Living dinosaurs for one, there's lots of options that are kept in hundreds of zoos
DLC 19 Speculation
- Thread starter USzoofan42
- Start date
Ok but what if Frontier did a bird pack but it was nothing but flightless birds:
1. Takahe
2. Kakapo
3.White-throated Rail
4. Fuegian Steamer Duck/ Magellanic flightless steamer duck
5. Galapagos Cormorant/ Flightless Cormorant
6. Greater Rhea
7. Giant Coot
1. Takahe
2. Kakapo
3.White-throated Rail
4. Fuegian Steamer Duck/ Magellanic flightless steamer duck
5. Galapagos Cormorant/ Flightless Cormorant
6. Greater Rhea
7. Giant Coot
Is there a reason why they’d all be flightless when we have peafowl and cranes in this game?
These animals seem dinosaur-like to me:
1. Shoebill
2. Greater Rhea
3. Marabou Stork
4. Tuatara
5. Perentie
6. Nile Crocodile
7. False Gharial
Ones that are already in the game and remind me of dinosaurs:
Common Ostrich, Emu, Southern Cassowary, American Alligator, Gharial, Saltwater Crocodile, Spectacled Caiman, Asian Water Monitor, Gila Monster, Komodo Dragon, Nile Monitor, Antillean Iguana, and Green Iguana. I'm also gonna include the Sussex Chicken in here because although it doesn't look like a dinosaur, it's the closest living relative of the t-rex.
Last edited:
We're still in uncharted territory. They didn't tease anything during Unlocked for the Barnyard pack. And for the Zookeeper pack, when they teased the key art during the stream they threw in the "
" emoji. But there was a lot of news that day because of the anniversary.So I wouldn't read too much into the lack of "flare" this time around.
Console is a lock because they have one more bundle for March. I'm also wondering if they might acknowledge whether or not there will be a new season pass or just say "the remaining PC packs will be coming to console in the coming months/later this year" or something like that. I almost feel like they have to say something about that or people will start pestering them about it (if they haven't already).
I feel like they wouldn't bother with a video hint at this point. That's an extra thing whereas the key art needs to be developed anyway... But a video would be really fun. I remember people slowing down the video of the peccary hooves to figure out what it was.
I'm definitely with you, though. We'll be getting something. And what that something is will lead me to conclude when the pack will drop. If there's a visual teaser? We'll be getting something in March (which would make sense from a timing perspective as we will have waited the same amount of time between the last two DLC).
A little verbal nod? We're waiting until April. There would be no reason to tease something nearly two months out when they could just hold onto it until the March Unlocked. And timing for this would work too because... Easter. And that Unlocked (presumably March 26th) would be ~2 weeks from the Easter DLC week so that could work too).
Could really go either way! I'm just hoping whatever happens sparks a lot of fun discussion!
I haven't used the peafowl or cranes. Do either actually fly in the game? I was always under the impression that Frontier avoided birds with flight since they haven't given us anything like eagles or macaws or owls, etc. Come to think of it, don't swans and flamingoes also fly? Although flamingoes have been in outdoor exhibits at all the zoos I've been to, so they must have their wings clipped or something. But we do also have the flamingoes and the mute swans in the game. Do either of those fly in the game?
All birds are equally related to T. rex.
It's a bit like a family tree, if you think about all Birds as Brothers, then T. rex has the same Grandfather as Birds, but a different Dad, making them a cousin instead of a brother.
Pretty sure they don't fly in game, though they move their wings a bit, they were just using them as an example of what should fly.
Animals that are living fossils would work best, I got something for that based on search results and Wikipedia
Short-Beaked Echidna
Lesser Mouse Deer
Nile Crocodile
Bush Dog
Brown Pelican
Red-Leggged Seriema
Sandhill Crane
(Exhibit Animal) Horseshoe Crab or Tuatara
Not quite the same, but the San Diego Zoo's Elephant Odyssey has a similar theme. It's themed around San Diego during the Ice Age. Lots of statues and education boards about extinct animals, with living relatives or animals with similar looks and behaviors. Elephants for mammoths, jaguars for smilodon, two-toed sloth for Jefferson's Ground Sloth, etc
- Nile crocodile
- Horseshoe crab
- Cealocanth
- Greenland shark
- Leatherback sea turtle
- Nautilus
- Shoebill
- Seriema
- Jabiru / Marabou stork
- Tuatara
- Perentie
- Argentinian tegu
- Solenodon
Best way to do a sort of museum pack I think would be to include animals that are particularly odd or ancient. You can definitely make an apppealing pack out of that concept:
- Short-Beaked Echidna (It's a monotreme, it being weird is kind of a given, but also its an incredibly versatile pick for Australia)
- Shoebill (The "dinosaur bird", this thing just completely screams prehistoric)
- Blackbuck (A unique sexually dimorphic antelope that split off from the rest of the gazelles over 2 million years ago)
- Musk Ox (The last of the shaggy ice age megafauna, would go nicely with the walrus as a pair)
- Walrus (The last of a whole family of pinnipeds, with huge tusks to make it stand out - This is probably the headliner)
- Secretary Bird (This thing basically looks like a raptor, super unique bird of prey)
- Patagonian Mara (Large rodents, caviomorphs are originally unique to South America and in some ways have niches more similar to larger mammals on other continents.)
- Tuatara (This is one of the most famous living fossils of all)
This is a very realistic pack and one that i wouls totally buy.
The term "living fossil" is often pretty poorly understood. I like adapting from Dr. Clint Laidlaw's definition where a living fossil is any family with only one surviving genus (and the rest are from the fossil record).
None of our birds have flying animations, yet they fly in real life. That's why I questioned the necessity for all of the pack's birds to be flightless IRL when something like a turkey or an ibis would be equally viable in the game
Last edited:
The term living fossil already is pretty much a misnomer.
Like crocodilians are always named as living fossils despite the true crocodilians only evolving in the late cretaceous. Yeah similar animals have been around longer, but the same could be said for alot of animals, and it also doesnt mean these animals stopped evolving.
Sometimes i feel the term is just used for animals that fit the preconceived image of the prehistoric world.
Like true birds have been around since the late jurassic but noone is calling them living fossil. And a more specific case: penguins, they are around for 60 million years, yet i have yet to hear them being called living fossil.
Imo they term should just be retired
Like crocodilians are always named as living fossils despite the true crocodilians only evolving in the late cretaceous. Yeah similar animals have been around longer, but the same could be said for alot of animals, and it also doesnt mean these animals stopped evolving.
Sometimes i feel the term is just used for animals that fit the preconceived image of the prehistoric world.
Like true birds have been around since the late jurassic but noone is calling them living fossil. And a more specific case: penguins, they are around for 60 million years, yet i have yet to hear them being called living fossil.
Imo they term should just be retired
Last edited:
On the topic of potential packs based more around a general theme/gimmick rather than a region of the world… here’s a silly pack idea that’s been rattling around in my head for a hot minute.
The Big and Small Animal Pack - featuring animals that are either the largest or smallest members of their respective groups!
The Big and Small Animal Pack - featuring animals that are either the largest or smallest members of their respective groups!
- Southern elephant seal (The largest pinniped and carnivoran. Common in captivity? Not really. The perfect headliner for this pack? Absolutely!)
- Giant armadillo (The largest armadillo, obviously. Would presumably be based on the existing armadillo)
- Coconut crab (The largest terrestrial invertebrate! I’d call this one a resource sponge since it’s a wholly new type of habitat animal, but really, this thing can’t be any more difficult to animate than something like a tortoise.)
- Southern pudu (YES, technically the Northern pudu is the smallest cervid, but the Southern one is what I see on everyone’s wishlists)
- Black-footed cat (The obligatory non-pinniped carnivoran. We have the smallest canid in game, why not the smallest felid?)
- Rock hyrax (Included not because it’s the smallest of its group per se, but because it’s arguably best known for being closest related to the literal largest living land animal)
- Exhibit Animal: Honestly there’s too many good candidates for this spot. Here’s a list within a list.
- Brookesia nana, the smallest chameleon
- Parson’s chameleon, the largest chameleon
- Atlas moth, the largest moth
- Phobaeticus chani, the longest stick insect(? An undescribed species from China might be longer)
- Bee hummingbirds (WTE), the smallest bird
Pretty much nothing.
There is a Stream on wednesday tho, so potentially some News there
I’m still mixed on that, I can honestly see us getting something in terms of a teaser.