Years have passed since the loss of The Ultimate Zookeeper, but the wounds have not healed.

It is up to you. You must bring back The Ultimate Zookeeper. And to do that, you will have to become The Penultimate Zookeeper.

Travel the world. Gather its creatures. Learn their secrets. Gain their strength. Save the Zookeeper, save the world.

Spoiler: The Ultimate Zookeeper is 

The Short Version

This is a pack oriented around exploration and animal collecting, with a side of automation and gaining upgrades. The world is filled with creatures with many different useful abilities. Your zoo will start as little more than a farm, but you will gain more an more exotic animals until you are even resurrecting dinosaurs. The better your zoo gets, the more the Zoogoers (villagers on vacation) will pay you, thus funding your further research.

There will usually be more than one animal that can help you with a given step in the quest. For example, when travelling the world, you could ride a horse, or an ostrich, or even a chocobo. Milk can be obtained from cows or sheep, wool can be obtained from sheep, llamas, or even rabbits, fur can be obtained from almost any mammal. Magpies will collect ore for you, oretoises will grow it on their back, platypuses will dig it up in exchange for food.

Learning about animals along the way will make you stronger, giving you extra hearts, or special abilities like a minimap. Take the time to purse the Paths of Mastery! Exploration is also necessary to gather all the animals you'll need, and Distant Horizons lets you look far into the distance as you're deciding where to venture.

Core Animal Mods

1. Alex's Mobs
2. Genetic Animals
3. ZAWA: Evolved
4. Rats
5. Exotic Birds
6. Aquaculture 2
7. Naturalist
8. Unusual Prehistory
9. Crazy Chocobos
10. The Endergetic Expansion
11. Quark

Core Tech Mods

1. Also Rats
2. Inventory Pets
3. Tinker's Construct
4. Caged Mobs
5. Waystones
6. Zoogoers
7. Domestication Innovation

The Long Version

Chapter 1: Animal Farm

Deep integration with Genetic Animals gives you a fresh take on familiar Minecraft animals. Get yourself a farm going, and breed your animals to optimize for wool, leather, milk, meat, etc.

Chapter 2: Rat King

Rats! They're not just pests, they can also be great workers and fighters. Yeah, I reckon with enough rats you could automate just about anything.

As you learn to make use of these little animals, you will also unlock pets that can be kept in your inventory, giving you helpful abilities as long as you carry them around.

Chapter 3: Science!

We're not luddites here, it's time to science the heck out of these animals. As your research advances you will be able to automate the harvesting of animals' drops, make better equipment, and even create life (in the form of spawn eggs).

Chapter 4: Dinosaurs

Your zoo is not satisfied with modern biodiversity! It's time to bring back the dinosaurs! Using the fossils you've gathered on your journeys, extract their DNA and bring them back to life. It's great practice for bringing the Ultimate Zookeeper back to life.

Side Quests

When you start you are fleshy and weak. But as you study animals you will grow in strength and wisdom. Follow the Path of the Owl to gain in wisdom, unlocking quality-of-life mods like Jade, AppleSkin, JourneyMap, and Ore Scanners. Follow the Path of Turtle to gain armor, more inventory space, and alternate ways to live when you're exploring. Follow the Path of the Peacock for valuable accessories. Follow the Path of the Spider for better ways to catch animals for your zoo.

The Zoo

Even if an animal isn't useful in your research, it's worth putting in your zoo. Zoogoers are impressed by the diversity and will pay better for more larger and more varied zoos. Those emeralds are critical for your research!

Tips and Tricks