The next major Minecraft 1.21.60 update is shaping up to be a major and exciting one, bringing long-awaited features to the game’s environment. We all can look forward to new mob variants, adding more diversity to the farms. In addition to these, we should totally expect some major expansion in the flora features of the game. With so many snapshots already introduced, we decided to sit down and list them out. So, with that, here are all the confirmed features coming with the next Minecraft update!
1. Pig Variants
One of the biggest highlights of the Minecraft 1.21.60 update is surely the introduction of new mob variants. The first snapshot of the year 2025 brings in two new pig variants for the warmer and colder biomes. They are named as Warm and Cold pigs, respectively, while the original ones are kept as Temperate pigs.
The Warm pigs have tanned rusty brown skin and are found in the Savannas, Savanna Plateau, all kinds of Jungles, and Badlands. Whereas the Cold pigs have fluffy beige skin and are spawned in Taiga and Windswept Hills. The pink Temperate ones can be found in all other regions, including Plains, Forests, and Swamps.
2. Cow Variants
The Minecraft Snapshot 25W05A brings in the highly anticipated cow variants. Like the pigs, we now get Warm and Cold cow variants hailing from their respective regions.
While you can find warm cows in Savanna, jungles, and Badlands, you can also find cold cows in the Taiga and Windswept Hills area. The Warm cows have a dark reddish brown appearance with big upward-facing horns bent at right angles. Meanwhile, cold cows have light brown and thick fur with their horns facing the front.
Lastly, the regular ones remain unchanged in their appearance while their names change to Temperate cows, and they can only spawn in all those areas except the ones discussed above. You can find them in Plains, Forests, and Swamps.
3. Chicken Variants
Coming up next on our list are the brand-new Minecraft chicken variants. These variants are again quite similar to pigs and cows as you will find Warm and Cold chickens roaming in the overworld.
The Warm ones have a toasty brown look and lay brown eggs as well. Meanwhile, the cold chickens have bluish-grey fluffy skin and blue eggs. Lastly, the original white Temperate chickens lay the same old white eggs.
You will find these variants in the same Minecraft biomes as discussed in the above two, where the Warm ones spawn in Savannah, Badlands, and Jungles. The Cold ones spawn in Taiga, Windswept Hills, and the regular ones in Plains and Forests. One important thing to note about all these mobs is that if you try to breed two different variants, the baby will randomly resemble any of its parents.
4. Wildflowers
The flora diversity is going to expand with the next Minecraft update, which will introduce a new Wildflower in Minecraft. It will surely help decorate your base and the paths to your village.
The Wildflowers resemble the cherry petals, appearing as yellow and white clumps on the ground. These petals can occur or be placed in a certain alignment depending on your character’s direction. Moreover, using bone meal on them helps increase their count. If there are more than four units on a block, bonemealing further will cause them to break and hence be picked up.
These flowers can be placed on the crafting table to get yellow dyes. Whereas if you like chilling in Minecraft, you can make use of these flowers, bring in a few bees nearby and place a sapling near the flowers. This way you can watch the sapling grow into a tree with a beehive on it.
5. Cactus Flowers
Next comes the Cactus flowers that grow atop the Cactus found mostly in Desert and Badlands biomes. If the Cactus is 1-2 blocks high, there’s a 10% chance this flower grows on top of it, otherwise if the Cactus is higher, then this chance increases to 25%.
The Cactus flowers give off a pink dye; you can place them on any block with center support. Its other uses include feeding them to the bees to breed them or throwing them into the composter.
However, note that this way, you only have a 30% chance to fill up its single layer. This way, a full stack of such flowers can give you two bone meals on average. Combined with these new blocks, the next Minecraft 1.20.60 update will give gamers more variety to decorate their base.
6. Firefly Bush
Another major addition to the game in the Minecraft 1.21.60 update, which is coming soon, will be Fireflies. If you remember, Mojang announced them long ago, but they didn’t make it into the game as the community pointed out that fireflies were toxic to frogs.
Well, guess what? Fireflies are being added with the next Minecraft update, not as new mobs but as an ambient addition to the Firefly bushes. These are mostly found on the banks of rivers and in swamps.
Once night falls, the bushes emit light particles into the air and can be seen glowing from a long distance. If you try using bone meals on the Firefly Bush, they will break and can be collected easily.
7. Falling Leaves
You might’ve noticed a typical pattern in most of the latest snapshots released this year. Mojang is trying to make the world more immersive and dynamic by adding many ambient features.
Another such addition is the falling leaves, which make the forests feel more realistic and aesthetic. Although the falling leaves’ color is different and represents the specific tree, their texture remains the same.
Falling leaves were restricted to Cherry Grove and Pale Garden biome. However, with the next update, we can experience this feature in all other biomes as well.
8. Leaf Litter
Along with falling leaves animation, we have been introduced to leaf litter as well. They occur in Forests, Dark Forest and Wooded Badlands. While these units have a similar orientation to Wildflowers and Cherry petals, you cannot use bone meals on them to reproduce them.
In order to get more leaf litter, you may place any kind of leaf in a smelter along with some fuel. Furthermore, this litter can be used again as fuel in furnaces and smelters.
9. Pale Garden Changes
From the past snapshots, we saw some changes brought about in the Pale Garden as well. Now, this biome takes up even more area in the Dark Forests and it can also surround a Woodland Mansion.
With the release of the new Minecraft update, you will be able to use Nametags on the Creaking and they can stay alive throughout the day as well. However, all other behaviors will remains the same.
Furthermore, if you place the Creaking Heart between two Pale Oak Logs, it will remain in a dormant state during the day and can be distinguished from its active and inactive states. This dormant state will not create any resin whatsoever. Finally, the transition of the Creaking Heart and Eyeblossom flowers will depend on the fixed daytime.
10. New Lodestone Crafting Recipe
The highly unnoticed Lodestone has now received a new crafting recipe and with this update it might no longer be devalued anymore.
Instead of collecting Ancient Debris from the nether and crafting the Lodestone using a Netherite, you may now easily do the same using just a single Iron Ingot and 8 Chiseled Stone Bricks.
The behavior and use of this item remains the same. When you lock the compass to one of these, it will keep pointing to the same direction no matter in which dimension you place it.
11. Dry Grass Variants
With the last snapshot on Minecraft, we were introduced to two new variants of the dry grass blocks. These are generated in Desert and Badlands biome and can be placed on either regular or red sand as well.
The two new variants of the dry grass block are the tall and the short ones. While you may bone meal the shorter ones, they will grow up to a single block height, which is the same as the taller dry grass. Bone mealing the taller ones will generate more dry grass around it.
One significant use of these blocks is that feeding them to sheep will help them regrow their wool slightly faster.
12. Sheep Spawning Rules
With the latest snapshot 25W07A, Minecraft sheep now have some set rules for their wool color depending on the biomes they spawn in. The biomes are categorized into warm, cold, and temperate biomes consisting of the same regions as stated in all those farm animal variants. With that said, here’s a breakdown of the spawning rules:
Warm Biomes
- Common: Brown sheep
- Uncommon: Gray, Yellow, Orange, and Red Sheep
- Rare: Pink Sheep
Cold Biomes
- Common: Black Sheep
- Uncommon: Gray, Light Gray, White, and Black Sheep
- Rare: Pink Sheep
Temperate Biomes
- Common: White Sheep
- Uncommon: Black, Gray, Light Gray, and Brown Sheep
- Rare: Pink Sheep
13. New Maps from Cartographers
Cartographers will be having a set of seven new maps that you can buy from them in exchange of Emeralds and Compasses. However, for such trades, the cartographers must be at least at the apprentice level. The following will give you a clear understanding of all the trades you can perform with Cartographers of their respective levels:
- Novice: Emeralds and Empty Maps
- Apprentice: Emeralds and Maps leading to different villages
- Journeyman: Emeralds and Maps pointing to Ocean Monuments and Trail Chambers
- Expert: Paintings and Banners
- Master: Banner Patterns and Maps to Woodland Mansion
14. Trade Rebalance for Wandering Traders
Next, we have the most needed update for the Wandering Traders, a trade rebalance. With the latest Snapshot, the Wandering Trader can now stock up more items for exchange. Moreover, you can get some easy Emeralds by selling the most basic items such as Water Bottles and Buckets, Milk Buckets, Fermented Spider Eye, Baked Potato, and Haybale.
Furthermore, you can now buy various items from the trader, like Gunpowder, a variety of Wooden Logs, Cactuses, Flowers, Dyes, Wool, and even the Enchanted Pickaxe. So, summing up, the Wandering Trader will come up with nine trades divided into 2 Buying offers, 2 Special Offers, and 2 Normal Offers.
15. Wolf Sound Variants
The Wolves are receiving a major change in the next major drop. Now, all wolf species will have a specific sound applied randomly at spawn. Remember that this won’t depend on the biomes or the their skin textures.
This is an amazing addition to give the wolves a unique personality and add depth to Minecraft. The new sound variants include hurt, death, pant, whine, and growl being applied to those that are big, cute, angry, puglin, grumpy or sad. Whereas the original white wolf retains the old sounds.
16. Other Minecraft 1.21.60 Changes
This section consists of some minor changes brought into the game, that can’t be grouped into a single item. This includes the saddles retaining their names once the Nametags are used on them.
Next, we have new test command blocks that can be accessed by the command /test. This allows players to test out the new features by creating a separate environment where they can place the new mobs or plants and see how they react to their surroundings.
Some old bug fixes that allowed players to do Parkour smoothly were reverted back in the past snapshots after receiving suggestions from the community. The Zombified Piglins now drop the specific loot they are armed with.
Coming to the sound aspect of the game, with the new update, the iron blocks, trapdoors, doors, and buttons will have a new metallic clink. The desert biomes will get a new ambient background sound that you can hear every time you step foot into the desert and explore the barren lands.
These are all the new and confirmed features coming with the next Minecraft 1.21.60 update. This update has some immersive features that will surely make the world feel more alive than ever. What do you think about the new additions? Let us know in the comments below!
