Planet Zoo 2 Barrier Grades Explained: What Grades 1-5 Contain

Quick answer: Every habitat animal in Planet Zoo 2 is contained by two numbers in its official Zoopedia entry: a barrier grade and a minimum height. Grade measures strength — whether the animal can force its way through — while height measures vertical risk from jumpers and climbers. At launch the confirmed roster tops out at Grade 4, for elephants, hippos and the great bears; whether a Grade 5 requirement exists anywhere in version 1.0 is still under community testing.

How do barrier grades work in Planet Zoo 2?

The Zoopedia’s Natural Habitat tab lists each species’ barrier requirement as a grade plus a height in metres. The grade is a strength class: an animal confined behind a barrier below its required grade will test it, damage it and eventually break out — and confident-temperament species such as the grey wolf begin testing almost immediately. Height is the second, independent check. A barrier must satisfy both numbers at once, which is why the two figures never tell the whole story separately.

The launch roster’s documented grades cluster like this:

Grade	What it contains (confirmed species)	Typical height
Grade 1	Minimal fencing — small, harmless animals such as walkthrough aviary species	Low
Grade 2	Most mid-sized stock: plains zebra (1.25 m), giraffe (1.25 m), ring-tailed lemur, snow leopard, Eurasian lynx (all 3 m), Komodo dragon (1 m)	1–3 m
Grade 3	Big predators and great apes: lion, grey wolf, spotted hyena, Sumatran tiger, gorilla, chimpanzee, orangutan (mostly 3 m)	~3 m
Grade 4	Heavyweights: African savannah elephant (3 m), common hippopotamus (2 m), grizzly bear and giant panda (both 2 m)	2–3 m
Grade 5	Not yet confirmed on any launch species — still under community testing	—

Why does height matter as much as strength?

Compare the grizzly bear with the snow leopard and the engineering logic becomes obvious. The grizzly demands Grade 4 strength but only 2 m of height: nothing in the game out-muscles a bear, yet bears do not jump their fences. The snow leopard is the mirror image — a shy, retreat-first animal rated only Grade 2, but the fence must still be 3 m high because leopards are vertical. The Eurasian lynx makes the same point in miniature: Grade 2 strength, 3 m height, plus 20 m² of climbable structure inside, because lynx are climbers rather than fence-fighters.

The rule of thumb: strength contains the pushers, height contains the jumpers and climbers, and the great apes need both — every confirmed ape sits at Grade 3 and 3 m, since a 90 kg gorilla that climbs demands respect on both axes. When two species share one habitat, build to the higher grade and the greater height. Individual species breakdowns live on each animal page, from the Sumatran tiger to the common hippopotamus.

Which barrier materials should you use?

Each barrier type in the game carries four properties: grade, visibility, climbability and water-tightness. Glass is transparent and watertight but only Grade 2, which makes it perfect for guest-side viewing of Grade 2 species and useless as the sole fence of a wolf habitat. Climbable meshes satisfy a strength requirement while failing a climber entirely — remember that the snow leopard’s welfare demands height precisely because a scalable fence does not count as containment for it. Water-tightness is the property beginners forget: only watertight barrier types can hold a water body, so a hippo pool sealed with a leaky fence type simply errors.

None of this forces a uniform fence around a habitat. Mixing types along one loop — glass at the viewing plaza, rated wall behind the shelter, watertight panelling along the waterline — is both legal and the standard aesthetic practice. Our piece-by-piece building guide walks through mixing barrier segments cleanly, and the Flexi Colour guide covers recolouring them to match a theme.

How do you plan barriers before you build?

Read the Zoopedia first, always. Every confirmed figure in this guide comes from the official Zoopedia data recorded on our animal pages, and the game’s official building guides describe the same workflow: enclose the perimeter, then complete it with a gate before the habitat registers as sealed. Three habits prevent most escape incidents. First, build for the strongest species you ever intend to house, not the first one — retrofitting a Grade 2 paddock into a Grade 4 bear enclosure means demolishing the loop entirely. Second, respect the temperament column: confident animals test fences, so a wolf at the minimum spec needs more attention than a shy lynx at the same numbers. Third, treat water edges as barrier work — hippos need 502 m² of water behind watertight panelling, and that pool edge is a fence line whether it looks like one or not.

What are the beginner mistakes with barrier grades?

The classic errors are all under-building. Skimping on height for a Grade 2 jumper, using a climbable mesh for a climbing species, or fencing a water body with a non-watertight type all produce the same outcome: an escape, a fine, and a habitat that drops to zero welfare while the animal roams the guest plaza. The opposite mistake — over-building everything to Grade 4 — murders your budget and guest visibility, and opaque high walls hide the animals guests came to see. Build to the Zoopedia spec, add a margin of height for aesthetics where the species tolerates it, and let the habitat design guide handle everything inside the fence. If an animal does escape despite a compliant barrier, log it — corner-case containment behaviour is still under community testing, and confirmed quirks feed our known issues and fixes page.