South East Asia appreciation post!!!

[yoav_r]

So, I'd like to make a post to thank Frontier for all the hard work done to the region in South East Asia, summarize all we've been through, and also discuss what's maybe next.

South East Asia started as a very empty region, with only three species in the base game, and no building theme:

1. Bornean orangutan
2. Saltwater crocodile
3. Indian elephant (extrapolated to the asian elephant)

The saltwater crocodile is more associated with australia, the elephant was an overly specific subspecies, and the orangutan was criticized for its very inaccurate gorilla-like locolotion, making for a rather lacking base roster.

The deluxe pack added one highly requested animal:
4. Komodo dragon

Then with the South-east Asia animal pack we got eight new species, finally enabling us to build a dedicated area for the region:
5. Sun bear
6. Clouded leopard
7. Binturong
8. Malayan tapir
9. Dhole
10. Babirusa
11. Proboscis monkey
12. Malayan leaf insect (E)

The pack was praised as the first animal pack, and gave us highly requested animals alongside our first (and so far only) swimming monkey. With the pack's release, the binturong, dhole, and malayan tapir models were criticized for inaccuracies, and the clouded leopard suffered from buggy slow-mo jumping.

The binturong and dhole were promptly fixed, but the problems with the tapir and clouded leopard persist.

Later with the wetlands animal pack we got two new animals:
13. Asian small-clawed otter
14. Wild water buffalo

Giving the region its first diving animal.

Later, the Conservation pack gave us one animal:
15. Siamang

Introducing the long awaited feature of brachiation, but still limited to specific enrichment items.

After that, the new Tropical pack gave us two animals:
16. Lar gibbon
17. Asian water monitor

This gave us our second diving animal from the region. But it not only expanded the roster, it also finally gave us a regional building theme! Retroactively enhancing all animals from the region. In addition, the update majorly improved on brachiation, making both the lar gibbon and siamang a lot more realistic.

With 17 regional animals with a diverse range of locomotion and behaviours, a dedicated building theme, I think south-east asia deserves the title of the best implemented region in the game!

So in summation, I'd like to thank Frontier and the PZ team for the amazing work they did fleshing out the region and making it the likely best area in the game!

I'd also ask the users, what's your favorite SEA animal? What would you still like added or improved?

 

[NachoB]

Is the best región in game along maybe with NA, because even África is lacking some popular and iconic species now.

That said the only other animal i would really want from SEA es the fishing cat, but is more of a personal wish and not something essential.

Would love a sumatran rhino and sumatran tiger but are not really necessary nor a priority.

Some small ungulates for the region would be nice as well like the lowland anoa or mouse deer.

Finally other than clasic exhibit animals slow lorises or tarsiers or even small birds like bali minah would make nice WE animals.

 

[yoav_r]

Is the best región in game along maybe with NA, because even África is lacking some popular and iconic species now.

That said the only other animal i would really want from SEA es the fishing cat, but is more of a personal wish and not something essential.

Would love a sumatran rhino and sumatran tiger but are not really necessary nor a priority.

Some small ungulates for the region would be nice as well like the lowland anoa or mouse deer.

Finally other than clasic exhibit animals slow lorises or tarsiers or even small birds like bali minah would make nice WE animals.

I really want a python and a cobra but I think we're past the time for terrarium exhibits.

 

[DarthQuell]

Hmm, I actually love the roster.

Of the animals I've actually used, my favorite might be the babirusa. Of the entire roster, I dunno, the AWM is up there, so maybe that...

Right now, for habitat species, I'm ok. For exhibits, I want the reticulated python, king cobra, draco lizard (any species) and also the tokay gecko...

Actually wait, birds. I don't know too many species, but here are what I like:

• Great hornbill
• Green peafowl - somebody's favorite (right, @peafowl?)
• Red junglefowl
• Luzon bleeding-heart dice

For updates, just update the Malayan tapir (doesn't bother me, personally bother me, but I want others happy) and the orangutan to brachiate

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

What a nice thread, its allways good to appreciate how far we have come.
Regarding what id still like to see added, a pheasent, a monkey and the vitnamese pot bellied pig would be amazing.
For the pheasent, i would be delighted to see the edwards pheasent, a critically extinct and possibly extinct in the wild pheasent native to vietnam. They are thankfully very common in zoos with 101 EAZA holdings and would add something new to the region, especally suited as a freeroam species for tropical halls.

For the monkey, while there are many great options like the javan langur or the sulawesi crested macaque, currently my favored species is the southern pig tailed macaque.
While they might look less unique in color, their body shape of especally the males is quite different from other macaques, as they are quite muscular and buff in their build, being closer to a baboon in their build. Theyd be a great general use more grounded monkey, fitting perfectly into any jungle temple build, which comes with a few rather unique behaviours for primates, mainly their love for water, female led groups based on heritage with the males having their own strenght based hierachy with a role of conflict manager and defender and imo most importantly, they like to be quiet. And i like myself some quiet monkeys

The vitnamese pot bellied pig would add a traditional breed to the region. Once considerd an endangerd breed after centurys of being the pig breed in northern vietnam before being replaced by another more economic breed in the 1970, some have been exported to sweeden and canada to be kept and bred in zoos.
Today they are kept in 263 EAZA facilitys, so lets just say they have been quite succesfull, not to mention of all the private keepers of the breed.
They would add a nice animal for village displays or even themed petting zoos, especally in combination with the (wild) waterbuffalo

Once we have these 3 or similar animals in the game, i can truly say that while i would never say no to some more SEA animals like more monkeys, birds or the lowland anoa that the region would be at 100% satisfaction for me with nothing else that feels anywhere close to needed. Nice to have but not nessecary, which is the point that all regions hopefully achieve one day

 

[Chuditch]

Love this thread! South-east Asia is one of my favourite regions so I've been super happy to see it explored this thoroughly.

I'd also ask the users, what's your favorite SEA animal?

For me, definitely the sun bear! They've long been one of my favourite animals IRL thanks to their delightful strangeness and are always the stars of any south-east Asian area I build (which are a lot, given most of my zoos have one). They were my favourite animal in the game for a while too, eventually being dethroned by the wombat but still sitting comfortably at second place.

What would you still like added or improved?

While the region is one of the most fleshed out in the game and it doesn't have anything that's 100% essential at this point, there's still more that'd be nice to see from it. Chief among my wants are more species from Sulawesi (crested macaque, anoa, bear cuscus), some smaller mammals like a chevrotain and the northern Luzon giant cloud rat, a bird like the Palawan peacock pheasant and more exhibit reptiles like the king cobra, reticulated python and tokay gecko.

In regards to what can be improved, the Malayan tapir is still just a cosplaying Baird's tapir and the clouded leopard is still on the moon. Oh, and the orangutan should brachiate too.

 

[PnGLINNyo]

I'm from Myanmar and I never thought we'd get this much animals from my home country in-game. Personally, the more SE Asian animals we get the merrier. And yes we seriously need birds and reptiles from SE Asia. Cobras, pythons, pheasants, and hornbills

 

[AlexSea]

I dare say that as far as habitat animals go, Southeast Asia's roster is perfect. Personally I'm a big fan of the Binturong, Asian Small-Clawed Otter, and Siamang. As for future additions, I just need the King Cobra and Reticulated Python and then I'm good.

 

[jcp011c]

Favorite SEA animal- The Asian Small Clawed Otter by a long lead.

Feeling like personally we don’t need anymore nammals, but I can understand the community want for one more primate. Also really want the bear cuscus but can’t call it essential

For reptiles a Cobra is essential but it wouldn’t necessarily have to be from SEA.

 

[arafan]

What a nice thread, its allways good to appreciate how far we have come.
Regarding what id still like to see added, a pheasent, a monkey and the vitnamese pot bellied pig would be amazing.
For the pheasent, i would be delighted to see the edwards pheasent, a critically extinct and possibly extinct in the wild pheasent native to vietnam. They are thankfully very common in zoos with 101 EAZA holdings and would add something new to the region, especally suited as a freeroam species for tropical halls.
View attachment 351598

For the monkey, while there are many great options like the javan langur or the sulawesi crested macaque, currently my favored species is the southern pig tailed macaque.
While they might look less unique in color, their body shape of especally the males is quite different from other macaques, as they are quite muscular and buff in their build, being closer to a baboon in their build. Theyd be a great general use more grounded monkey, fitting perfectly into any jungle temple build, which comes with a few rather unique behaviours for primates, mainly their love for water, female led groups based on heritage with the males having their own strenght based hierachy with a role of conflict manager and defender and imo most importantly, they like to be quiet. And i like myself some quiet monkeys
View attachment 351599View attachment 351600

The vitnamese pot bellied pig would add a traditional breed to the region. Once considerd an endangerd breed after centurys of being the pig breed in northern vietnam before being replaced by another more economic breed in the 1970, some have been exported to sweeden and canada to be kept and bred in zoos.
Today they are kept in 263 EAZA facilitys, so lets just say they have been quite succesfull, not to mention of all the private keepers of the breed.
They would add a nice animal for village displays or even themed petting zoos, especally in combination with the (wild) waterbuffalo
View attachment 351616
Once we have these 3 or similar animals in the game, i can truly say that while i would never say no to some more SEA animals like more monkeys, birds or the lowland anoa that the region would be at 100% satisfaction for me with nothing else that feels anywhere close to needed. Nice to have but not nessecary, which is the point that all regions hopefully achieve one day

Finally someone who's appreciating the Edward's pheasant! You can't even think of how happy I am!

Edit: I also want to thank of how fleshed out this region has become. I never would have dreamed of it at the start. The only things I'm missing is indeed a good orangutan, who is able to brachiate, a bird, a turtle and something endemic from the Philippines (I still advocate for the spotted deer), along with the tapir and clouded leopard fixes.

 

[sumcherish82]

I really appreciate Frontier's effort to introduce many South East Asia animals to the game. Sun bear, Orangutan and Malayan tapir are my favourite animals. I hope tapir and Orangutan can get a remake in the future.

 

[snoogins]

I really want a python and a cobra but I think we're past the time for terrarium exhibits.

I'd like more insects and frogs too. Malaysian Horned Frogs and Vietnamese Mossy Frogs would be really cool exhibit additions. Also the elephant trunk snake would be a really unique addition.

 

[peafowl]

Yesss Quell. And there are so many good birds from there.

 

[FoxyDee]

Yes! Southeast Asia is in amazing spot right now. My favourite is the Sun Bear and I think the new Lar Gibbon, Frontier improved the Brachiation so much, I am very grateful for that (and that they also applied these improvements to Siamang).

The Lar Gibbon was actually the last animal from this region that I had on my wishlist, so very happy about that. For any future inclusions I think we could still use some birds from that region (Green Peafowl even, they are so beautiful), maybe more monkeys and the Lowland Anoa.

I certainly do hope the Clouded Leopard would be fixed. For the sake of our community I hope for the Malayan Tapir model changes even it it does not bother me that much and Brachiation for Orangutan I think is a must, but since they are on a completely different rig than the Gibbons, I guess it would be alot of additional work. We will see.

Anyway, thanks Frontier for the awesome representation of the SEA region, I hope more regions will follow.

 

[SalamAnders]

While birds and monkeys are always welcome additions no matter the region, what I am also interested in seeing that could fit under SEA (depending on species) is mudskippers.

Not the biggest fan of the old exhibit, but some species suits it and I believe they could be fun in there. Especially with null walls, Frontier.

 

[wanderoo]

The Chinese pangolin counts too, no? And the Indian elephant counts even at the subspecific level as this is the subspecies throughout mainland Southeast Asia AFAIK.

 

[peafowl]

The clouded leopard jump. I don't get why it hasn't been fixed. Theres no way they intended it that way, right? I so hope it gets looked at. Its such a neat little cat.

 

[TheYeti]

It's good to see some appreciation for this region, as I feel like there's been a long trend of people saying we have enough of (Southeast) Asia. In some way I feel their sentiments, as South America, the Middle East and perhaps Oceania need more species. However, as a fan of the region, I'm so grateful we can make a themed area for Southeast Asia that doesn't feel like it's lacking important species (other than birds and exhibit animals).

What's making it better is how the Southeast Asian species overlap with the South Asian and East Asian species. If you'd really want to make a large Asian section, you could do so by subtly transitioning from the endemic Indonesian species (e.g. Babirusa, Komodo Dragon, Bornean Orangutan) to those that are found throughout the SEA paeninsula and other regions (Asian Water Monitor, Dhole, Indian Elephant, ASCO, etc.) and even transition to an East-Asian or Indian-themed area as the lines are quite blurry.

Not having a theme was a big disappointment for me when the SEA pack launched, especially considering that some important species were not even included in the animal pack (ASCO, gibbon). However, two years down the line the team has made up for it by giving us the most complete theme yet. Frankly I'm glad they made us wait, because the themed pieces have gotten so much more useful and accurate as the game developed. The Indonesia theme feels like South America was a decade behind in progress.

Finally, one part that I think shouldn't be overlooked is the number of plants we got from this region. For the first year, we barely had any species, but then the Aquatic Pack and update gave us the first foliage pieces that were related to this region. More than a year later, aquilaria trees came in the Conservation pack and now with the tropical pack it feels like we have a realistic brush of plant species from the region.

I totally understand that this is the last we will get of Southeast Asia for a while. If support ends this year, I definitely won't expect more to come, except perhaps species from New Guinea. However, if it were to continue for a longer time, I am wishfully hoping for some of the following additions:

• Small ungulates such as mouse deer and muntjac.
• Walkthrough Exhibit species such as Philippine tarsier, slow loris and flying foxes.
• Monkeys such as Sulawesi crested macaque and crab-eating macaque.
• Endemic island species such as anoa and Visayan warty pig.
• Birds such as hornbills, Bali mynah, Brahminy kite and Victoria's crowned pigeon.
• Traditional exhibit species such as reticulated python, Philippine sailfin lizard, orchid mantis.

 

[NZFanatic]

I don't think people quite realise how difficult it would be to "make the orangutan brachiate". That would require a huge overhaul to the point that they might as well just rebuild it from scratch (which is something I would gladly welcome, but isn't going to happen). That isn't to say it's impossible that Frontier might find a way to do it, but I don't think just saying "make the orangutan brachiate" or "add brachiation to the orangutan" is really that constructive because it makes it sound like a simple task.

Anyway, in terms of what I'd like to see for Southeast Asia;

• Red-shanked douc and Celebes black macaque are two monkey species I'd love to have in the game. The former is on the proboscis monkey level of rare, but it's beautiful and exotic enough that I don't mind, and the macaque is a bit more common in captivity.
• Sumatran rhinoceros. As I've said many times, although extremely rare this species was, until very recently, successfully kept and bred in Cincinnati Zoo. Contrary to popular rumours, they didn't abandon the programme because of welfare issues or particular difficulty in keeping the animals, it was because the breeding programme itself was virtually impossible to maintain without a larger captive presence, and constantly bring in rhinos from their native range is kind of counterproductive.
• Sumatran tiger. Yeah, yeah, "reskin BAD". I don't care. The Sumatran tiger is hands-down the most common tiger subpopulation in captivity, extremely valuable to conservation, and unlike the Siberian and Bengal tigers, it actually represents its own subspecies (Panther tigris sondaica) according to the most recent taxonomic research.
• More regular exhibit animals, as others have mentioned. There isn't actually a whole lot from Southeast Asia I really want in the Walkthrough Exhibit. The Bali mynah would be nice, as a bird, I suppose, but the best walkthrough aviaries for small birds are the ones where the species can be mixed. We know this is sort-of possible because of the butterflies, but even in that case it's a mix of virtually identical animals, and that wouldn't work for birds (for example, the aviary at Edinburgh Zoo had junglefowl, doves, Bali mynah, and crowned pigeons mixed together, all extremely different in behaviour and morphology).
  • In terms of exhibit animals, my wants are kind of the same as everyone else's. Tokay gecko, Burmese python. I'd also like to see the Asian leaf turtle, Giant Asian mantis, and Taiwanese beauty snake.
• Finally, both the Visayan warty pig and Visayan spotted deer together would be fun to have. These species are often mixed in zoos.

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

Really pleased to see how Southeast Asia has really grown over the course of the game. Now, it feels that a pretty good Southeast Asian section can be created in a zoo - especially now that there are some varieties of similar animals, such as the gibbons.

At the moment, I'd say my favourite Southeast Asian animal is either the sun bear (my local zoo has a pair, and they are fantastic to watch) or the dhole (my favourite canid, and a species formerly kept at my local zoo).

In terms of animals to be added, I'd say we're pretty good for larger mammals. Maybe another Sulawesi species (like the lowland anoa) or a Philippines species (the Visayan spotted deer is my top choice) would be a good addition. Also, a second more commonly-kept langur, like a spectacled or Javan langur, would add a more usable monkey for the region.

Most of my 'wants' in terms of mammals are the smaller species that would serve as filler animals. While yellow-throated martens do live in Southeast Asia pretty much all of the animals in zoos are of northern Asian subspecies, so I'll refrain from talking about them too much here. Smaller mammals have plenty of promise - a chevrotain, the Northern Luzon giant cloud rat and the Owston's civet would both be good habitat species, while a walkthrough exhibit could be good for smaller mammals such as pygmy lorises and tree shrews.

Birds are the biggest thing missing from Southeast Asia - my favoured species would be the crested wood partridge, a commonly-kept bird in both indoor and outdoor aviaries, but I'm not sure if they'd be too small for a habitat, or how they would work in a walkthrough aviary. As well as the Edward's pheasant mentioned above, another suitable bird is the sarus crane - representing not just Southeast Asia but also India and northern Australia (personally, I would rather we got the grey crowned and demoiselle cranes first, but I'd still appreciate the sarus). As for a walkthrough aviary there are many choices, but the bird that would probably work best (it can be kept in flocks, does best when kept by itself and is an emblem of songbird conservation in the region) is the Bali starling. A strong second place would go to the chestnut-backed thrush - one of my favourite songbirds.

I would love the giant Asian pond turtle as a habitat animal, representing the amazing diversity of chelonians in Southeast Asia, the highly threatened status of most of these animals and the conservation work being done by zoos.

Finally, there are traditional exhibit animals. I would personally rather have an African cobra, instead choosing a mangrove cat snake as a venomous Southeast Asian species. The Burmese python would also be an excellent addition. A tokay gecko and an Asian water dragon would both add some very welcome lizard representation to the region, as would a smaller turtle such as the Roti snake-necked turtle (Critically Endangered, but fairly commonly-kept in zoos). A mudskipper would add something unique to the game (the barred mudskipper would represent not just Southeast Asia, but also South Asia, East Africa and Australia). Personally I'd also love to see more in the way of invertebrates, as they are among my favourite groups of animals. Some good options could be:

• Fighting giant stag beetle, Hexarthrius parryi - one of the largest species of stag beetle, colourful and fairly easy to breed in captivity.
• Giant Malaysian palm weevil, Macrochirus praetor - one of the world's biggest weevils, colourful and is kept in zoos, including in some quite large terraria.
• Paper kite butterfly, Idea leuconoe - one of the most commonly-kept species in butterfly houses; I would be fine with getting no other butterflies if we got this one.
• Mulu stick insect, Calvisia marmorata - not the most common of stick insects in captivity, but it makes up for it with quite incredible beauty.

In short, most of these additions would be >chef's kiss<, but are probably not absolutely necessary for the game to feel complete.

In terms of improvements, obviously a remaster of the Malayan tapir would be a necessity. Making the orangutan brachiate would be decent, but if I were to be truly happy with the orangutan it would need a total remake from the ground up - having watched them closely at my local zoo, they have such a unique style of movement (when walking on all fours, for example, their hands point backwards) that it cannot be replicated by borrowing a rig from another ape. If it got us a fully updated model and brachiation, I almost wouldn't mind getting a Sumatran orangutan in the game.