancy, and are affected by chronic diseases. There is no way to cure them in the base game other than Healer mech serum, which would be incredibly expensive.
Hunting
Wild animals may be marked for hunting, done by hunters with ranged weapons, who will proceed to shoot them at maximum range, before executing them with a neck cut when they are downed (except explosive animals). After killing their target, they will haul the carcass to a stockpile zone even if they are naturally incapable of hauling, but will not start hauling it again if they're interrupted.
Animals harmed by hunting that were not killed yet may become enraged and if its a pack type, its full horde may turn hostile against the entire colony. If they are non-aggressive animals they usually flee instead.
Hunting may take longer during bad weather since there's a shooting modifier while it's raining or snowing that makes it more likely for shots to miss.
- Fog (with or without rain): hit chance multiplier is 50%.
- Rain or snow: hit chance multiplier is 80%.
To mark animals to be hunted use one of the following methods:
- Click Wildlife, Click the first red X to the right of the animal you want to hunt and change it to a green check mark
- Click Orders, Hunt, then click one or more individual animals.
- Click Orders, Hunt, then click and drag a box to surround and select multiple animals.
- Select one or more animals, click Hunt.
Hunting tips
- Animals can be hunted manually instead of just using the hunt order by drafting a colonist and right clicking to fire at animals. This allows the killing of multiple animals in one session, or hunting from close range. Closer range reduces the chance of missing shots or unintended friendly fire, but raises the chance of provoking animal revenge.
- In the occasion of a full horde revenge, early-stage colonies may easily become overrun, leaving all colonists downed. But down is not out. While players may instantly think of loading the latest save and re-try (aka. save-scumming), it's unnecessary and unchallenging. Eventually, one or more of your colonists may recover. With luck, this miracle may take place at nightfall, when wildlife sleep (except for the most enraged beasts among those), or they have wandered far enough, opening a chance to rescue everybody else. The manhunter status of the horde will disappear overnight.
- Melee blocking could be a valuable tactic to defeat the rampaging animals. In addition to making it easier to defeat the animals even when outnumbered, it also keeps your downed colonists near your base for easy rescue.
Life Stages
Animals all have three different life stages. Animals have different graphics for different life stages, or may simply appear smaller. Animals start out as babies and their age is listed as minutes, hours, or months. Some animals have a specific name for this stage (e.g. chick). They then move on to juveniles (teenagers). Eventually, they reach the final life stage, adulthood. In the stages before adulthood, animals have lower stats (body size, health scale, mass, carrying capacity, move speed, hunger rate, meat amount, leather amount, market value) that normalize when they reach adulthood. Animals have different sounds (call, anger, wounded, death) for different life stages. Babies may simply make a higher pitched sound, or have a different sound altogether (such as chicks). Depending on the species, animals will need to reach the juvenile or adult stage before they can reproduce.
Needs
Animals require food and sleep and will fulfill their needs on their own.
Food: Animals will eat any available food according to their diet. Herbivorous animals of the colony can be left to eat grass on their own. Note that animals require different amounts of food compared to humans, as represented by their Hunger Rate.
Rest: Animals will sleep as needed. Tamed animals will sleep in animal sleeping spots, animal sleeping boxes, or animal beds. If none of which are available, the animal will crash out on the ground inside its allowed zone. A tamed animal will not sleep as long as its master is drafted.
Animal husbandry
Animals can be tamed and put to use in the colony, providing several benefits.
Taming
Wild animals can be tamed by a animal handler with sufficient Animal skill and available food. Tamed animals may be bred, trained, traded, slaughtered, or farmed.
Wild animals may be marked for taming using the Tame button.
An animal handler will attempt to tame marked animals using food fitting that animal's diet. The chance to tame an animal depends on the animal's wildness (displayed on the info window) and the handler's 'Tame animal chance' stat. This stat is determined by the colonist's animals skill, manipulation, and talking. When a handler fails to tame an animal there is a cooldown period before another attempt can be made and there's a small chance it will turn manhunter and start attacking the handler and others. After a while the handler may drop unused food. Tamed animals will remain in or near the colony or they may be assigned to animal areas to contain them. Setting animal areas is usually necessary to restrict them from eating food not intended for them.
Tame chances
Besides the animal handler's own skill, the wildness of the animals also counts.
Tame chances undergo a post-processing curve.
- An animal with 0% wildness has a x2 taming chance.
- An animal with 50% wildness has normal taming chance.
- An animal with 100% wildness cannot be tamed at all.
- When an animal has its wounds tended by a colonist, there is a constant 0.4% chance of the animal will self-tame and bond with the colonist, regardless of wildness.
Currently, the hardest to tame animal is the Thrumbo with a post-processed taming chance of 3%.
Animals with 0% wildness remain tame forever. An animal with a wildness above 0% needs to have maintenance training in Tameness. If it loses all Tameness it will go back to being wild.
Minimum skill
Some animals require a minimum skill before they can be handled. The game will prompt the player if no colonist has enough skill to handle the animal. In this case a colonist has only 1 point as an utter beginner and has learning ability, the easiest...
- Animals that require no points (zero) to tame are: Alpaca, Cat, Chicken, Cow, Dromedary, Husky, Labrador retriever, Pig and Yorkshire terrier.
An animal's handling skill requirement is calculated as follows:
Skill = 9 * (wildness - 0.3) / 0.7
So animals with a wildness of 30% or less won't require any handling skill whatsoever.
Interaction
Tamed animals can be trained by colonists. With Obedience trained, they will follow their master around if designated to do so.
Some animals can be milked or sheared, which will be handled if necessary. Only adult animals can be milked.
Occasionally, animals can nuzzle colonists, giving the colonist a mood buff and allowing the animal to be named. Animals can nuzzle anyone regardless of handling skill.
When injured, they will go to animal sleeping spots/ beds for rest and treatment.
Naming
Newly tamed animals get numerical designations so you can tell them apart (“Muffalo 1”, “Muffalo 2”, etc.). The game names certain animals when tamed or bought. Others are named when they nuzzle a colonist, or form a bond with them. Names can be changed by the player from the "Training" Tab.
Animals without a pet name may have a gender-specific name (i.e. hen, rooster, buck, doe), or a lifestage-specific name (piglet, warg puppy), or even a gender/lifestage-specific name (cockerel).
Names of tamed animals are not shown on the map unless the option is turned on. See Menu, Options, 'Show animal names'.
Training
Tamed animals may be trained depending on their trainable intelligence. Click the animal's training tab to specify training and view progress.
Once Obedience is trained, they can be assigned a master which they will follow. You can configure when the animals will follow their master, by toggling whether or not the animal will follow while doing field work (hunting/taming), or while drafted.
Many skills require multiple steps to fully train.
After a training attempt on a tamed animal, there is a 6 in-game hour waiting period before that same animal can be trained again.
Since Beta 19 skills now decay over time. The speed at which skills decay is dependent on wildness of the animal. For most animals their wildness is high enough such that their tameness decrease over time, such that they will eventually return to the wild if not maintained.
Combat
Once Obedience is trained, animals will gather around their master upon drafting, and will attack nearby threats, or (unintentionally) block ranged attacks for their master.
This is configurable and can be disabled by disabling follow during drafted.
With Release trained, animals can be released to attack threats from a distance.
Animals can be downed during combat, and can be rescued by colonists or other animals capable of Rescue.
Products
Certain tame animals produce milk, wool, or eggs. Shearing sometimes fails, indicated with a brief "product wasted" message.
Eggs
| Animal | Eggs Per Clutch Average | Egg Laying Interval | Eggs Per Season Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Cassowary|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1 | 3.33 | 4.5 |
| [[Chicken|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| [[Cobra|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1.5 | 10 | 2.25 |
| [[Duck|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| [[Emu|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1 | 3.33 | 4.5 |
| [[Goose|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1 | 2 | 7.5 |
| [[Iguana|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1.5 | 5.661 | 3.97 |
| [[Ostrich|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1 | 3.33 | 4.5 |
| [[Tortoise|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 2 | 6.66 | 4.5 |
| [[Turkey|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 1 | 1.333 | 11.25 |
Milk
| Animal | Milk Amount | Milking Interval | Daily Milk Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Boomalope|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| [[Caribou|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 10 | 2 | 5 |
| [[Cow|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 14 | 1 | 14 |
| [[Dromedary|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 18 | 2 | 9 |
| [[Elk|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| [[Goat|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 12 | 3 | 4 |
| [[Yak|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 11 | 1 | 11 |
Wool
| Animal | Wool Amount | Shearing Interval | Daily Wool Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Alpaca|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 45 | 10 | 4.5 |
| [[Bison|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 120 | 15 | 8 |
| [[Megasloth|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 200 | 20 | 10 |
| [[Muffalo|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 120 | 15 | 8 |
| [[Sheep|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 45 | 10 | 4.5 |
Slaughtering
Tamed animals may be slaughtered selecting the animal and clicking the Slaughter button, or by using the Slaughter tool from the Orders menu. An animal marked in this way will be slaughtered by an animal handler. The handler need not be equipped with a weapon.
If you try to slaughter a bonded animal, the game will warn you about it due to the mood impact this has on the animal's master.
Pack animals
Four animals, the Elephant, Muffalo, Dromedary, and Alpaca can be used as pack animals and will carry items in caravans. They have a capacity of 140 kg, 73.5 kg, 70 kg, and 35 kg respectively, and can graze meaning they don't usually require food.
When carrying items in their inventory, they will appear to have packs on, which disappear when unloaded.
Social
Each animal has a Social tab that lists that animal's bonds and relations. Clicking an entry jumps to that bond's counterpart. Bonded humans have a persistent mood bonus, unless they have the psychopath trait, while set as that animal's master. Animals do not have such thoughts or bonuses.
Occasionally, tame animals will nuzzle your colonists. More pet-like animals such as Yorkshire Terriers and Cats will nuzzle often, whereas wilder animals such as Timber Wolves and Grizzly Bears can still nuzzle colonists, but rarely do so. Since Alpha 16, animals can nuzzle patients in bed. A colonist who is nuzzled receives a +4 mood buff for 1 day.
Trade goods
Tamed animals may be sold to traders. Animals purchased from traders will be already tamed. Bulk goods traders offer pets and farm animals while exotic goods traders carry most of the wild species.
Raising animals
Growing haygrass
While the land can sustain a sizable population of animals grazing on it, it doesn't have an infinite supply and can still be depleted. If you need to raise a lot of animals at once, e.g. an exponentially growing group of chickens, you will need to grow haygrass to sustain them all.
Haygrass gives a total of 0.9 nutrition (18 units of hay) when fully grown and harvested, compared to 0.15 of grass. However, you have to keep your hungry animals from getting to it otherwise they'll only get a max of 0.2 nutrition from eating the plant.
Making kibble
Kibble is a kind of animal feed made with both plant and animal sources. It can be made using haygrass and any kind of meat, including human or insect meat.
All animals except wargs can eat it, so it makes a good way to feed your animals using mixed sources of nutrition, including those that animals won't normally eat. Kibble also lasts forever under a roof so you can store it and use it to feed animals when in need, such as in winter when there is nothing to eat.
Bird coop
An improvised chicken coop for chickens who just joined without "Taming".
Turkeys released from coop to feed.
Birds in general, migrate following weather, leaving the map when conditions are unsuitable. If you happen to have some in your colony, you will need to take care of them during winter as they are vulnerable to cold weather and may lose body parts to frostbite. Each according to their age will be more tolerant to cold. Construct a room with roof and a heater to keep them warm. They will need to be fed, either by creating an area to stock hay or free them during daytime so they can eat grass. They must be commanded to return before nightfall or risk being frozen (just returning to sleep isn't enough).
Birds will eventually produce eggs, make sure your main freezer settings doesn't allow fertilized eggs if you intend to keep them reproducing. You can create another stockpile zone within the chicken coop so that the eggs remain where they were placed by the birds themselves.
Pet care
Tamed animals that have a social bond to a person will affect the master's mood positively while living and negatively if killed (-8 for 20 days). This bond will either improve resistance against mental breaks or cause them. Because of the effect they cause on feelings, these creatures should be given special treatment, or any animal worth keeping alive.
These are a few tips to keep them safe:
- Keep them indoors by creating a new animal zone within a room.
- Keep them at the Home area after building a base wall.
- Prey animals should not be left wandering around in unrestricted area.
- Hunt their predators to prevent surprise attacks.
- Patrol your perimeter by zooming your view out to a larger scale but not to full, just enough to spot their sleeping animation of flying ZZZs while they rest at night. Sweeping your surroundings once every night shall keep you aware of threat presence.
- Herbivorous
- Alpaca • Bison • Boomalope • Capybara • Caribou • Cassowary • Chicken • Chinchilla • Cow • Deer • Donkey • Dromedary • Duck • Elephant • Elk • Emu • Gazelle • Goat • Goose • Guinea pig • Hare • Horse • Ibex • Megasloth • Muffalo • Ostrich • Rhinoceros • Sheep • Snowhare • Squirrel • Turkey • Yak • Toxalope
- Omnivorous
- Boomrat • Grizzly bear • Human • Husky • Iguana • Labrador retriever • Megascarab • Megaspider • Monkey • Pig • Polar bear • Spelopede • Raccoon • Rat • Tortoise • Wild boar • Yorkshire terrier • Waste rat
- Carnivorous
- Arctic fox • Arctic wolf • Cat • Cobra • Cougar • Fennec fox • Lynx • Panther • Red fox • Timber wolf • Warg
- Dryads
- Barkskin • Berrymaker • Carrier • Clawer • Gaumaker • Immature dryad • Medicinemaker • Woodmaker