Because of Paddington, duh. But for real, it was a SA rep that was cute and unique, it does feel more like a 13, but 6 is WILD.
Hot takes for planet zoo
- Thread starter Mr-Hyrax 2
- Start date
I would argue we don't need any of those other than the walrus and maybe the american black bear and that's just because of relevance among broader audiences and the importance for the regions they represent. Maybe the coyote also fills that criteria.
Out of all of those i would only really be happy about the civet.
Were all of these really in the top 10? Some of these are surprising.
But yeah i've been very vocal about how the spec bear was always an overrrated choice and not really that important for SA rep. That said i'm glad we got it in game but for me it wasn't never really a priority.
Maybe I was a little too harsh, I personally don't think we need but would be ok with getting the walrus, abb and a civet I would also be ok with a small jungle cat or a mongoose but we actually just don't need another 2 canids, especially the coyote
Highland cow - I would have rather got the yak or watutsi instead for a domestic bovine
Saiga - Don't get the appeal especially when Asia was lacking so many more common ungulates like an endemic deer or indian antelope
Black rhino - Basically the same thing as the white rhino
Addax - Very similar to the scimitar horned oryx
Spectacled Bear - One of the main reasons the wildlife of SA is so exciting is because it is fairly unique so why are people asking for one of the most similar animals to stuff we already have plenty of in game
Want to give props to the Dama, Lechwe and Spectacled Caiman for being super underrated gems
I have another hot take not related to the topic.
I would actually be excited about getting a civet. I don't want it more than a coati, but i deffinetly want it more than a walrus, serval, tanuki, bush dog, coyote or jackal.
I think my top most wanted carnivores right now are:
1. Southamerican coati
2. Sea otter
3. Ocelot
4.. Honey badger
5. African civet
I would actually be excited about getting a civet. I don't want it more than a coati, but i deffinetly want it more than a walrus, serval, tanuki, bush dog, coyote or jackal.
I think my top most wanted carnivores right now are:
1. Southamerican coati
2. Sea otter
3. Ocelot
4.. Honey badger
5. African civet
I still want the walrus, Honey Badger, sea otter, and coati more but I can debate the bush dog, serval, and tanuki a little less. But civets are fascinating creatures and I’m with you there
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Me too!
Mine are:
1. Bat-eared Fox
2. Bush Dog
3. Civet
4. Dwarf Mongoose
5. Ocelot
Honorable mentions: Sumatran Tiger, Sea Otter, Honey Badger
- Emu - I like birds, I just wish we got something that wasn't another ratite
- Lar gibbon - 1 gibbon's enough, we didn't need 2
- Amur leopard - I still stand by the fact that we should've gotten 1 leopard that covered the species as a whole, would've avoided some later controversy
- North Island Brown Kiwi - Similar situation as the emu
- Caracal - I never saw the appeal in this ever, just seems like it exists in PZ because of Carnivoran bias and nostalgia for ZT2
- Red Fox - easily the most overrated addition in 2022, these are near-cosmopolitan as urban wildlife and I see 100% zero appeal for these in a zoo game
- Striped Hyena - same reasons as the caracal
- Brown-Throated Sloth - I have utterly no idea why Frontier chose this species when both species of two-toed sloth are less creepy and far more common in captivity
- Pallas's Cat - no idea why this got so high in wishlists, it's literally just yet another Asian cat (see the 2 tigers, clouded leopard, snow leopard, Amur leopard, caracal, and Eurasian lynx)
- The highland cow got listed twice so I'm gonna use one of them as a freebie to say the alpaca is extremely overrated, and possibly the weakest addition to the game in 2024
I'm glad to have the Red Fox. Found on nearly every continent, a classic fox, adorable and colorful its one of my favorite animals in game. I hope to see it in the sequel. All that said, I agree that it's not really a zoo animal... So, if it doesn't show up in the sequel I understand why.
Me too! The best way to do that is to have the Red Fox. I hope the sequel allows for different fur lengths, ear sizes, etc... So that Red Foxes look different depending where they're from.
I think you are downplaying the significance of aome of this animals.
The emu is not just another ratite, is an icon of australia and am extremely common bird in zoos. It HAD to be in the game. And the same applies to the rhea that we haven't got yet.
I agree about the gibbon, only that it should've been the lar gibbon from the get go instead of the siamang. But i'm glad we have both.
Agree about the leopard.
Kiwi si very unique and famous. You could argue it wasn't as relevant since it is not common in captivity. But just like the emu is an australian icon, the kiwi is THE animal for NZ.
Caracal comes down to personal choice i guess but i much prefer it over the serval and i'm glad we got it.
Striped hyena i agree.
Red fox was surely overrated at the time. Eventually i would have like to get it though. Is one those ABC animals with a huge range and cultural presence. So i understand the populatity.
A sloth was important and once again it comes down to the most well known and populat species. Idk if the WTE was right call for it but is not an overrated want.
Palla's cat i was actually surprised it wasn't added in Eurasia. Is one of the more popular small cats and is not just another asian cat. It looks very different from any of the other asian cats we have. Also it has become well known among broader audiences because of the internet. I was actually surprised it wasn't even more popular and higher in the list that it was.
Or we could've gotten birds that do the job while also being more varied. Imagine if we had gotten an Australian brushturkey instead. Instantly more appeal while still getting an Aussie bird. Same with kiwis and superb lyrebirds.
I'm sure it's known by now that I don't care much about the "ABC" factor because popularity is subjective and inherently what we make of it. I could ask 100 entomologists about their 10 favourite animals and use that for sampling, but it's clear that there will be disagreement. I just want animals that appeal to make and strive to show biodiversity among macrofauna and megafauna (as I want from zoos as whole). Red foxes are just another canid in that view, and one that I don't see as zoo-relevant in any capacity.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't have any sloth, just that one of the two-toed species seems like a much more reasonable pick.
Not sure what you expected from a thread specifically tailored to saying hot takes
Animals I can see the appeal of, but I’m unsure if I agree with their high placement:
Wolverine: Very large range, but far from essential.
Takin: Very cool animal and one of my favorite ungulates personally, but also very far from essential.
Red Fox: Yet again an animal I can see the appeal of (ridiculous range and a good animal for small budget zoos) but it wasn’t exactly high priority when we already had two other foxes.
Spectacled Bear: I’m desperate for SA animals as much as the next person - especially non-tropical ones - but this was far from the most needed animal for the region.
Animals I'm baffled with being that high (I by no means totally dislike them, but having them that high was wild):
Sloth Bear: I can still see the appeal as a star species for India but this was the least needed of an already very well fleshed out group.
Markhor: Fills the exact same niche as the takin but is way less interesting morphologically, and is yet another cold-weather caprine as if we weren’t loaded with them already…
Saiga: Ah yes, the antelope with one holding that kills itself in captivity. Doesn’t help that it’s part of a group we’re absolutely flooded with.
Addax: We didn’t need both these guys and the scimitar horned oryx.
Somali Wild Ass: Pretty uncommon animal in the grand scheme of things. I can understand the appeal: it’s pretty and another equine is somewhat of a breath of fresh air in the relatively samey ungulate roster, but being that high for something so un-essential, relatively niche, and not all that unique?
Animals I actually found underrated in the top/Think we should have gotten sooner:
Emu: This is one of the most common, basic zoo animals ever and I’m shocked it took us that long to get it (1072 holdings on ZTL is insane lol). I can understand some people being upset that its another ratite, but that’s less an issue of us getting “too many” ratites and more of an issue that Frontier doesn’t give us enough birds to begin with. Having no emu to mix with my roos for a while always felt bizarre.
Bennett’s Wallaby: Like the emu, ridiculously common animal and another essential that took us too long to get.
Kiwi: This was pretty much the only habitat animal Aotearoa needed (aside from the LBP which I never thought we’d actually get), and it’s unlike anything else in game (or in real life for that matter). It fills a completely different niche from every other ratite both visually and behaviorally. Admittedly, I’m biased, but my god this is such a basic animal for my uses and such a unique animal as a whole while not being so rare to the point its unusable overseas.
American Alligator: To this day I still feel like it was kind of overshadowed by the more popular mammals, with people complaining about another crocodilian (in a pack with another cat and canid no less) but this is an essential icon of North America’s swamps and they’re insanely common over here (and pretty common overseas as far as NA animals go).
Raccoon: Not for me personally (though it has grown on me quite a bit) but these are ridiculously common zoo animals apparently even if I don’t think of them as such where I build (at least outside of some small, low budget NA zoos). 527 holdings in Europe alone is no number to scoff at, plus it's pretty unique in the otherwise canid/cat/bear dominated carnivoran roster.
Lar Gibbon: Was initially a bit bummed with it, but it's one of my favorites now. Yeah, there were loads of primates that should have taken priority, but like the emu, that's an issue of Frontier not giving us enough in the first place. In a game loaded with so many samey mid-large African antelope, cold weather Eurasian caprids, two brown bears, etc. having two very distinct gibbons is the least of my concerns.
Wolverine: Very large range, but far from essential.
Takin: Very cool animal and one of my favorite ungulates personally, but also very far from essential.
Red Fox: Yet again an animal I can see the appeal of (ridiculous range and a good animal for small budget zoos) but it wasn’t exactly high priority when we already had two other foxes.
Spectacled Bear: I’m desperate for SA animals as much as the next person - especially non-tropical ones - but this was far from the most needed animal for the region.
Animals I'm baffled with being that high (I by no means totally dislike them, but having them that high was wild):
Sloth Bear: I can still see the appeal as a star species for India but this was the least needed of an already very well fleshed out group.
Markhor: Fills the exact same niche as the takin but is way less interesting morphologically, and is yet another cold-weather caprine as if we weren’t loaded with them already…
Saiga: Ah yes, the antelope with one holding that kills itself in captivity. Doesn’t help that it’s part of a group we’re absolutely flooded with.
Addax: We didn’t need both these guys and the scimitar horned oryx.
Somali Wild Ass: Pretty uncommon animal in the grand scheme of things. I can understand the appeal: it’s pretty and another equine is somewhat of a breath of fresh air in the relatively samey ungulate roster, but being that high for something so un-essential, relatively niche, and not all that unique?
Animals I actually found underrated in the top/Think we should have gotten sooner:
Emu: This is one of the most common, basic zoo animals ever and I’m shocked it took us that long to get it (1072 holdings on ZTL is insane lol). I can understand some people being upset that its another ratite, but that’s less an issue of us getting “too many” ratites and more of an issue that Frontier doesn’t give us enough birds to begin with. Having no emu to mix with my roos for a while always felt bizarre.
Bennett’s Wallaby: Like the emu, ridiculously common animal and another essential that took us too long to get.
Kiwi: This was pretty much the only habitat animal Aotearoa needed (aside from the LBP which I never thought we’d actually get), and it’s unlike anything else in game (or in real life for that matter). It fills a completely different niche from every other ratite both visually and behaviorally. Admittedly, I’m biased, but my god this is such a basic animal for my uses and such a unique animal as a whole while not being so rare to the point its unusable overseas.
American Alligator: To this day I still feel like it was kind of overshadowed by the more popular mammals, with people complaining about another crocodilian (in a pack with another cat and canid no less) but this is an essential icon of North America’s swamps and they’re insanely common over here (and pretty common overseas as far as NA animals go).
Raccoon: Not for me personally (though it has grown on me quite a bit) but these are ridiculously common zoo animals apparently even if I don’t think of them as such where I build (at least outside of some small, low budget NA zoos). 527 holdings in Europe alone is no number to scoff at, plus it's pretty unique in the otherwise canid/cat/bear dominated carnivoran roster.
Lar Gibbon: Was initially a bit bummed with it, but it's one of my favorites now. Yeah, there were loads of primates that should have taken priority, but like the emu, that's an issue of Frontier not giving us enough in the first place. In a game loaded with so many samey mid-large African antelope, cold weather Eurasian caprids, two brown bears, etc. having two very distinct gibbons is the least of my concerns.
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Pretty much i agree with you. Only i would put the raccoon in the first cathegory.
I didn't say top ten, also both are so popular it I might as well include them
I don't want to be a jerk, sense that was literally a rule I made, but I am just gonna say this, the amount of takin hate is much more than I thought, so I am just going to say it, I think the takin is better than the markhor (that is my honest opinion, not just a clap back
Edit: I am not saying it's wrong to feel that way, that's just my opinion.
Edit: I am not saying it's wrong to feel that way, that's just my opinion.
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