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

leehonglocal

L
Here's mine although I doubt that Planet Zoo creators and designers will change the previous and already released packs. These started from since the last pack (Oceania).

Australia Pack, Arid Animal Pack and Oceania Pack
Dingo (Australia) or Dama gazelle (Arid Animal) -> Perentie (or other Australian monitor lizard)
Little Penguin -> Short-beaked Echidna (I appreciated a third penguin species to be in that game but that's hardly what I had in mind.)

Aquatic Pack and Wetlands Animal Pack
Cuvier's dwarf caiman (Aquatic) -> Green sea turtle or another penguin like rockhopper and Humboldt penguin
Nile lechwe (Wetlands Animal) -> Either alligator snapping turtle or Nile crocodile

Africa Pack and Grasslands Animal Pack
African penguin (Africa) -> African leopard
Caracal (Grasslands Animal) -> Masai giraffe

North America Animal Pack
Cougar -> Perhaps its full subspecies name. My wish and favourite is North American subspecies excluding Florida panther.

Tropical Pack
Asian water monitor -> Either squirrel monkey or African leopard

Barnyard Animal Pack
American Standard Donkey -> some domestic horse species

The rest are okay to me.
 
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leehonglocal

L
Aramar said:
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
Click to expand...
What about the cougar's full subspecies name?
 

Marvinb

Marvinb
Listing every single change id make in an ideal world would take for ever, so im just gonna list my main ones here.

-Boot the himalayan brown bear and put literally anything else here.
-Change grizzly, timber, formosan to generic brown bear, grey wolf and asiatic black bear
-Cange cuviers to spec caiman in the aquatic pack and put a duck in the wetlands pack
-Change black to blue wildebeest in the base game and put nilgai in grasslands instead
-Siamang to any spidermonkey
-Dama to hama
-Dingo to devil, devil to treeroo
 

biggest_dreamer

biggest_dreamer
Keeping the pack themes and orders, and being mindful of replacing species with ones of similar effort/tech levels:

Base Game
  • West African lion > Lion
  • Formosan black bear > Asiatic black bear
  • Timber wolf > Gray wolf
  • Himalayan brown bear > Eurasian brown bear
  • Bengal tiger > Sumatran tiger
  • Black wildebeest > Blue wildebeest
  • Aldabra giant tortoise > African spurred tortoise (no shade towards the Aldabra, but this one would be far more versatile compared to the Galapagos)
  • Nyala > Greater kudu (again, I love the nyala, but I love the kudu just a bit more)
  • Nile monitor > Komodo dragon (shrug, I honestly don't think we need any monitors besides this guy)
  • Pronghorn > Moose (my biggest change to the base game roster. the pronghorn was a weird choice, and while I don't care much for the moose either I think its popularity justifies its inclusion so I'll go ahead and get it out of the way here)
Deluxe
  • Komodo dragon > Spectacled bear (has to be something that can function as a base game clone, and also something somewhat comeplling)
Arctic
  • Arctic wolf > Wolverine (okay, hear me out: the reindeer can now work off of the now-base game moose rig, presumably allowing for the new rig development to go here instead)
South America
  • Capuchin > Squirrel monkey
  • Llama > Ocelot
Aquatic
  • Gray seal > harbor seal
Southeast Asia
  • Proboscis monkey > Javan lutung
North America
  • Moose > American black bear
Europe
  • Eurasian badger > Red fox
Wetlands
  • Wild water buffalo > Water buffalo
  • Spectacled caiman > fishing cat
  • Nile lechwe > Red river hog
Twilight
  • Red fox > White-tailed deer
Grasslands
  • Nine-banded armadillo > Six-banded armadillo
  • Blue wildebeest > Blackbuck
Tropical
  • Asian water monitor > Radiated tortoise
  • Red river hog > South American coati
Arid
  • Black rhinoceros > Hamadryas baboon
  • Somali wild ass > Rock hyrax (both of these are incredibly painful cuts but are for the greater good)
Oceania
  • Little penguin > Southern rockhopper penguin
  • Quokka > Yellow-footed rock wallaby
Overall, relatively minor changes that mostly just prioritize species more common in captivity and eliminate annoyingly specific subspecies. Frustratingly, there is still no viable-feeling entry point for the tree kangaroo's necessary new rig, without knocking out the koala or devil or kiwi (any of which would result in a two-macropod pack) or maybe fossa, who I also don't want to sacrifice. Maybe someday.....
 

FlameWizard492

FlameWizard492
Base Game
  • Black Wildebeest —> Blue Wildebeest
  • Formosan Black Bear —> Asian Black Bear
  • Himalayan Brown Bear —> Eurasian Brown Bear
  • Nile Monitor —> Red Kangaroo
Arctic Pack
  • Dall Sheep —> Musk Ox
Australia Pack
  • Red Kangaroo —> Tasmanian Devil
First Anniversary
  • Black and White Ruffed Lemur —> Aye-Aye
Southeast Asia Animal Pack
  • Proboscis Monkey —> Lowland Anoa
  • “Malayan Tapir” —> An Actual Malayan Tapir
Wetlands Animal Pack
  • Nile Lechwe —> Shoebill
Grasslands Animal Pack
  • Blue Wildebeest —> Blackbuck
Tropical Pack
  • Brown-Throated Sloth —> Hoffman’s OR Linnaeus’s Two-Toed Sloth
Oceania Pack
  • Tasmanian Devil —> Goodfellow’s OR Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo
 

ScotiaMugdock

ScotiaMugdock
Bobble2017 said:
I wouldnt change any of the animals TBH , I think frontier have done an awesome job so far with all the animals we can choose from . and the animals all look completely realistic
Click to expand...
Agreed! Even the ones I was less keen on, I probably use more than my requests (looking at the Arctic wolf and flying fox in particular)
 

leehonglocal

L
biggest_dreamer said:
Keeping the pack themes and orders, and being mindful of replacing species with ones of similar effort/tech levels:

Base Game
  • West African lion > Lion
  • Formosan black bear > Asiatic black bear
  • Timber wolf > Gray wolf
  • Himalayan brown bear > Eurasian brown bear
  • Bengal tiger > Sumatran tiger
  • Black wildebeest > Blue wildebeest
  • Aldabra giant tortoise > African spurred tortoise (no shade towards the Aldabra, but this one would be far more versatile compared to the Galapagos)
  • Nyala > Greater kudu (again, I love the nyala, but I love the kudu just a bit more)
  • Nile monitor > Komodo dragon (shrug, I honestly don't think we need any monitors besides this guy)
  • Pronghorn > Moose (my biggest change to the base game roster. the pronghorn was a weird choice, and while I don't care much for the moose either I think its popularity justifies its inclusion so I'll go ahead and get it out of the way here)
Deluxe
  • Komodo dragon > Spectacled bear (has to be something that can function as a base game clone, and also something somewhat comeplling)
Arctic
  • Arctic wolf > Wolverine (okay, hear me out: the reindeer can now work off of the now-base game moose rig, presumably allowing for the new rig development to go here instead)
South America
  • Capuchin > Squirrel monkey
  • Llama > Ocelot
Aquatic
  • Gray seal > harbor seal
Southeast Asia
  • Proboscis monkey > Javan lutung
North America
  • Moose > American black bear
Europe
  • Eurasian badger > Red fox
Wetlands
  • Wild water buffalo > Water buffalo
  • Spectacled caiman > fishing cat
  • Nile lechwe > Red river hog
Twilight
  • Red fox > White-tailed deer
Grasslands
  • Nine-banded armadillo > Six-banded armadillo
  • Blue wildebeest > Blackbuck
Tropical
  • Asian water monitor > Radiated tortoise
  • Red river hog > South American coati
Arid
  • Black rhinoceros > Hamadryas baboon
  • Somali wild ass > Rock hyrax (both of these are incredibly painful cuts but are for the greater good)
Oceania
  • Little penguin > Southern rockhopper penguin
  • Quokka > Yellow-footed rock wallaby
Overall, relatively minor changes that mostly just prioritize species more common in captivity and eliminate annoyingly specific subspecies. Frustratingly, there is still no viable-feeling entry point for the tree kangaroo's necessary new rig, without knocking out the koala or devil or kiwi (any of which would result in a two-macropod pack) or maybe fossa, who I also don't want to sacrifice. Maybe someday.....
Click to expand...
These were already featured and available. They're in standard and packs.
  • Black wildebeest > Blue wildebeest
  • Nile monitor > Komodo dragon
  • Eurasian badger > Red fox
  • Nile lechwe > Red river hog
 
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biggest_dreamer

biggest_dreamer
leehonglocal said:
These were already featured and available. They're in standard and packs.
  • Black wildebeest > Blue wildebeest
  • Nile monitor > Komodo dragon
  • Eurasian badger > Red fox
  • Nile lechwe > Red river hog
Click to expand...
Right, the idea is to get them in a different pack where they would fit, to free up another spot later on in the pack where we ultimately got them. By putting the red fox in the Europe pack, for example, I was able to free up space for the white-tailed deer in my Twilight pack.
 

Utahraptor Arcanus

Utahraptor Arcanus
well, this gonna be interesting, mainly because i dont like multiple naming and specie choices this game had made in the base game and in some dlc. so here is what i would change, properly separeted in what i would change:

Base game
Rename
West African Lion > Lion - make the lion more generic would end multiple problems related to this guy, mainly captive presence problem, being more flexible and nobody need to hear people saying the asiatic lion is needed.
african buffalo > cape buffalo - the ingame buffalo only represents the cape and not the red forest buffalo, because of that the african buffalo is the only animal that need to be more specific.
Timber wolf > Gray wolf - more flexible and less confusing.
Plains zebra > Grant's Zebra - no more confusion about this guy.
Hippo > Common hippo - with the pigmy in the game this just make more sense.
Indian Elephant - Asiatic elephant - more flexible.

Merged - making this would avoid further discussion and make said animals more flexible, while also making room for other animals.
HBB and grizzly > brown bear.
both tigers > Tiger.

swaped by similar species:
Baird's tapir > Brazilian tapir - i just like the brazilian more.
Black wildebeest > blue wildebeest - more popular and iconic, allowing a different animal in grasslands.
Aldabra giant tortoise > African spurred tortoise - i actually like Aldabra, but spurred is just objectively better.
eastern brown snake > Black mamba (not similiar but i guess it's fine) - a more popular snake to give us heart attacks.
Formosan Black bear > America black bear - make the base game have one endemic NA bear, one endemic from Asia and one more "general" would make the base game bear host better.
goliath beetle > Hercules beetle - more enblematic
Nyala > Greater Kudu - i just like kudos more.

Removed - forgettable species that should be removed to make room from other species completely different.
Bonobo - chimp 2.0, not essential in any way.
Sable antelope - most generic and forgettable antelope
Mexican and Brazilian tarantulas - three tarantulas feels like a overkill

New species
habitat: Polar bear, Jaguar, red kangaroo and king penguin - throwing the headliners of the first four dlcs is something that just feels correct, they are considered the most emblematic fauna of they regions, being the most "basic" animals, because of that i believe they should be in the base game.
exhibit: reticulated pythom and plumed basilisk - i just really like those guys

Deluxe
Thompson gazelle > scimitar oryx - scimitar is more interesting and unique, while let's be fair that nobody care about thompson
Arctic pack
polar bear > arctic fox - arctic fox just feels better in this pack.
Arctic wolf > Wolverine - beyond the fact this guy is very popular, i also like the idea of having two carnivorans and two ungulates that are brown or white, creating a nice parallel betwen the animals of said pack.

South America pack:
Jaguar > Maned wolf - having the maned wolf so soon was one of my dreams so yeah.
Red eyed tree frog > Emerald tree boa - now we have a SA exhibit

Australia pack:
Kangaroo > short beaked echidna - this one was quite difficult because i didn't have idea what animal i should use as tha kangaroo substitute, but echidna just feels like the best choice.

Aquatic pack
King penguin > African penguin - switching the penguin specie was the obvious choice, despite the fact im not so found in the african penguin
Dwarf caiman > Black caiman - most popular caiman, don't really need to say much more.

Southeast Asia animal pack
clounded leopard > Golden pheasant - honestly this pack need more colour, and a colorful bird would solve it, while removing a problematic animal from the game
dhole > Gaur - biggest bovine in the world vs forgotten dog, yeah sorry dhole
Proboscis monkey > celebes crested macaque - a little company for the babirusa in this pack
Leaf insect > king cobra - i literally don't need to elaborate here

Africa pack
african penguin > Secretary bird - now we have a cool african bird.

North America animal pack
Arctic fox > wild turkey - a bird is everything that was lacking to this pack.

First anniversary
lemur > Nile Crocodile - Africa have a croc now.

Europe pack
i actually woudn't change anything in this pack, the animal selection is just way to good.

Wetlands animal pack
spectacled caiman > broad snouted caiman - personal preference.
Lechwe > Proboscis monkey - swapping proboscis means we get another primate at the price of a antelope, seens fair to me.

Conservation pack
Oryx > pere david deer - a second extinct in the wild animal that would be interesting.
Amur leopard > Arabian leopard - more unique.

Twilight pack:
skunk > southern tamandua - something to SA and a more "exotic" animal.
Egyptian fruit bat > common vampire bat - more fitting to the theme, and also a representant to SA.

grassland animal pack
Maned wolf > black howler monkey - another SA animal that is essential to the cerrado.
nine-banded armadillo - Three banded armadillo - pernonal preference.
Blue wlidebeest - blackbuck - a asian antelope, something the game is still lacking.

Tropical pack
lar gibbon > Geoffrey spider monkey - third SA and CA monkey
Monitor > jabirou - a proper SA wanding bird

Arid animal pack
Black rhino > Hamandryas Babbon - i don't need to explain
Dhama Gazelle > Greater rhea - yes, it counts
Sand cat > Ratel - im sorry little cat, but badass fearless mustelid is just miles better.
Desert horned viper > thorny devil - most wanted DE right now, also who would say no to that spiky face

Oceania pack
Quokka > Yellow footed rock wallaby... or literally anything else given that i dislike quokka anyway. With that said yellow footed wallaby feels like the best choice, given that it would be another easy to make clone.
 
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abigenius

abigenius
I'm kind of bored so let's play for a while and think about how I could redo the animal selection, first of all, I'll try to be realistic in the animal selection and I'll change animals with same rigs from the base game and not rigs that "we will see in the future dlcs" and finally I'll try to balance the strong African animal roster, so, let's start!!!

Base game
• Springbok > Blackbuck (sorry my gazelle but the general public prefer the iconic Thompson gazelle)
• Grizzly bear + HBB > Brown bear ( I never had problems with both bears but with a generic brown bear the problems about the subespecies could be less)
• Now with free slot > Dhole
• Formosan black bear > Asian Black Bear
• West African lion > Northern lion ( at least in the language Spanish we had them already lol)
• Nyala > Pampas deer ( it could use the proghorn rig)
• Black wildebeest > Rhesus macaque ( without the Black wildebeest the Blue Wildebeest would increase their own appel )
• Greater Flamingo > American Flamingo
• Orangutan > Greater Curassow ( with the Peafowl rig)
• Timber wolf > ABB ( so wildcard but we could see the timber wolf with a better model in the future)
• Nile monitor > Perentie
• Gharial > Nile crocodile
• Warthog > Wild boar

• Titan beetle > Emerald tree boa
• Pink salmon tarantula > False coral snake
• The other spider (I don't remember it's name but not the Giant and Mexican tarantulas both are fine ) > Reticulated python
• Giant snail ( Leopard gecko )

With these we could have a balance with the animals species

Arctic pack : honestly all its fine to me, without the timer wolf, the Arctic wolf would not be hated too much

SA Pack :
Llama > Guanaco

Australia pack : again all its fine to me 👉👈

Aquatic pack:
king penguin > Emperor penguin ( only for their chicks)
Cuvier Dwarf caiman > Gharial ( maybe with this move it could have a better size model )

SEA:
Dhole > Bornean Orangutan ( now with more time the Orangutan could have a better model and animations
Proboscis monkey > Spectacled langur ( or any langur would be fine )
Malaysian Giant leaf insect > King Kobra

Africa pack : all its fine

North America animal pack :
Arctic fox > Grey wolf ( Finally we will see the Grey wolf in the game and with a better design, I was so sympathetic to the arctic fox [more than anything for not having his summer coat])

Europe pack : all its fine!!

Wetlands animal pack :
Nile lechwe > Common Waterbuck ( sorry lechwe I really like you but I want a waterbuck)

Conservation pack:
Siamang > Sulawesi Crested macaque (now we know that the lar gibbon will be in the future so calm people)

Twilight pack:
Again to me

Grassland animal pack
Caracal >Ringtail or the Black footed ferret (both using a small animal rig)
Without a wildebeest in the base game the Blue Wildebeest would be more welcome addition

Tropical pack
All is amazing fine to me ❤️

Arid animal pack
Sand cat > Caracal
Horned viper > Any desert tortoise

Oceania pack
All good :)
 
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AndyM_75

A
Whilst I agree that the Lion could be improved - it’s about accuracy for me. Renaming the West African Lion to just ‘Lion’ completely misses the point - there are at least two valid subspecies recognised scientifically regarding this iconic (and declining population) animal and the Lion should be either made into the Northern or Southern Lion if it were to be changed (rather than the mix and match that it currently is) in my opinion. If part of the game is about education then representing this key species correctly feels a quick, easy fix. Ideally I’d like both subspecies of Lion - as they have valid behavioural, physical and biome differences.

Supportive of the comments tending towards the Sumatran tiger over the Bengal - as the former is much more common in zoo’s. Again, ideal world the Sumatran would be added to those already in the game.
 

nutrit

nutrit
Deluxe:
Thompson’s gazelle to base game
Additional species: Lion tailed macaque

Arctic:
Dall sheep to base game
Additional animal: Musk ox

SA:
Llama to base game
Additional animal: Coati

Australia:
Dingo to base game
Additional animal: Echidna

Anniversary animal 2020: Vicuña

Aquatic:
Caiman to base game
Additional animal: Great white pelican

SEA:
Malayan tapir to base game
Additional animal: Lowland anoa

Africa:
Penguin to base game
Additional animal: Serval

NA:
Arctic fox to base game
Additional animal: NA porcupine

Europe:
Badger to base game
Additional animal: Wolverine

Wetlands:
Nile lechwe to base game
Additional animal: Pere David’s deer

Conservation:
Scimitar horned oryx to base game
Additional animal: Gray crowned crane

Twilight:
Skunk to base game
Additional animal: Sloth bear

Grasslands:
Blue wildebeest to base game
Additional animal: Olive baboon

Tropical:
Asian water monitor to base game
Additional animal: Howler monkey

Arid:
Dama gazelle to base game
Additional animal: Secretary bird

Oceania:
Little penguin to base game
Additional animal: Tree kangaroo
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
AndyM_75 said:
(rather than the mix and match that it currently is)
Click to expand...
What mix and match? It's the West African lion, a genetically significant subpopulation of the Northern lion. There's nothing confusing about it, it's just hyperspecific for no reason.

A generic "Lion" or a generic "African Lion" makes sense from a realism perspective. Aside from the few zoos that keep genetically pure Asiatic lions (easily done since they are genetically isolated in the Gir Forest), most zoos do have generic "African lions"; that is to say, they are hybridised between different subpopulations and even between the two subspecies. I'm sure some are "genetically pure" subspecies (either northern or southern) but like chimpanzees, zebras, and many other species the studbook is so muddy that it isn't worth it for zoos to figure out the exact genetic makeup since in terms of conservation it doesn't really matter.

"African lion" and "Asiatic lion" would be a perfect split.
 

leehonglocal

L
I was inspired by nutrit's additional animal ideal to show this.

Arctic: Walrus

SA: Spectacled Bear

Australia: Perentie (or other species of Australian monitor lizard)

Aquatic: Rockhopper Penguin

SEA: Banteng

Africa: African leopard (could be for Grasslands)

NA: American Black Bear

Europe: Wisent

Wetlands: American Flamingo

Conservation: Green Sea Turtle (could be for Aquatic)

Twilight: Ocelot

Grasslands: Masai Giraffe (could be for Africa)

Tropical: Squirrel Monkey (could be for SA)

Arid: African Spurred Tortoise

Oceania: Tree Kangaroo

Eurasia: Elk

Barnyard: Domestic Horse species
 
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