Essentials - A ZAWA Addon
by Mnesikos
Essentials - A ZAWA Addon brings a set of extra animals, decorations and enrichment blocks to the Zoo and Wild Animals: Evolved framework on Forge.
What it does
Essentials adds a large roster of birds and small mammals to the zoo. Parrot families are the main group, including the Australian ringneck, budgerigar, caique, cockatiel, Congo gray, eclectus, conure, hawk-headed parrot, kakariki, Poicephalus, Quaker parakeet, ringneck, and rosella, alongside a moho and a chinchilla. Many species come with breed-only captive colors, and the animals are given lifelike breathing, walking and recorded calls and sounds. Baby animals are included as well.
The addon also brings small zoo additions such as new decorations and enrichment blocks, plus block swaps that replace some ZAWA staples with stripped wood variants. It requires Zoo and Wild Animals: Evolved to run, and it is published for Forge only, for 1.16.5, 1.18.2, 1.19.2 and 1.20.1. The latest file is 1.0.0 for 1.20.1, an alpha build dated 2025-07-28. Essentials is released under All rights reserved and is not open source.
Key features
Parrot species
A wide set of parrot species joins the zoo, from budgerigars and cockatiels to conures, kakarikis and eclectus parrots.
Breed-only captive colors
Several species, including budgerigars, cockatiels, Quaker parakeets and chinchillas, have captive colors that exist only in captivity.
Lifelike animal behavior
The animals breathe, walk with natural movement and play recorded calls and sounds.
Zoo enrichment and decor
New blocks give zoo keepers enrichment items and small decorations that add to exhibits.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
Use cases
Who it’s for: Zoo builders and players who use Zoo and Wild Animals: Evolved will find the addon useful for filling out exhibits with bird and small mammal species.
How it compares
Wonders Of The World: A ZAWA Addon runs on the server alone, is published for Forge across 1.16.5 – 1.20.6, and is released under All rights reserved. Eco Regions: A ZAWA Evolved Addon also runs on the server alone, covers 1.16.5 – 1.20.1 on Forge, and is not open source. Party Parrots is client-side only, supports Fabric, Forge and NeoForge across 1.18 – 1.21.5, and is open source under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 only. Essentials needs both the client and the server, so every player and the server must run it.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials - A ZAWA Addon | Forge | 1.16.5 – 1.20.1 | Client and server | 2025-07-28 |
| Wonders Of The World: A ZAWA Addon | Forge | 1.16.5 – 1.20.6 | Server-side only | 2026-05-10 |
| Eco Regions: A ZAWA Evolved Addon | Forge | 1.16.5 – 1.20.1 | Server-side only | 2026-02-14 |
| Party Parrots | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.18 – 1.21.5 | Client-side only | 2025-05-09 |
Questions
Does Essentials need Zoo and Wild Animals: Evolved?
Does Essentials have to be installed on both sides?
Which Minecraft versions does Essentials support?
In the catalog
Essentials - A ZAWA Addon is one of 8,515 World generation mods on ModsFinder, and one of 5,058 World generation mods for Forge. 34,764 mods support Minecraft 1.20.1.
More from Mnesikos
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What the author says
A ZAWA:Evolved addon that adds all the parrots. Essentials adds all the stuff that isn't interesting enough for the main ZAWA roster.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/zawa-essentials
- Owner
- Mnesikos
- Published
- 2025-01-21
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-07-28
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15