Wildlife

Animals live on every island: game to hunt, predators that hunt you, and things gone wrong in the foul air. Each species has its own senses, hours and habits. See hunting for how to get close and what a kill gives you.

The animals

Animal	Kind	Group	Active	Meets a threat	Runs	Attack
Deer	Prey, large	2–6	Dawn and dusk	Flees	9.4 tiles/s
Wild Boar	Prey, medium	2–5	At night	Fights when cornered or hurt	7.5 tiles/s	22
Rabbit	Prey, small	1–3	Dawn and dusk	Flees	8.8 tiles/s
Wolf	Predator, medium	3–6	At night	Hunts	8.4 tiles/s	16
Bear	Predator, large	1	Any time	Fights when cornered or hurt	7.8 tiles/s	45
Toxic Wolf	Predator, medium	1–3	At night	Hunts	8.1 tiles/s	20
Toxic Boar	Predator, medium	1–2	At night	Hunts	7.3 tiles/s	28
Grouse	Prey, small	2–5	By day	Flees	10.6 tiles/s
Duck	Prey, small	2–6	By day	Flees	10 tiles/s
Mountain Goat	Prey, medium	2–5	By day	Flees	9.1 tiles/s
Snake	Predator, small	1	Any time	Fights when cornered or hurt	4.4 tiles/s	8
Crocodile	Predator, large	1–2	Any time	Hunts	8.1 tiles/s	55
Feral Dog	Predator, medium	3–5	Any time	Hunts	8.1 tiles/s	12

You walk at 4.4 tiles/s and sprint at 7.2 tiles/s. A deer or a wolf is faster than you; you will not outrun a pack.

Where they live

Each species lives on islands of certain climates and keeps to the ground it likes. Around you, 4 groups are about by day and 5 at full night, appearing 30 to 44 tiles away. Animals are rarer outside their active hours and away from their seasonal ground. Animals never appear inside villages or towns, and farms draw rabbits (× 3) and grouse (× 3).

Animal	Island climates (most per island)	Ground
Deer	Temperate (30), Cold (28), Alpine (16), Wet (14)	forests, open ground
Wild Boar	Temperate (24), Tropical (24), Swamp (20), Wet (16)	forests, marshes
Rabbit	Temperate (40), Cold (24), Wet (30), Swamp (16), Arid (24), Volcanic (8), Alpine (16), Tropical (24)	open ground, forests
Wolf	Temperate (8), Cold (12), Alpine (10)	forests, open ground, mountains and tundra
Bear	Temperate (3), Cold (4), Alpine (4), Wet (2)	forests, mountains and tundra
Grouse	Temperate (24), Cold (20), Alpine (14), Wet (18)	forests, open ground
Duck	Temperate (20), Wet (24), Swamp (24), Tropical (18), Cold (12)	shallow water, marshes
Mountain Goat	Alpine (22)	mountains and tundra
Snake	Arid (20)	deserts, ash and beaches, open ground
Crocodile	Swamp (8), Tropical (6)	shallow water, marshes

Feral dogs live in the raid sites, not out in the open.

Populations

Every island keeps count of each species. A new island starts at 80% of what it can hold. Hunt a species down and it gets scarce; once the last one is gone it is hunted out and none appear until new ones arrive. Each day 3% of the missing animals wander back in from elsewhere, and the rest breed back: prey breeds fastest when the island is half full.

Predators follow their prey. Wolves prey on deer, wild boar and rabbits. Predator numbers rise when prey is plentiful and fall when it is scarce, so hunting out the deer also thins the wolves.

Some animals sleep through winter: Bear.

Sick and mutant animals

Animals avoid foul air. Where the pollution reaches 30%, healthy animals move out, and those that turn up there anyway are sick: they look it, and their carcasses are polluted. From 65% pollution the wolf and the boar come as mutants instead, and other species do not appear at all.

Mutants are aggressive and glow. Each of their bites adds 5% to your toxicity. Butchered, a mutant gives a Toxic Gland, which a chem trader pays well for and which makes antitox pills.

Animals at home

Each hour there is a 20% chance that Rabbit or Deer wander into your home, at most 2 at a time. At a sown planter nobody fenced in they nibble the crop. A fence or a wall keeps them out.

From night 3, each night has a 6% chance of a pack of Feral Dogs, up to 4, 1–7 hours after dusk. They hunt you and your companions and leave at dawn. They never come on a horde’s night.

Dogs in raid sites

Packs of Feral Dogs roam the raid sites: towns, industrial parks, hospitals, police stations, bunkers, labs, launch sites, airports and nuclear power plants. A visit has a pack with a 50% chance by day and 80% at night (less in police stations and bunkers), 1–2 packs, never right where you arrive.

Zombies and animals

Zombies attack animals too, and they smell carcasses from 20 tiles away and come to feed. Do not leave a kill lying long. See zombies.

Every species

Deer

Kind	Prey, large
Group	2–6
Active	Dawn and dusk
Meets a threat	Flees
Walks / runs	1.9 tiles/s / 9.4 tiles/s
Sees	9.4 tiles, 300° around
Hears	1.6 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 37.5 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Lives on	Temperate, Cold, Alpine, Wet islands
Found in	forests, open ground
Butchering gives	8 × Raw Meat, Animal Hide, 4 × Animal Bone, 2 × Animal Fat and 2 × Sinew

It moves with the seasons: up to the high meadows in summer, down to lower ground in winter.

Wild Boar

Kind	Prey, medium
Group	2–5
Active	At night
Meets a threat	Fights when cornered or hurt
Walks / runs	1.6 tiles/s / 7.5 tiles/s
Sees	7.5 tiles, 270° around
Hears	1.3 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 34.4 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Attack	22 damage every 1.2 s
Lives on	Temperate, Tropical, Swamp, Wet islands
Found in	forests, marshes
Butchering gives	6 × Raw Meat, Animal Hide, 3 × Animal Bone, 3 × Animal Fat and Sinew

Rabbit

Kind	Prey, small
Group	1–3
Active	Dawn and dusk
Meets a threat	Flees
Walks / runs	1.3 tiles/s / 8.8 tiles/s
Sees	6.9 tiles, 340° around
Hears	1.8 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 15 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Lives on	Temperate, Cold, Wet, Swamp, Arid, Volcanic, Alpine, Tropical islands
Found in	open ground, forests
Picked up as	Rabbit Carcass

It comes close to your home.

Wolf

Kind	Predator, medium
Group	3–6
Active	At night
Meets a threat	Hunts
Walks / runs	2.8 tiles/s / 8.4 tiles/s
Sees	15 tiles, 220° around
Hears	1.5 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 43.8 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Attack	16 damage every 0.8 s
Lives on	Temperate, Cold, Alpine islands
Found in	forests, open ground, mountains and tundra
Butchering gives	3 × Raw Meat, Animal Hide, 2 × Animal Bone, Animal Fat and Sinew

Bear

Kind	Predator, large
Group	1
Active	Any time
Meets a threat	Fights when cornered or hurt
Walks / runs	1.9 tiles/s / 7.8 tiles/s
Sees	7.5 tiles, 200° around
Hears	1.2 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 50 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Attack	45 damage every 1.6 s
Lives on	Temperate, Cold, Alpine, Wet islands
Found in	forests, mountains and tundra
Butchering gives	12 × Raw Meat, Animal Hide, 6 × Animal Bone, 5 × Animal Fat and 2 × Sinew

It sleeps through winter: none are about then.

Toxic Wolf

Kind	Predator, medium
Group	1–3
Active	At night
Meets a threat	Hunts
Walks / runs	2.5 tiles/s / 8.1 tiles/s
Sees	13.1 tiles, 220° around
Hears	1.4 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 40.6 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Attack	20 damage every 0.9 s
Mutant of	Wolf
Butchering gives	3 × Raw Meat, Animal Hide, 2 × Animal Bone, Animal Fat, Sinew and Toxic Gland

Toxic Boar

Kind	Predator, medium
Group	1–2
Active	At night
Meets a threat	Hunts
Walks / runs	1.6 tiles/s / 7.3 tiles/s
Sees	6.9 tiles, 270° around
Hears	1.2 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 31.3 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Attack	28 damage every 1.2 s
Mutant of	Wild Boar
Butchering gives	6 × Raw Meat, Animal Hide, 3 × Animal Bone, 3 × Animal Fat, Sinew and Toxic Gland

Grouse

Kind	Prey, small
Group	2–5
Active	By day
Meets a threat	Flees
Walks / runs	0.9 tiles/s / 10.6 tiles/s
Sees	5 tiles, 300° around
Hears	1.4 × as well as you
Smells you	No
Lives on	Temperate, Cold, Alpine, Wet islands
Found in	forests, open ground
Picked up as	Grouse

It bursts into the air when danger comes within 3.8 tiles, or at once when it hears one, and flies 11.3 tiles–20 tiles away over walls. Shoot it in flight. It comes close to your home.

Duck

Kind	Prey, small
Group	2–6
Active	By day
Meets a threat	Flees
Walks / runs	0.8 tiles/s / 10 tiles/s
Sees	6.3 tiles, 320° around
Hears	1.3 × as well as you
Smells you	No
Lives on	Temperate, Wet, Swamp, Tropical, Cold islands
Found in	shallow water, marshes
Picked up as	Duck

It bursts into the air when danger comes within 5 tiles, or at once when it hears one, and flies 10 tiles–18.8 tiles away over walls. Shoot it in flight. It swims through shallow and deep water. It comes close to your home.

Mountain Goat

Kind	Prey, medium
Group	2–5
Active	By day
Meets a threat	Flees
Walks / runs	1.7 tiles/s / 9.1 tiles/s
Sees	11.3 tiles, 300° around
Hears	1.4 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 28.1 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Lives on	Alpine islands
Found in	mountains and tundra
Butchering gives	5 × Raw Meat, Goat Hide, 3 × Animal Bone, Animal Fat and Sinew

On scree, rock, snow and frozen ground it is 1.35 times as fast.

Snake

Kind	Predator, small
Group	1
Active	Any time
Meets a threat	Fights when cornered or hurt
Walks / runs	0.6 tiles/s / 4.4 tiles/s
Sees	3.8 tiles, 300° around
Hears	0.6 × as well as you
Smells you	No
Attack	8 damage every 1.5 s
Lives on	Arid islands
Found in	deserts, ash and beaches, open ground
Picked up as	Dead Snake

It lies hidden and is hard to see. It strikes only when you come within 1.8 tiles and gives up a chase past 3 tiles. Its bite poisons: you are Sick for 10 minutes and your toxicity rises by 8%.

Crocodile

Kind	Predator, large
Group	1–2
Active	Any time
Meets a threat	Hunts
Walks / runs	1.3 tiles/s / 8.1 tiles/s
Sees	8.1 tiles, 240° around
Hears	1.2 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 18.8 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Attack	55 damage every 2 s
Lives on	Swamp, Tropical islands
Found in	shallow water, marshes
Butchering gives	8 × Raw Meat, Crocodile Hide, 4 × Animal Bone, 2 × Animal Fat and 2 × Sinew

It swims through shallow and deep water. It lies hidden and is hard to see. It strikes only when you come within 3.8 tiles and gives up a chase past 6.3 tiles. It hunts people by day and night.

Feral Dog

Kind	Predator, medium
Group	3–5
Active	Any time
Meets a threat	Hunts
Walks / runs	2.5 tiles/s / 8.1 tiles/s
Sees	13.1 tiles, 240° around
Hears	1.6 × as well as you
Smells you	up to 37.5 tiles when the wind carries your scent to it
Attack	12 damage every 0.7 s
Butchering gives	2 × Raw Meat, Dog Hide, 2 × Animal Bone and Sinew

It hunts people by day and night. It lives in raid sites (see below) and sometimes comes to your home at night.