Planet Zoo celebrates fifth birthday with more DLC and a free leopard

With less than a month to go until park management sim Planet Zoo whacks on a paper hat and toots out a party blower fwooooop to celebrate its fifth anniversary, developer Frontier has announced it's be marking the occasion with more paid DLC and a free leopard for PC players.

Starting with the DLC, it's called the Zookeepers Animal Pack and will introduce a further seven creatures for zoo builders to exhibit when it arrives on 15th October. There's the Pallas cat, the Hamadryas baboon, the Markhor, Spectacled bear, African spurred tortoise, Coquerel’s sifaka, and finally, Kirk's dik-dik - and, yes, I did let out a juvenile giggle at the last one.

All that's joined by 95 new celebration-themed scenery pieces - including bunting, marquee tents, lanterns, and picnic benches - plus a brand-new scenario that'll challenge players to prepare, manage, and pull off a five-year birthday party for the famous Frontier Zoo.

As for the aforementioned leopard, it's part of Planet Zoo's free update 1.18, also launching on 15th October. Specifically, the four-legged freebie is an African Leopard and it arrives alongside some free hats (presumably not for the leopard) and the jelly cake enrichment tool.

Frontier hasn't yet shared what - if anything - might be in store for Planet Zoo beyond its fifth anniversary, but we do know the studio is currently putting the finishing touches to sister series sequel Planet Coaster 2, which launches for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 on 6th November.