Three new features I really want (not including new animals) that could reasonably happen:
- More options for exhibits - new sizes and shapes, plus maybe the option to modify the inside of the exhibit in a similar manner to the diorama feature
- Animal personalities - have four personalities that affect how an animal behaves and also influences their reintroduction potential, namely relaxed, curious, timid and assertive.
- A new mesh building set, so netted enclosures can be created more easily.
There is also something I have really come to like the idea of, but I don't think it could work in the current game - maybe it could be something that comes with a potential sequel:
- A new management feature to provide more customisation to animal diets. Some of the current 'high-quality' animal diets in-game would harm or kill an animal in real-life*. This would include several different feed storage buildings (a general feed store for hays, pellets, fruit and vegetables, a refrigerated storage unit for meat and fish and a building for breeding food insects), and this would also allow the harvesting of some plants growing on the zoo grounds as browse for herbivores. There would be a 'diet management' toolbar, where an animal can first be selected before general food groups can be added or removed**. The quantity of each food group can be controlled by a sliding scale. The player can then balance nutritional value with relative cost. And if that all seems like too much work then there would be a new staff member, a nutritionist, who can do all the work for you while still being able to overrule any of their decisions.
* The top food for the Western chimpanzee is processed meat, even though the best practice guidelines for chimpanzees say that animal protein should be fed sparingly and is probably not necessary for their diet. Both elephants have fruit and vegetables as their top food, even though the best practice guidelines for elephants say that fruit should not be fed at all (on account of even small amounts resulting in obesity) and leafy vegetables only used as a training reward. Instead, the recommended diet for elephants is that they should mostly be fed low-grade hay and cut browse.
** Rather than having a full list of foods, I would instead only have food types - so instead of having, say, lettuce, chicory, cucumber, peppers, carrots and turnips as separate food items, they would be divided up into broader groups such as leafy vegetables (includes lettuce and chicory), watery vegetables (includes cucumber and peppers) and root vegetables (includes carrots and turnips). This is the recommendation for how diets for animals like gorillas are managed in Europe.
Came up with the idea after seeing information about the zoo animal nutrition research being done in Europe and finding it fascinating:
Keep up with the latest zoo-nutrition scientific knowledge available.
www.eaza.net
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEvk9rb1NXA&t=13s
