I saw the question of what our minimum array of asian ungulates looks like and i wanted to give my piece but extending this to everywhere else cause hot take, besides asia we need maybe 5 new ungulates tops.
So starting outside of asia we got the barbary sheep for africa, the southern pudu for south america and the white tailed deer for all of the americas.
We allways talk about how africa is only lacking in primates and birds but thats not entirly true. Another thing that africa is lacking are dedicated mountain and cliff dwellers, some rock climbers. The easiest to add and most common representative of those would be the barbary sheep and id even go so far that the trinity of barbary sheep, gelada and rock hyrax completly fill out this rather empty niche to a satisfying amount.
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The southern pudu on the other hand represent he very unique temperate rainforest west of the andes in the southern tip of south america. Besides the cougar its the only animal that makes for a good habitat animal from there and isnt absent from zoos, while also being an endemic and together with the andean cat the arguably most charismatic species from there. They would also fill the small ungulate niche for both south america and the game, following in the peccarys foodsteps and likly being one of the by far most usefull ungulates left to add.
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The white tailed deer might look puzzling but while na players allways preach the black bear, i gotta say north america really does not have a generic ungulate does it?
The white tailed is perhaps north americas most iconic deer with a large range across many different biomes from mountains and temperate forests in the north through deserts, tropical rainforest and savannahs in the south, it truly is the most versatile of all deer species.
Its also the only NA deer thats slowly growing a foodhold in the EAZA with 5 zoos keeping them and 2 of them aquiering theres in the last 5 years.
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Now for asia, there are 3 big holes:
- Indian grassland
- himalayan slopes
- east asian anything
Granting each of them 2 new ungulates not just seems fair but also seems nessecarry to also round out the 3 missing groups, antelopes, caprines and cervids
Starting with the grassland, here we have our two ungulates, the black buck and the nilgai.
The blackbuck fills in our generic antelope role while looking very distinct with its funky horns and black colorration.
Not the most exciting animals but thats kind of the point as what asia really is missing are simple filler ungulates so something basic like the black buck fits perfectly.
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The nilgai is not just the largest antelope in asia but also would be in the game, while also looking like nothing else and being significant to indian culture, making it the more interesting standalone animal while also being very usefull for asian mixed enclosures to fill the larger size group.
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For the himalaya we got the two obvious ones, a takin and a goat.
There are many reasons to like the takin, but mine is more structural. We are currently missing substance for himalayan areas with pretty much just the snow leopard as highlight animal and the red panda as small buddy, aswell as theoretically 2 bears and the wolf, making for lots of large carnivores but literally not a single ungulate/prey item.
The takin will fill the ungulate main attraction slot, giving a second strong headliner besides the snow leopard for himalayan areas while looking like a fairytail creature.
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I mentioned prey item above and it only feels right to include one of the snowleopards main prey, the himalayan thar. Its the visually by far most interesting goat from asia with its large golden mane on the males while also being basic enough for simple filler habitats.
The main reason i picked it over the markhor besides personally finding it much more visually appealing is that i 1. havent played zoo tycoon 2 and therefor am not heavily biased and 2. it doesnt look like just a cooler ibex. With only so little goats in the game the least we can do is introduce a bit of color variation to them and the markhor mostly just looks like a paler, larger ibex with longer horns and a longer beard. Not a bad animal but imo among the by far most overhyped.
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Tackling east asia, we got the weird and the small deer.
The reevees muntjac is the third smalles deer, only beaten by the two pudus, and is the muntjac by far most common in zoos, as it is the only muntjac held in significant numbers while also being held in 186 EAZA zoos. Its small, common and looks very distinct, making it a great candidate to flesh out not just asia but ungulates overall.
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Lastly we got the peres david deer, which just looks a bit goofy, which is in its favor as it makes it look rather distinct. They are classified as extinct in the wild and have one of the oldest and most significant conservation storys and also are a semi aquatic, making them also in gameplay very unique from other deer.
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And those are my takes, 6 more ungulates for asia might sound greedy, but really wishing for 9 more non domestic ungulates in general seems reasonable if we assume that the game will go on for another year with us getting roughly 5-9 ungulates per year.
