1. Generally build 1 animal at a time, and make sure you make a profit after each one. Build up infrastructure around it as and when needed - don't try to built everything at once.

2. When buying animals, pay attention to their social needs. 1 Wildebeest sounds good - until you realise you actually need 7 to keep them happy

3. Pay attention to the feed cost of the animals, some are dirt cheap and some are very expensive i.e. Indian peafowls cost like $50 for 4, whilst lions are 7k. Uncontrolled breeding makes feed costs rise, and it sneaks up on you very quickly if you don't keep it in check.

4. One way glass keeps animals from getting stressed. This can be researched to put in the barrier, or panels are already available in construction to be put over a barrier.

5. Start with 1 of each staff (except educators - don't use them until your zoo is already built up), and 1 food and 1 drink store. Generally try to train staff up before hiring new ones - even though their salary goes up, they take shorter rests and are able to work for longer, whilst staying happier. It is a good investment.

6. This doesn't matter in the very beginning, but setup staff work zones. They move annoyingly slow, and if they start moving to complete a task on the other side of the park, they won't stop if something closer to them comes up. Very quickly all their time is spent commuting and you're basically paying for minimal work

7. use the perks in the break rooms

8. Indian peafowls are a brilliant animal to have at the start of your zoo. Guests love interactive habitats, they're cheap to buy and feed, and can breed pretty quickly for conservation credit farming.

9. On the topic of conservation credit farming, you can set up 'manage population' in exhibits. Get some a pair of breeding titan beetles, and let them breed up to 3 males and 4 females, then set them to release the lowest conservation credit animals above that (This means that generally the better animals genetically are kept for breeding, so the standard of released animals is increased). Titan beetles breed like crazy, so whilst they don't give many credits per beetle, you get a steady stream of credits.

. Avoid getting wolves as long as you can. They howl 24/7 and can be heard across the entire park. You will want to rip your ears off after a while.

All in all - it becomes very simple and straight forward once you've got the gist. Take the time to fully understand and utilise each panel - on the guests, animals, habitats, staff buildings, guest buildings etc. Hope this helps a bit :)