After waiting a decade, animals are finally coming to GTA Online

After a long 10-year wait, the community has been heard and animals are finally being added to the world on GTA Online.

Rockstar Games announced on Nov. 30 that the addition of wildlife will come to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players in December, allowing players to channel their inner David Attenborough and enjoy a safari trip across Los Santos looking for wild creatures.

Single players in Grand Theft Auto 5 had a variety of wild animals to encounter ever since the game first launched in 2013, including Cougars (not the older women you may encounter) and sharks. But GTA Online was, weirdly, left out.

Players have had animals in GTA Online in the past but in a much different way, as they’ve previously featured as playable when interacting with the Peyote plants that appear in various locations across the map during special events.

Now, though, it’s all changed. There will be wildlife to find once the latest update to GTA Online goes live in December but, for unknown reasons, this doesn’t include PC and is limited to players on current-gen consoles.

The fact that animals are coming to GTA Online in the same month as fans will finally get a first look at GTA 6 highlights just how long players have been waiting for this feature, but it may bode well for the future of the series.

Introducing such a significant change after such a long wait in GTA Online suggests that GTA 6 could have the same wildlife features at launch—though we still don’t know exactly what the next release in the series will mean for GTA Online.

It’s long been rumored that GTA 6 will see the return of Vice City. GTA Online will surely visit that setting, and hopefully, you’ll be able to embark on another safari with wildlife featured at the very start of the game’s availability.