If you could redo all the animals in the base game and DLCs, which would you change?

[mansuko12]

We're assuming scenery packs stay scenery packs and animal packs stay animal packs and replacements should obviously fit the pack of the animal it is replacing! Assume the timeline of all in game mechanics and updates remain the same. For me, my answers would be:

Base Game (most of these are just about diversity for modders so they have more unique rigs to work with, but also why do we not have a damn Leopard in the base game):
Aldabra Giant Tortoise - African Leopard (sorry, I don't really care for Tortoises)
Black Wildebeest - Blue Wildebeest (sorry, I don't care about the Black Wildebeest)
Greater Flamingo - American or Chilean Flamingo (duh)
Grizzly Bear - Brown Bear (with all the subspecies as colourmorphs so you can choose what kind of wolf you want in your zoo)
Himalayan Brown Bear - Takin/Goral/Mountain Goat/Spectacled Bear
Nile Monitor - Asian Water Monitor (sorry, I also don't care about the Nile Monitor)
Red Ruffed Lemur - Indri or one of the Sifaka
Sable Antelope - Thomson's Gazelle
Timber Wolf - Grey Wolf (with all the subspecies as colourmorphs so you can choose what kind of wolf you want in your zoo)

2nd Anniversary
- Black and White Ruffed Lemur - a monkey instead

3rd Anniversary
- Red Deer - Let's put the Spectacled Caiman here instead

Deluxe Upgrade Pack
- Literally anything cool and preferably endangered to replace the Thomson's Gazelle

Arctic Pack

• Arctic Wolf - Arctic Fox
• Dall Sheep - Muskox

South America Pack

• Colombian White-Faced Capuchin Monkey - A spider monkey, squirrel monkey or a howler instead, though it's fine too
• Llama - Guanaco/Capybara
• Giant Anteater - Giant Otter

Aquatic Pack

• Giant Otter - Sea Otter
• Grey Seal - Walrus? If not, Mediterranean Monk Seal, Harp Seal or Ringed Seal (sorry, Grey Seal)
• Dwarf Caiman - Any sea turtle instead

North American Animal Pack

• Arctic Fox - Wolverine
• Moose - American Black Bear/Bighorn Sheep

Europe Pack

• Alpine Ibex - Chamois/Alpine Marmot
• European Fallow Deer - Red Deer/Roe Deer
• European Badger - Moose

Wetlands Animal Pack

• Asian Small-Clawed Otter - North American River Otter/Giant Otter? (though I love the Asian Small-Clawed Otter too)
• Capybara - One of the swans (my favourites are Trumpeter Swans!)
• Spectacled Caiman - Alligator Snapping Turtle? Or literally any freshwater turtle

Conservation Pack
- Siamang - Literally any endangered bird or reptile or Golden Lion Tamarin (sorry to the Siamangs)

Twilight Pack (Sorry to this pack but I feel like most of these animals were just eh)

• Raccoon - Kinkajou/Ringtail (African Leopard if they didn't want to put it in the base game)
• Red Fox - A civet or genet
• Common Wombat - This one was fine but maybe a hedgehog or even the Spectacled Bear
• Striped Skunk - Aye aye/one of the lorises/one of the tarsiers/one of the galagos
• Egyptian Fruit Bat - Also fine, but could have been an opportunity to add owls?

Grasslands Animal Pack

• Nine-Banded Armadillo - Greater Rhea?/A bustard
• Blue Wildebeest - Giant Anteater

Tropical Pack

• Asian Water Monitor - Margay/Ocelot or an anaconda
• Red River Hog - Coati/Toucan (they don't fly much so they could be mostly climbing with some fluttering between trees animations or something? That can't be too difficult, right?)

Arid Animal Pack

• Dromedary Camel - Burrowing Owl/Roadrunner
• Sand Cat - Honey Badger

Oceania Pack

• Little Penguin - Nene (Hawaiian Goose)/Kakapo (sorry to the little penguin)
• Quokka - Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo

P.S. I'm ignoring most of the exhibit animals, except the walkthroughs cause I don't really care for them but if you do, go ahead if you would replace any of them!

 

[IndianRhino19]

Himalayan Brown Bear- Sichuan Takin
Arctic Wolf- Musk Ox
Bengal Tiger- Markhor
Dingo- Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo
Bactrian Camel-Wild Bactrian Camel
Llama-Guanaco
Dromedary Camel-Nile Crocodile

 

[SuzieSky]

I'm trying to keep the substitutions mostly similar, at least at first. I'm ignoring exhibit species for now.
Base Game:
Grizzly + HBB -> Brown Bear and American Black Bear (Don't know why they didn't do this in the first place)
Formosan Black Bear -> Moon Bear (ditto)
Bonobo -> Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (not a zoo animal to a popular zoo animal from an underrepresented region)
Aldabra Giant Tortoise -> Spurred Tortoise (personal preference, aka ZT2)
Black Wildebeest -> Blue Wildebeest (don't need both)
Springbok -> Thomson's Gazelle (I'm keeping the cute one)
Nyala -> Greater Kudu (I like Kudu better, probably my favorite antelope)
Pronghorn -> Bighorn Sheep (cool but obscure and not kept in zoos, mostly)
Gemsbok -> Arabian Oryx

First 4 DLCs + Deluxe
Thomson's Gazelle -> Red Necked Wallaby (free a space)
Dall Sheep -> Wolverine (strange caprine choice)
Capuchin -> Squirrel Monkey (personal preference)
Dingo -> Tasmanian Devil (free a spot for later, but I actually kind of like the dingos. They just aren't as useful.)
Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman -> Spectacled Caiman (don't need both)
King Penguin -> Emperor (cuter chicks)
Grey Seal -> Harbor Seal (cuter)

Next 4 DLCs + Anniversary
Dhole -> Lar Gibbon
Proboscis Monkey -> Red Shanked Douc (I just like this douc, but you could sub in East Javan Langur for something more in zoos.)
Sun Bear -> Guar (lets me free a spot in Wetlands later)
Arctic Fox -> Rocky Mountain Goat (another icon)
Black and White Ruffed Lemur -> Colobus Monkey (slightly more useful than 3rd lemur.)
Badger -> Mute Swan (more useful)

Next 4 DLCs:
Water Buffalo -> Mandarin Duck (more useful, and Guar takes buffalo's spot)
Nile Lechwe -> Black Howler Monkey (don't hate the lechwe, but howler monkey is way more useful)
Spectacled Caiman -> Scarlet Ibis (SA gets a bird instead of another caiman)
Przewalski's Horse -> Tree Kangaroo (horse is coming later and adds diversity)
Scimitar Horned Oryx -> Golden Lion Tamarin (something for the new world)
Raccoon -> Tamandua (Racoons are nothing but a sort-of-cute rabies vector to me)
Blue Wildebeest -> Blackbuck (more useful)
Caracal -> Serval (Caracal's just waiting for Arid)
Wallaby -> Przewalski's Horse

To present:
Lar Gibbon -> South American Coati
Asian Water Monitor -> De Brazza's Guenon
Sand Cat -> Caracal
Dama Gazelle -> Hamadryas Baboon (Don't mind the gazelle at all, but a baboon is more important.)
Black Rhino -> Secretary Bird (adds more diversity)
Tasmanian Devil -> Echidna (using a space)

At the end, Australia has it's two big gaps filled, SA looks a little better (still could use an animal pack though), NA is about done, Europe could use ~2 more things, India still needs a monkey, Middle East looks pretty good, and Africa has a bit more diversity.

Edited to clarify: I don't have a problem with most of the animals I'm switching out. I don't think they're useless, and most of them are nice for variety. I was just trying to see how I could change things to balance the roster a bit more to my taste (more monkeys, birds, and SA stuff). To make space for it, I reduced some things that seem a bit duplicate-y (but sometimes still nice for variety), scaled back a few African antelope, and pulled a little bit from SEA, which has many lovely species but seems overrepresented at present. Obviously, it would be better if we could keep the current roster (though I'd definitely do bears differently) and add on the other animals later.

 

[yoav_r]

@boogerbooger8 I'm gonna guess you are american, right?

 

[jcp011c]

At this point the DLC has really filled in a lot of spots that were open from the base game. Taking into consideration that many of my original "replacements" found their way into the game elseways, I'll just go with the highlights:

Base game: Probably the biggest one here: Himalayan Brown Bear - Eurasian Brown Bear - I think Frontier's done great with specific choices overall but I just cannot understand why they went with such a restrictive representative here. EBB would make soooo much more sense all around.

Base game - Springbok - Black Backed Jackal soooo many antelopes. Let's remove one and put in a third base game Canid, and a Jackal at that, which almost never shows up in zoo games.

SEA Pack : "Malayan Tapir" - Malayan Tapir - I said what I said.

Arctic pack: Dall Sheep - Wolverine - making this more carnivore heavy but it's worth it.

Tropical Pack (which really should have been slated for an animal pack IMO). Asian Water Monitor - Squirrel Monkey (I realize that's two primates in a pack, don't care.)

Arid Pack: Dama Gazelle - Hamadryas Baboon

Grassland: Armadillo - Secretary Bird (just a personal hang up here, I've absorbed my partner's dislike of Armadillos and still haven't used it in a zoo yet.)

Twilight Pack: Striped Skunk - Aye Aye -Honestly as much "meh"ness I had for much of the Twilight Pack, once we actually got the Maned Wolf and Tasmanian Devil, the Red Fox and the Striped Skunk looked a lot better in retrospect, but I still would rather have had something else besides the skunk.

ETA: Wetlands Pack: Spectacled Camain - Nile Crocodile - the crocs are (in?)famous, and it would give us an African Crocodilian.

ETA much later after more thinking: Base Game: Sable Antelope - Blackbuck - honestly, the fact that there are sooo many African Antelopes is highlighted even more by the fact there's not a single Asian one. So I'd change this out. We still have (imo) plenty of African Antelopes, even after taking the Sable Antelope, Springbok, and Dama Gazelle out.

 

[Fallax]

Bonobo -> Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (not a zoo animal to a popular zoo animal from an underrepresented region)

Since when were bonobos not zoo animals? 11 zoos in Europe and I know there is definitely more in the US.

 

[Captain Callum]

Since when were bonobos not zoo animals? 11 zoos in Europe and I know there is definitely more in the US.

I might of laughed at that, I certainly remember adding bonobo to my san diego zoo animal list and even saw them in person at the columbus zoo.

 

[Antimony96]

Sticking to the base game. I would implement the PK system of having multiple varieties within a single genus or species. This would be applied at least to:
Lion: Asiatic lion + West African lion + Southern lion
Tiger: Amur tiger + Bengal tiger + Sumatran tiger + Malayan tiger
Brown bear: Grizzly bear + Eurasian brown bear + Syrian brown bear
Gray wolf: Northwestern wolf + Mexican wolf + Arctic wolf + Eurasian wolf + Indian wolf
Giraffe: Reticulated giraffe + Rothschild's giraffe + Masai giraffe

Other swaps:
Formosan black bear -> American black bear
Gemsbok -> Scimitar oryx
Bactrian camel -> Dromedary (to fit the prop)
Indian rhinoceros -> Black rhinoceros (ditto)
Black wildebeest -> Blue wildebeest
Sable antelope -> Greater kudu
Chinese pangolin -> Mongoose lemur
Gharial -> Chinese alligator
Nile monitor -> Asian water monitor
Pronghorn -> Blackbuck

I'd ideally overhaul the exhibit system entirely, but if not then at bare minimum:
Lesser Antillean iguana -> Fiji banded iguana
Lehmann's poison frog -> Blue poison frog
Titan beetle -> Hercules beetle
Goliath frog -> African bullfrog
Brazilian wandering spider -> African giant milipede

 

[SuzieSky]

Since when were bonobos not zoo animals? 11 zoos in Europe and I know there is definitely more in the US.

I didn't know that. Either way, it's so similar to the chimpanzee. I would prefer a monkey.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

I didn't know that. Either way, it's so similar to the chimpanzee. I would prefer a monkey.

But thats the point of the base game subs.
We didnt get them because frontier was lazy but because frontier went the extra mile to squeeze in some variety for comparativly low effort

 

[Aramar]

I would make very few changes:

Himalayan brown bear →Eurasian brown bear
Formosan black bear → Asian black bear
Bengal tiger → Sumatran tiger
West African lion → Lion
Aldabra giant tortoise →African spurred tortoise

 

[yoav_r]

Since when were bonobos not zoo animals? 11 zoos in Europe and I know there is definitely more in the US.

Bonobos are zoo animals, but there is the issue that their societal heirarchy is based on sexual intercourse. So many zoos don't want to host them for indecency reasons.

 

[abigenius]

Next 4 DLCs + Anniversary
Dhole -> Lar Gibbon

meanwhile i get your point, having the lar gibbon so soon in the game it couldn´t possible ( i mean it could be, but not witth the amazing animations), just look at the siamang, looks good, but their animation are worst than the lar gibbon and only is 3 dlc younger, now imagine have the lar gibbon 9 dlc younger

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

These are my choices for changes, with a little explanation for each:

Base game (habitat)

• Aldabra giant tortoise = African spurred tortoise (more commonly-kept, the third largest tortoise and a continental species that would also be substantially different in biome requirements to the Galapagos giant)
• Bengal tiger = Malayan tiger (more endangered, kept more widely in global zoos, but otherwise very similar to the Bengal)
• Black wildebeest = Blue wildebeest (just prefer the blue wildebeest, to be honest)
• Bornean orangutan = White-faced saki (replace the orangutan with a fairly uncomplicated South American monkey, so more attention can be paid to making the orangutan unique later in the game)
• Formosan black bear = Asiatic black bear (would make the animal more versatile than just having a single subspecies)
• Gemsbok = Scimitar-horned oryx (would add a North African species to the base-game, which is more endangered and would free up a slot in the Conservation Pack)
• Himalayan brown bear = Syrian brown bear (if an endangered Eurasian bear subspecies was desired, this one is just better - much more commonly-kept in zoos and visually much more distinct with its nearly blonde coat)
• Nile monitor = Green iguana (getting a large habitat iguana would have been excellent)
• Pronghorn = Wapiti (would add a more widely-kept North American ungulate that also includes parts of northern Asia within its range)
• Springbok = Goitered gazelle (one of the more commonly-kept gazelles, which is a cold-adapted Asiatic antelope)
• Timber wolf = Eurasian wolf (divide up the wolves, and make them look more like an actual wolf subspecies rather than a storybook amalgam wolf)
• West African lion = Southern African lion (the subspecies of lion particularly kept in captivity, and actually the subspecies that most closely resembles what we have in the game)

Base game (exhibit)

• Amazonian giant centipede = Indian giant tiger centipede (adds a new Asian exhibit species, which is much more boldly patterned than the current centipede)
• Brazilian salmon pink tarantula = Gooty sapphire ornamental tarantula (adds a brightly-coloured and Critically Endangered species of Indian spider)
• Brazilian wandering spider = Desertas Grande wolf spider (adds the world's largest wolf spider, Critically Endangered and the first European exhibit species)
• Common death adder = Inland taipan (probably among the most famous and commonly-kept of Australia's venomous elapids)
• Giant forest scorpion = Imperial scorpion (shifting to a very similar but probably better-known species of African giant scorpion)
• Goliath frog = Mountain chicken (adds a Critically Endangered large ground frog that is actually kept in zoos and adds fresh Caribbean representation)
• Green iguana = Utila spinytail iguana (adds a smaller but Critically Endangered species of iguana from Central America)
• Lehmann's poison frog = Splashback poison frog (not threatened in the wild, but commonly-kept and with an extraordinary range of colour patterns)
• Lesser Antillean iguana = Fiji banded iguana (adds a brightly-coloured small iguana from Oceania)
• Titan beetle = Hercules beetle (adds an insect that is actually kept in captivity)
• Yellow anaconda = Royal python (balances things between boas and pythons, also adding another African exhibit snake)

Deluxe edition

• Thomson's gazelle = Ocellated turkey (adds another ground bird that easily made from the peafowl, represents Central America and is just amazingly beautiful)

Arctic Pack

• Arctic wolf = Arctic fox (adds a species of fox earlier in the game's cycle, and probably one of the more familiar species as well)

South America Pack

• Colombian white-faced capuchin = Buffy-headed capuchin (adds a Critically Endangered species that is fairly common in zoos and represents the coastal Atlantic rainforest ecosystem of Brazil)
• Llama = Vicuna (adds a wild camelid, and probably the most beautiful of the South American ungulates)

Australia Pack

• Dingo = Tasmanian devil (gets the devil into the game much more quickly, freeing up space in the Oceania Pack)
• Southern cassowary = Emu (gets the more commonly-kept Australian ratite into the game as soon as possible)

Aquatic Pack

• Cuvier's dwarf caiman = Spectacled caiman (the spectacled caiman is just better - more commonly-kept and more sociable for a start)
• Grey seal = Harbour seal (more traditionally cute species, with a much wider global range and more common in captivity)
• Diamondback terrapin = Alligator snapping turtle (adds a larger and more familiar turtle species that is also more commonly kept in zoos worldwide)

Southeast Asia Animal Pack

• Proboscis monkey = Bornean orangutan (use the development time required to make the proboscis monkey to make the orangutan completely from scratch, rather than making it a ginger gorilla)
• It goes without saying, but also actually make a Malayan tapir

Africa Pack

• Fennec fox = De Brazza's guenon (nothing against the fox, but I think Africa needs a monkey and this widely-kept species is among my top choices)
• Sacred scarab beetle = Horrid king assassin bug (adds a completely new type of insect to the game, and also nicer to look at than a shiny black beetle)

North America Animal Pack

• Arctic fox = Red wolf (while not kept outside the USA, adding a species completely endemic to the country would definitely elevate the pack in my mind)

Wetlands Animal Pack

• Wild water buffalo = Lac Alaotra gentle lemur (adds a Critically Endangered wetland primate that is kept in a fair number of European zoos)
• Danube crested newt = Iberian ribbed newt (replaces the smaller newt with the biggest and among the rarest of the European newts, which is also much more common in captivity)

Conservation Pack

• Scimitar-horned oryx = Chacoan peccary (adds an endangered South American species to the game, which occupies a biome unlike any other South American species in the game so far and is becoming more popular in zoos)

Twilight Pack

• Raccoon = Owston's civet (adds a highly endangered Southeast Asian small carnivore, which requires zoo breeding for its survival and can be kept in both indoor nocturnal displays and outdoor enclosures)
• Red fox = Kinkajou (reuse the binturong rig to create this arboreal small carnivore from Central and South America)
• Striped skunk = South African springhare (use the kangaroo rig to create this fairly sizeable hopping rodent from Southern Africa, also adding a useful dry-land species that can mix with the aardvark)
• Egyptian fruit bat = Malayan flying fox (adds a large and endangered species of Asian fruit bat, which I think would be ideal representation as a flying fox species)

Grasslands Animal Pack

• Nine-banded armadillo = Six-banded armadillo (adds a much more commonly-kept and impressive species of armadillo to the game)
• Caracal = Serval (adds what is, to me, the more important leggy African cat; the caracal will come in later though)
• Blue wildebeest = Impala (to make up for the loss of the two African gazelle-like animals, except this one will have the amazing leaping and pronking as animations)
• Emu = Southern ground hornbill (with the emu now in Australia, this spot is taken by a sociable and charismatic African savannah bird)
• Butterflies = Veiled chameleon (butterflies are pushed back and replaced with a much-needed species of chameleon, which lives on wooded grasslands in southwest Arabia)

Tropical Pack

• Asian water monitor = Southern cassowary (the cassowary is finally added here, after being kicked out of the Australia Pack by the emu - would add some excellent Oceania representation to this pack)
• Brown throated sloth = Butterflies (five commonly-kept butterfly house species would come with this pack - the Peleides blue morpho (South America), gold-banded forester (Africa), common green birdwing (Oceania), large tree nymph (Asia) and three-tailed swallowtail (Texas and Central America)

Arid Animal Pack

• Dama gazelle = Perentie (with the water monitor cut, this would add a new monitor lizard species and some excellent representation for Australia)
• Sand cat = Caracal (adds the caracal that was cut from Grasslands, they also probably have more utility in terms of biome use and captive presence than the sand cat)
• Desert horned viper = Iraqi fat-tailed gecko (adds a much-needed species of gecko to the game which is similar to the leopard gecko but is considerably bigger, so it wouldn't feel as lost in the large exhibit)

Oceania Pack

• Tasmanian devil = Goodfellow's tree kangaroo (replaces the Tasmanian devil as the higher-effort species for this pack)
• Spectacled flying fox = Rainbow lorikeet (would have been an ideal first bird to add to the game)

Personally, I found the Europe Pack to be fine just the way it is.

 

[Fallax]

Bonobos are zoo animals, but there is the issue that their societal heirarchy is based on sexual intercourse. So many zoos don't want to host them for indecency reasons.

Is this actually why...? As far as I am aware in Europe at least more zoos are interested in going into bonobos now that the population is growing.

 

[zoomaster1994]

Main game:
-Himalayan brown bear<->American black bear

Deluxe+DLC;
-Dhole<->Sumatran rhino
-Dama gazelle<->Hamadryas baboon
-Sand cat<->Collared peccary

Yeah not that many for me, I've grown too attached to these! and I quite like species diversity

 

[Eletan888]

I'm only doing the base game because I don't have time to do the DLCs too. The majority of these are just subspecies changes.

African Buffalo>Cape Buffalo
Bengal Tiger>Sumatran Tiger
Black Wildebeest>Blue Wildebeest
Formosan Black Bear> Asiatic Black Bear
Greater Flamingo>Chilean Flamingo
Himalayan Brown Bear>European Brown Bear
Saltwater Crocodile>Nile Crocodile
Timber Wolf>Mexican Gray Wolf

 

[NZFanatic]

Ignoring exhibit animals (out of laziness) and with replacements in red:

PLANET ZOO ANIMALS
Base Game Habitat

1. Aardvark.
2. African bush elephant.
3. African lion.
4. African wild dog.
5. American alligator.
6. American bison.
7. Asian black bear.
8. Bactrian camel.
9. Baird’s tapir.
10. Black-and-white ruffed lemur.
11. Blue wildebeest.
12. Bongo.
13. Bonobo.
14. Cape buffalo.
15. Cheetah.
16. Chimpanzee.
17. Chinese pangolin.
18. Colombian white-faced capuchin.
19. Common ostrich.
20. Common warthog.
21. Eurasian brown bear.
22. Eurasian wolf.
23. Galapagos tortoise.
24. Gemsbok.
25. Giant panda.
26. Greater flamingo.
27. Grizzly bear.
28. Hippopotamus.
29. Indian elephant.
30. Indian peafowl.
31. Indian rhinoceros.
32. Japanese macaque.
33. Komodo dragon.
34. Leopard tortoise.
35. Mandrill.
36. Nyala.
37. Okapi.
38. Plains zebra.
39. Pronghorn.
40. Red panda.
41. Reticulated giraffe.
42. Ring-tailed lemur.
43. Sable antelope.
44. Saltwater crocodile.
45. Siberian tiger.
46. Snow leopard.
47. Spotted hyena.
48. Springbok.
49. Sumatran tiger.
50. Western lowland gorilla.

Deluxe Edition

1. Blackbuck.
2. Malayan tapir.
3. Pygmy hippopotamus.

Arctic Pack

1. Arctic fox.
2. Muskox.
3. Polar bear.
4. Reindeer.

South America Pack

1. Bolivian squirrel monkey.
2. Capybara.
3. Jaguar.
4. Red-rumped agouti.

Australia Pack

1. Common wombat.
2. Emu.
3. Lace monitor.
4. Red kangaroo.

Aquatic Pack

1. Asian small-clawed otter.
2. California sea lion.
3. King penguin.
4. Spectacled caiman.

Southeast Asia Animal Pack

1. Binturong.
2. Bornean orangutan.
3. Clouded leopard.
4. Dhole.
5. North Sulawesi babirusa.
6. Sumatran rhinoceros.
7. Sun bear.

Africa Pack

1. African penguin.
2. Caracal.
3. Meerkat.
4. Southern white rhinoceros.

North America Animal Pack

1. American beaver.
2. Bighorn sheep.
3. Black-tailed prairie dog.
4. Cougar.
5. Moose.
6. Sea otter.
7. Striped skunk.

Europe Pack

1. Alpine ibex.
2. Eurasian lynx.
3. European badger.
4. Red deer.

Wetlands Animal Pack

1. Asian water monitor.
2. Domestic water buffalo.
3. Gharial.
4. Great white pelican.
5. Proboscis monkey.
6. Red-crowned crane.
7. Waterbuck.

Conservation Pack

1. Amur leopard.
2. Przewalski’s horse.
3. Scimitar-horned oryx.
4. Siamang.

Twilight Pack

1. Grey-handed night monkey.
2. Fennec fox.
3. Fishing cat.
4. Giant anteater.

Grasslands Animal Pack

1. Darwin’s rhea.
2. Maned wolf.
3. Nilgai.
4. Nine-banded armadillo.
5. Patagonian mara.
6. Red-necked wallaby.
7. Serval.

Tropical Pack

1. Fossa.
2. Geoffroy’s spider monkey.
3. Lar gibbon.
4. Red river hog.

Arid Animal Pack

1. Addax.
2. African crested porcupine.
3. Bat-eared fox.
4. Dama gazelle.
5. Dromedary.
6. Eastern black rhinoceros.
7. Hamadryas baboon.

Oceania Pack

1. Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo.
2. Little blue penguin.
3. North Island brown kiwi.
4. Tasmanian devil.

As far as EX animals are concerned, in the base game I'd probably do some swaps to get one or two Australian lizards in there, and also the red-eyed tree frog. I'd replace the red-eyed tree frog in the South America Pack with the emerald tree boa. The koala would be the WTE animal in the Oceania Pack, the sloth would be replaced with Linnaeus' two-toed sloth in the Tropical Pack. I'd put the eastern snake-necked turtle in the Aquatic Pack and the Northern diamondback terrapin in the North America Animal Pack instead of the bullfrog.

Edit to add: I've kept a lot of animals I don't actually want (or rather that I could still replace) but I tend to make wishlists based on a mix of my own desires and popular choices. The tree kangaroo is a good example; I'm not actually clamouring for one at all, but I know I didn't want the quokka.

 

[ScotiaMugdock]

Trying to make equivalent or easily implementable replacements…

Base game:
Merge all subspecies into the species level
Rename timber wolf to grey wolf
Swap Hippopotamus and Pygmy hippopotamus between base game and deluxe
Baird’s tapir -> Lowland tapir
Bonobo -> Javan chevrotain
Bornean orangutan -> Yellow mongoose
Gemsbok -> Arabian oryx
Golden poison frog -> Blue poison arrow frog
Reticulated giraffe - Northern giraffe
Sable antelope -> Roan antelope

Deluxe:
Thomson’s gazelle -> Kirk’s dik-dik

Arctic:
Arctic wolf -> Arctic fox
(Bonus exhibit: Northern adder)

South America: perfect selection
Australia: good selection
Aquatic: good selection
Southeast Asia:
Dhole -> Lowland anoa

Africa: perfect selection
North America: perfect selection
Arctic fox -> Wapiti

Europe: good selection
Wetlands:
Nile lechwe -> Kafue lechwe
Spectacled caiman -> West African dwarf crocodile

Conservation: good selection
Twilight: excellent selection
Grasslands:
Blue wildebeest - Common eland
Caracal -> Serval

Tropical:
Asian water monitor -> Crocodile monitor
Lar gibbon - Bornean orangutan
Brown-throated sloth -> Linnaeus’ two-toed sloth

Arid:
Black rhinoceros -> Collared peccary
Addax -> Greater bilby

Oceania
Little penguin -> Southern rockhopper penguin

 

[Swjosdotschka]

@boogerbooger8 I'm gonna guess you are american, right?

I scrolled the comments before I read the list and wondered where you're comming from with this assumption - then I saw my Asian Small Clawed Otter swapped with the North American River Otter.

I mean, all of us have their selfish little animal wishes that wouldn't cater a lot of people, but ooooff, that one was personal for me. Don't know how I would have reacted to yet another niche otter.

I have to say, I have only very few animals I'd like to swap.

Brown-throated sloth to Linnaeus’ two-toed sloth
West African Lion to whatever African Lion is actually kept in zoos
Probosics Monkey to any macaque or langur or primate that is commonly kept in zoos world wide
Warthhog to Wild Boar or Peccary
Caracal to Serval

Overall: Less Crocodilians and less African Antilopes for more "non-flying birds" (Colorful Flamingo, Grey crowned crane) and Monkeys / Primates / Langures / Macaque, whatever you guys want to call what we in germany simplify as "Affen" as a whole, because we all know we need A LOT more of them.

There are a few animals which inclusion I personally find totally unneccessary, but that comes down to very personal preference and I'm too lazy right now to find suitable swaps, as I'd would want to keep it at least to similar animals.

But the base line: More variety, less uncommon zoo animals for me. But as I said, I was spoiled over the whole life span of Planet zoo up until the Tropical pack (though that one wasn't bad) with animals I really really want and it went down from there for me, but not everyone was that lucky. Guess that's why my list is shorter than that of some players.