The golden eagle is a Deluxe Edition animal and one of the most impressive birds in the game. It's the most widely distributed eagle on the planet, found across Asia, Europe, North America and even North Africa. Building an aviary for golden eagles is a great introduction to how birds work in Planet Zoo 2.
Golden eagle facts
- Wingspan over 2 m. Females are bigger than males.
- Territories can be as large as 200 km².
- They dive at 240–320 km/h when hunting.
- They nest on cliffs and hunt hares, rabbits, marmots and ground squirrels.
- In Kazakhstan and Mongolia, people still hunt with golden eagles. Eagle falconry is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.
Space and barrier
- About 400 m² of land for one eagle, 600 m² for a pair (one male, one female).
- Fence: 1 m, grade 2. Wire netting or rope netting both work.
- The aviary needs a roof. Use the habitat roof tool and then adjust the roof posts. Getting the posts right takes some trial and error.
A neat trick: build a custom metal ring around the top, swap the fence poles for invisible poles, and the aviary looks much cleaner.
Temperature
13–30 °C. Add a heater or cooler if your map goes outside that.
Why my first eagle was at 37% welfare
When my eagle first moved in, its welfare was only 37%. Here's everything I had to add:
- Drinking water: a small pond with a pump.
- Shelter.
- Terrain: sand and soil, with less grass.
- Plants: only a few. Eagles don't want much coverage.
- Enrichment: a toy and a ribbed feeder.
- Climbable items: perches. They wanted at least three.
- Nests: a large cup nest.
- A hiding place. The alert said "Animal cannot vacate high-stress areas away from guests". Guests could see every corner. I built a small rock cave in a hidden spot and the stress went away.
Getting to thriving
After research, my eagles needed:
- Food grade 2
- More climbable items (perches)
Perches and nests
- Spread perches around. Don't stack them vertically, because birds below get messy.
- Put nests on rock ledges and cliff walls. My birds claimed a nest on a rock wall and later had chicks there.
- Vertical dead trees and rock shelves give them more places to land.
The traversable area bug
Elevated rock formations sometimes don't show as traversable, and eagles don't always fly to the backstage entrance by themselves. If an eagle won't go somewhere, pick it up and place it manually. Birds can land on rock ledges even if the heat map doesn't show them.
Backstage
Build a backstage building with a food prep kitchen, an indoor cage and a ramp to the outside. It's not required, but it makes the aviary feel complete.
Tips
- Use photo mode when the eagles take off. They look spectacular.
- Pin species in the habitat panel so you can see all their needs while you build.
- During mating season they do display flights. It's worth watching.