Discussion #6: Canines, Apes, Suides, mongooses
What we have:
Canines:
- African wild dog
- Arctic fox
- Arctic wolf
- Dhole
- Dingo
- Fennec fox
- Maned wolf
- Red fox
- Timber wolf
Apes
- Bornean orangutan
- Bonobo
- Siamang
- Western chimpanzee
- Western lowland gorilla
Suids
- Common warthog
- North sulawesi babirusa
Mongooses:
Explain what you think is still needed from the aforementioned groups, and give your reasoning as to why. Take into account that slots in the roster are not unlimited, so try to keep the discussion realistic.
These are my choices, with reasoning provided:
Canids
Personally, I'm now fine with canids. A bat-eared fox would be my top choice for a new species, seeing as they are able to be kept in mixed displays with other savannah species in zoos and have even been kept in a walkthrough enclosure in a zoo in Germany, but I wouldn't want them added instead of something more unique.
Apes
The
lar gibbon is probably my top choice for a new ape, but whether it is an absolute requirement is another matter. They would add a more commonly-kept species to the game and are visually very different from any other in-game primate - on consideration, I would probably err towards it being a necessary inclusion if only to add another animal that can use the brachiation equipment.
Suids and peccaries
Personally speaking, the only suid I believe is truly necessary is the
red river hog. Here in the UK, they are kept in three times as many zoos as warthogs are, and are one of the most commonly-kept of the wild pigs. They are even more amenable to living in mixed enclosures than warthogs are - at least eighteen in-game species have been mixed with red river hogs. Add to their regularity in captivity the fact that they are a species of both rainforest and grassland, and you have an animal with plenty of utility in how it can be displayed.
The Eurasian wild boar, while a nice enough animal, is not necessary in my opinion. Certainly here in the UK they are more an animal of specialist farms rather than zoos, to the point where one of the few zoos that does keep them only loans them out seasonally from a wild boar farm. They do have a lot of utility with regards to habitat (although, like wolves and foxes, the standard big shaggy wild boar would look out-of-place in, say, a Southeast Asian themed area), but I do not find them important enough to warrant a guaranteed spot.
As for peccaries, I'd much rather get the Chacoan peccary to the collared - I find them much more visually interesting (with their large bodies and tiny stumpy legs), they are endangered and they represent a unique habitat in South America (that being dry forests of thorn bushes and cacti). Although again I don't think they are entirely necessary for the game to be complete.
Mongooses
I think a second mongoose would be an excellent animal - maybe not necessary, but they would allow for some flexibility when designing an African area. My top choice is the
banded mongoose, essentially the savannah equivalent of the meerkat. They have a much wider range than the meerkat, are pretty widespread in zoos and have a mutualistic relationship with warthogs, where they forage in their fur and pick out ticks. Interestingly, they display the same behaviour when kept together in zoos.
because my list is looooong 
