Horsey Game Conservation Map — Population, Genetic Diversity, Carnivore Crisis

🔬 Sourcing. Every population number, percentage, and color-code below is anchored to Cheru's 100% playthrough. The conservation tent UI is filmed cleanly between 38:30 and 39:30; the carnivore-extinction softlock is debriefed in the post-credits segment.

The conservation map is one of the most under-documented systems in Horsey Game. It's also one of the most punishing — leave it unattended and it will softlock an achievement. Here's what we actually know.

The conservation tent UI

Cheru @ 38:50 opens the conservation tent and reads the on-screen stats:

| Metric | Value | Meaning | |---|---:|---| | Population | 400 | Total creatures alive in the conservation area | | Genetic division | 50% | Diversity index — exact mechanic uncertain, but "50%" is presented as a baseline | | Genetic diversity (separate readout) | 43% | @ 39:00 "It's at 43% now." |

The 50% / 43% split suggests genetic division and genetic diversity are two different stats — possibly inter-species spread vs. within-species spread. We have no further evidence yet.

The diet color code

Cheru @ 39:30 reads the legend:

"Green is herbivores. Red is carnivores. Orange is omnivores."

This is the key to reading the conservation map at a glance:

🟢 Green dots — herbivores. Eat plants. Stable population assuming food.
🔴 Red dots — carnivores. Eat meat. Unstable — see softlock below.
🟠 Orange dots — omnivores. Eat both. Generally most resilient.

If the red dots disappear from the map, you have a problem.

The carnivore-extinction softlock

Cheru @ 44:30:

"And I've been softlocked out of acquiring a hot air balloon because there's no freaking carnivores in the entire world because they all ate each other."

The mechanic, as observed: carnivores that run out of herbivore prey will eat each other until none remain. Once the last carnivore is gone, achievements or quests that require a living carnivore become permanently unreachable on that save.

Mitigation steps:

Open the conservation tent regularly. It's the only UI that shows the population breakdown by diet.
Watch the red dot count. If it's trending down, intervene: introduce more herbivores (carnivore food supply) or relocate carnivores to a different region.
The hot air balloon achievement specifically requires a living carnivore at acquisition time. If you've lost all of them, the achievement is gated until a future save.

This is one of three documented softlocks — see Achievements + Softlocks for the full list.

What this means for breeding strategy

The DNA Database includes presets for bear, tiger, croc (carnivore lineages) and monster, goblin (omnivore-coded fantasy lineages). Splicing carnivore alleles into your breeding line may reduce ecosystem load — or it may make the situation worse, depending on how the game classifies hybrids. We don't yet have evidence either way. Test on a fresh save before committing.

What this guide won't claim

We don't have video evidence yet for:

The exact threshold of carnivore population loss that triggers the softlock
Whether you can re-introduce carnivores after extinction (e.g., via DNA splicing on the conservation map)
The relationship between the 400 population number and the per-species split
Whether genetic diversity below some threshold has its own consequences
The full hot-air-balloon achievement chain (acquisition / use / reward)

If you've reproduced any of these on your save, please submit via /contact.

What's next

All 26 Achievements + Softlocks — full softlock list and Strange Bedfellow quest spec
DNA Database — bear / tiger / croc / monster / goblin presets if you want to re-engineer the ecosystem mid-game
How DNA Actually Works — the GCAT base-pair model behind cross-species splicing

Sources

Cheru — "I 100% Solved Horse Racing — CRISPR and a Broken Moral Compass". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoiOVMPzUWM (conservation tent at 38:50; softlock debrief at 44:30).

Last updated: 2026-05-09. Numbers and color codes anchored to a single playthrough — verified by independent reproductions if you have them.

Last verified: 2026-05-09 · Game version: 1.0.4 · See /sources for citation list.