For mine, I decided to do the opposite of the Arid Animal Pack and spread my animal choices as widely across the world as possible. I decided to choose 2 animals each from some of the 4 major desert regions of the world - North Africa, North America, South America and Australia (apologies to Asia and southern Africa).
North Africa
Despite the focus it got in the Arid Animal Pack, it's no mystery that North Africa (and the Middle East by extension) is still missing a couple key species. The
Hamadryas baboon is a community powerhouse at this point, easily the most requested primate species outside of the Americas and one of the last ABC species missing from the game. The
African spurred tortoise is another very popular species, the most wanted new tortoise in general and very common in zoos.
North America
Although my preferred species would be the aoudad, any caprine that deviates from colder climates would be great for diversity at this point, and therefore North America's iconic
bighorn sheep would be a welcome addition. As the obligate carnivoran for the pack comes my favourite North American mammal, the
ringtail, which would enrich the continent's already well-developed roster of small mammals as a specialist of drier regions.
South America
The two titans of non-tropical South America, the
Patagonian mara and a rhea species, are obvious picks for another desert pack. The
lesser rhea is a better pick for a desert pack over the more widely kept greater rhea due to occurring in drier environments, including the Atacama desert, and also differing more from the ratites we already have thanks to its smaller size.
Australia
Four of my top 5 most wanted species occur in the Australian interior so obviously this was quite a hard category for me, especially given I thought this was the best place to source an exhibit animal from. I decided on the
greater bilby for the habitat species given it would be the most unique possible option for an Australian desert specialist, being an Aussie conservation icon, a very common species in local zoos and representing an entire new order of mammals. While I really want the perentie, any Australian varanid will do, and thus I chose the
spiny-tailed monitor as both the first Australian monitor lizard and first member of its family in the exhibit box. Affectionately known as "ackies", these are the most widely kept Australian monitor lizard species, both in the pet trade and in zoos.
