Biomes

The hexagonal tiles the creatures walk on mark different biomes according to their color and textures. There are currently six biomes implemented in the game so far.

## Grassland

*Main article: Grassland*
Grassland tiles are a light green color and are covered in tall grass.

### Plants

* Acorn Tree
* Berry Bush
* Healing Fruit

### Wildlife

* Bearyena
* Bluebird (not found on Tiny Green or Peaceful Meadow)
* Dodomingo (not found on Tiny Green or Peaceful Meadow)
* Killer Bearyena (only on Deadly Hills)
* Peaceful Bear
* Rabbil
* Stagmole

### Camouflage

* Brown Fur
* Stripes (only when hiding in tall grass)

### Strategy

If you want to collect from the acorn tree, the Nimble Fingers is better than the Cracker Jaw because unlike the latter, it also adds collecting. Be sure to have Antlers/Horns because of the aubundance of Stagmoles and Rabbils and Bearyenas. For camouflage, having brown fur helps, but ultimately having stripes while in tall grass makes you completely invisible to predators and prey alike with +5 Camouflage. On the killer island Deadly Hills, you will need a different, more specialized strategy. You should not need to worry about stealth or scentless abilities because Bearyenas only use their sight. You will find the Poison Fangs very helpful for providing lasting damage to Killer Bearyena that are otherwise difficult to damage. There are a few body/paw setups that you can successfully use: Lean Body with double Claw, Big Body/Spikes with double Runner Leg, Toxic Body/Normal Body with both. Other than those tips, there is no one magic strategy because lots of strategies can work.

## Jungle

*Main article: Jungle*
Jungle tiles are a dark green color. They contain special plant tiles that act like a block and otherwise function like regrowing grass. They also contain mud tiles, which can disguise odor (see abilities) and leaf piles, which remove stealth for that turn.

### Plants

* Meat Eating Plant
* Healing Fruit
* Smelly Fruit Tree

### Wildlife

* Apes
* Bearyena
* Bluebird
* Clams
* Dodomingo
* Fish
* Goldleech
* Peaceful Bear
* Razoranha

### Camouflage

* Black Fur

* Red Brown Fur

* Dots
* Stripes (when hiding in tall grass)
* Mud

### Strategy

Warning: Do NOT enter the jungle islands until you are SURE that you are ready, because it is very dangerous! The biggest threat that you will encounter are the Three Great Apes, which you must adapt for. It is not recommended that you try to adapt strength, because they are very hard to even hit. Instead, there are two things that you can do. You can either try to camouflage, or you can make yourself as deterrent as possible. To camouflage, you will want four genes in your gene pool: black fur for the jungle, brown fur for the adjacent grass biome, dots, and stripes for hiding in grass, it is advised that for the camouflage bonus of being in the grass, you only remove select grass pathways to move around and to highlight important objects. To hide from the Smelling Ape, use the Lean Body which provides the max amount of odor disguise, roll in mud, and lick your tribemates clean when picking fruit. To be deterrent, use the Stinky Tail and Derp Snout, but don't bother with Toxic Body because it does not help with anything else. The Toxic Body is actually somewhat dangerous due to the fact that it disables fur color and pattern. You can deter the hearing apes, but to do so you need 6 Stealth. The Lean Body is very helpful for this as it not only provides stealth, but it also provides speed to run away, and coupled with two Velvet Paws, you should be undetectable and fast. That'll also help with the Hearing Ape. Be VERY careful where you step, because scattered around the jungle are piles of branches, and stepping on those branches takes away all of your stealth for that turn. For the Big-Eyed Ape, resort to camouflage. You will need Antlers/Horns in the gene pool because of normal carnivores and prey spawning. It is recommended to come here with no less than 10 food per creature, a good gene pool, and lots of luck.

## Savanna

*Main article: Savanna*
Savana biomes are hot and will reduce creatures action points by one without sufficient heat resistance. Savanna biome tiles are a yellow color. They also contain the less fruitful bare bushes which have no leaves and less berries than the bushes in other biomes. They have a higher permanent nest spawn rate and thus spawn more Dodomingo.

When it gets hot, fires may spawn on random tiles and spread. Fires don't need standing grass to catch or spread, so attempting to create a firebreak is pointless. If a creature steps on a burning tile or starts its turn there, it will catch fire, taking one damage per turn. Other Nichelings can extinguish their burning fellows, but cannot put out environmental fires. After a fire goes out, its tile turns dark brown and a few turns later respawns as a random savanna tile.

### Plants

* Bare Bushes
* Cacti

### Wildlife

* Bearyenas
* Dodomingo
* Rabbil
* Rogue Male
* Stagmole

### Camouflage

* Red Brown Fur

* Beige Fur

* Stripes (When hiding in tall grass)

### Strategy

The savanna can be a dangerous biome if you aren't prepared, so you should stockpile your food and do basic preparation before coming here. Your three main problems here will be heat, brushfires and famine. To deal with the heat, you should get Big Ears and Lean Body, and seek out trees to sit under. Brushfires can be very dangerous, so you will need to be fast in order to run away. Lean Body and Runner Legs should help with that. There are a lot of cacti, but don't pick from them unless you have to, because there are other food sources that do not harm your pack. It is not easy to find food that isn't cacti, though, so you're going to need a combo of Big Nose and Big Ears to hear and smell bare bushes and bunnies. Because bunnies and carnivores still spawn, you will need to have the Ram Horns. The Scorpion Tail shouldn't be passed up, because the poison is very useful for wearing down carnivores and rogue males. Because there are more permanent nests, dodomingoes will be more common. It's not recommended that you attack them, though, because they have a lot of health, they only provide a little bit of food, and attacking them will only summon more dodomingoes to annoy you. As for avoiding brushfires, there's not really a way to stop them or prevent them from happening on your own. The only way they can be stopped is by the infrequent rain falls that sometimes occur in the Savannah or by burning out on their own.

## Swamp

*Main article: Swamp*
Can increase chance of a common cold. Swamp biome tiles are a dark green color. Toxic berry bushes constitute the main source of food, but the snails that appear atop mangrove trees offer a minor alternative source.

After rain, wet tiles may spawn randomly and 1-tile sized clouds of mosquitoes spawn from them, afterwards moving towards your creatures. Creatures on or around the tile with mosquitoes may be bitten and have one energy, as they give the sleeping sickness. Thorns constitute a more avoidable hazard; they deal 4 damage to an unprotected Nicheling that removes them, and otherwise act as an impassable barrier.

### Strategy

Poison fangs, toxic body, or scorpion tail will allow your creatures to safely eat toxic berries. Only flying nichelings will be able to access the snails on mangrove trees. Black fur provides camouflage. Be prepared to quarantine sick Nichelings; look for healing plants to undo the damage, or consider having a Purr Snouted healer.

## Mountain

*Main article: Mountain*
The mountain biome is cold, and your creatures will need some cold resistance. The mountain biome has a coloration of white and grey tiles. This biome contains no berry bushes, so other food sources must be used. Ice blocks can be found on this island; when you break one, a creature with random ancient genes will spawn. There are also special "hot spring" tiles which give your creatures 3 cold resistance when being stood on.

### Plants

* Pine Tree
* Spiky Bush

### Wildlife

* Arctic Ramfox
* Balance Bear
* Crabbit
* Rabbil
* Walrus Deer

### Strategy

NOTE: You will need some form of cold resistance, or else your playthroughs will be very annoying with the -1 energy penalty. You will need a large amount of strength, because you will be relying on prey as your food source, and your best food source, the Walrus Deer, takes a lot of hits to kill. You also need to be fast, so it's recommended that you combine Big Body with Runner Leg for speed and strength. But don't pass up the Digging Paw if you get it, because roots can save your life when you have no other food. Be sure to utilize ancient genes at your own discretion- there are none that are truly useless as of now. Make sure you have a lot of creatures to warm your pack-mates up.

## Water

*Main article: Water*
Nichelings can find fish and Goldleeches in this biome, and drown if they go too deep in the water if the creature does not have water breathing. Water biome tiles are a blue color, and slightly transparent. They also reflect the creature's reflection. There is a known glitch with the fur color reflected in the water. The fur color will be different in the reflection than on the actual creature.

### Plants

* Alga
* Water Healing Plant

### Wildlife

* Clams
* Clownkoi
* Crabbits
* Fish Swarms
* Goldleeches
* Razoranha

### Strategy

This is difficult to get right, so do not try unless you know what you are doing. You will need the Water Body, the Webbed Hind Legs, and the Swimming / Fin Tail, with this setup your creatures have 5-6 Swimming (but on land your Nichelings will only have crippling 1 Speed). To be able to fish Razoranha and weaker fishes, you will need double Claws, as Fishing 4 is needed. Fishing Tail can be safely skipped unless you are using Bearyena Claws or just really, really want to get 6 Food from Fish Swarms. The Platypus Beak is about as useful as the Digging Trunk is on land and thus, it should not be passed up if it appears. For cracking Clams, you will need the Cracker Jaw, or preferably if you unlocked it, Hammer Tail. Platypus Beak > Cracker Jaw as long as underwater food sources are compared. As for camouflage, Beige Fur (pattern doesn't matter) gives camouflage on sandy beaches. Be attentive for Goldleeches, they pose a constant threat if you ignore them (the notifications can be helpful for this), do not sent single Nicheling far away, it'll quickly become infected, bleeding and a meal for Razoranha.