Ranking the areas still requiring animals

[RightWhale]

even if no flying bird the macaws

It genuinely is crazy for a zoo game we have to leave out some of the most famous zoo animals or else every region drops down 2 colors. Genuinely the more I think of “a zoo game without macaws” the weirder it is, so I try to keep it out of my mind.

1. ZT1 they were in the bird building
2. ZT2 they would fly overhead (ambient animal but atleast they are in game)
3. ZT3 they were added as placeable exhibit animals
4. Planet Zoo: none of the above except in one poster

 

[NachoB]

Okay after all the comments here's my verdict @call me Omi :

• North American deserts - go blue, that area is extremely well represented
• North American grasslands - go blue, who knew north america will get so much love
• Patagonia - goes yellow - poor Mara keeps us away from perfection. While patagonia has more animals to offer, the 3 omnipresent species in global zoos are rhea, mara, and cougar, and 2 of them are now with us. Once the third is here (fingers crossed) we'll be able to make decent pataonian representation in our zoos.
• South american rainforest - can go yellow. Reasoning below*
• South american grasslands - remains yellow, coati is missing.
• Caribbean - remains grey as we are still under the 2 habitat species threshold.

South America rainforest reasoning
While I agree with @KönigDerKaffeebohnen that there's a chasm between south america's potential and its actual representation in the game, I went and looked back to the part of the thread where we were discussing the south american rainforests specifically, and the gaps raised there were:

• Coati
• Peccary
• More monkeys - in cateogries big, medium and small
• More medium sized animals for an area featured in the game only by charismatic megafauna compared to the weird medium and small critters of real life zoos.
• (And of course birds but we don't count them in PZ1 unfortunately)

The new pack adresses these gaps pretty well, giving us a big monkey (saki), 3 mid-sized lesser known critters (ocelot, bush dog, saki), and technically even two birds that touch on the region (flamingo and rhea). So if we judge this area the same we judged the previous areas as compared to what's feasible and likely in the game, I think we can now pinpoint two specific gaps (coati, tamarin) that keep us away from a realistic baseline roster for global zoos. That in addition to @IberianFlamenco🦩🦖 's good point that the orange category became less relevant as most of the areas were more fleshed out.

Objections?

Agree except about the birds. None of the birds we got are rainforest birds. Might be tropical birds in some of their range but they don't do anything for rainforests. And there are birds that could work ingame that we should consider: mainly Scarlet ibis and a tropical duck.

 

[yoav_r]

What about Central America? It still has yellow. Or is that bunched with SA rainforests?

I don't have any objections. I'm shocked that NA got this many animals in the 1st place (still believe that the ABB deserves a spot somewhere)

Maybe because americans are the main market for this game? That's my guess

Fair point, sounds like i mostly listed the blue requirements then, but hey its allways nice to see the map getting closer to that perfect blue so who am i to judge?

Yeah the original guidelines are essentially Green - we have a baseline for a realistic section from a global zoo perspective, and Blue - we have built above the baseline roster enough for us to make realistic zoos from a localized and specialized perspective

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Agree except about the birds. Nine of the birds we got are rainforest birds. Might be tropical birds in some of their range but they don't do anything for rainforests. And there are birds that could work ingame that we should consider: mainly Scarlet ibis and a tropical duck.

Roseatespoonbill my beloved

 

[yoav_r]

Agree except about the birds. Nine of the birds we got are rainforest birds. Might be tropical birds in some of their range but they don't do anything for rainforests. And there are birds that could work ingame that we should consider: mainly Scarlet ibis and a tropical duck.

Yup. But when you look at the birds we got they all have somthing in common: ground dwellers who don't fly when displayed in zoos. Like they could definitely do ibises and whatnot but for some reason they avoid it like the plague, maybe the mix of active flight and arborealism?

 

[RightWhale]

Yup. But when you look at the birds we got they all have somthing in common: ground dwellers who don't fly when displayed in zoos. Like they could definitely do ibises and whatnot but for some reason they avoid it like the plague, maybe the mix of active flight and arborealism?

For the roseate spoonbill and the ibis it’s because they do spend time in the trees, here are photos I took at the Bronx Zoo:

While they could theoretically work in game with “perching points” they spend too much time off the ground. So I don’t think they will ever be added, even if they are wading birds.

However where that excuse falls short is for Tropical birds like ducks. Which also nest on the ground and primarily swim. And if we want to get more technical I would argue the burrowing owl and puffin might be the farthest extent we can get before perches need to be added.

At this point in the game it seems possible we won’t get anything extensive, so at most I think any birds we can get are gonna be very similar to what we have in game. Which makes the lack of waterfowl even stranger.

 

[DarthQuell]

While they could theoretically work in game with “perching points” they spend too much time off the ground. So I don’t think they will ever be added, even if they are wading birds.

Koalas spend a lot of time in the trees, but we got them.
I think it can be done, but might not be entirely accurate in behavior

 

[NachoB]

Koalas spend a lot of time in the trees, but we got them.
I think it can be done, but might not be entirely accurate in behavior

We just need an enrichment item that would work a perching point / nest. Like they did for the siamang.

 

[RightWhale]

We just need an enrichment item that would work a perching point / nest. Like they did for the siamang.

Yeah but that’s my point and current #1 issue, I don’t see Frontier doing this. Unless, after almost 6 years, they now want to give us a bird DLC and they made the Americas Pack to save time for it.

Which I really don’t see happening.

 

[FoxyDee]

As much as I think those birds are totally doable with the help of the enrichment items, I too think Frontier wont do them. They have completely stopped to give us new enrichment items except that one cake which reuse the eating animations. Which is a real shame. They even stopped with the foliage… I just do not see it happening as much as I would love it. It seems they have cut off developing anything other than animals and basic building objects.

 

[DarthQuell]

Yeah but that’s my point and current #1 issue, I don’t see Frontier doing this. Unless, after almost 6 years, they now want to give us a bird DLC and they made the Americas Pack to save time for it.

Which I really don’t see happening.

As much as I think those birds are totally doable with the help of the enrichment items, I too think Frontier wont do them. They have completely stopped to give us new enrichment items except that one cake which reuse the eating animations. Which is a real shame. They even stopped with the foliage… I just do not see it happening as much as I would love it. It seems they have cut off developing anything other than animals and basic building objects.

I'm pretty sure we're nearing PlanZo's end. I think we're gonna get 1 more pack, and then that's it. I really can't see it going on into 2026; by the time I'm sure PlanCo 2 will be more popular and find its footing. It's the same with JWE2: rocky start, but ended up getting way better

 

[FoxyDee]

I'm pretty sure we're nearing PlanZo's end. I think we're gonna get 1 more pack, and then that's it. I really can't see it going on into 2026; by the time I'm sure PlanCo 2 will be more popular and find its footing. It's the same with JWE2: rocky start, but ended up getting way better

Yeah, with seeing how many people declared they wont be buying the new pack, I cannot see Frontier going on for much longer with it. It is entirely possible they will wrap it up if this one wont sell well. Well, maybe they will finish the one they are working on right now and then that is it.

 

[RightWhale]

I'm pretty sure we're nearing PlanZo's end. I think we're gonna get 1 more pack, and then that's it. I really can't see it going on into 2026; by the time I'm sure PlanCo 2 will be more popular and find its footing. It's the same with JWE2: rocky start, but ended up getting way better

As much as I think those birds are totally doable with the help of the enrichment items, I too think Frontier wont do them. They have completely stopped to give us new enrichment items except that one cake which reuse the eating animations. Which is a real shame. They even stopped with the foliage… I just do not see it happening as much as I would love it. It seems they have cut off developing anything other than animals and basic building objects.

I mean for the Pete’s sake, Frontier added special animations just for gibbons and gave the WTE to flying mammals (twice) before we could get something similar for birds.

It’s not “over” for us PZ bird people, but it’s looking about just as chipper as the rest of the game. Support won’t continue forever, and we aren’t gonna get something new and exciting. So hopefully we can get a cute bird clone of two. I wouldn’t expect much else, but I could see another bird on the horizon.

 

[DarthQuell]

Yeah, with seeing how many people declared they wont be buying the new pack, I cannot see Frontier going on for much longer with it. It is entirely possible they will wrap it up if this one wont sell well. Well, maybe they will finish the one they are working on right now and then that is it.

It's a shame, because 5/7 of these animals were well asked for. The only one that seems to be holding people back is the coyote at this point, but the rest seem good. The saki and ocelot seem popular, from what I've seen

I mean for the Pete’s sake, Frontier added special animations just for gibbons and gave the WTE to flying mammals (twice) before we could get something similar for birds.

It’s not “over” for us PZ bird people, but it’s looking about just as chipper as the rest of the game. Support won’t continue forever, and we aren’t gonna get something new and exciting. So hopefully we can get a cute bird clone of two. I wouldn’t expect much else, but I could see another bird on the horizon.

I could see another bird. Not sure what, but I could see it

 

[Marvinb]

It's a shame, because 5/7 of these animals were well asked for. The only one that seems to be holding people back is the coyote at this point, but the rest seem good. The saki and ocelot seem popular, from what I've seen

Yeah sadly its more about whats not in the pack at this stage of the game

 

[Mjmannella]

Okay after all the comments here's my verdict @call me Omi :

• North American deserts - go blue, that area is extremely well represented
• North American grasslands - go blue, who knew north america will get so much love
• Patagonia - goes yellow - poor Mara keeps us away from perfection. While patagonia has more animals to offer, the 3 omnipresent species in global zoos are rhea, mara, and cougar, and 2 of them are now with us. Once the third is here (fingers crossed) we'll be able to make decent pataonian representation in our zoos.
• South american rainforest - can go yellow. Reasoning below*
• South american grasslands - remains yellow, coati is missing, monkey is missing.
• Caribbean - remains grey as we are still under the 2 habitat species threshold.

South America rainforest reasoning
While I agree with @KönigDerKaffeebohnen that there's a chasm between south america's potential and its actual representation in the game, I went and looked back to the part of the thread where we were discussing the south american rainforests specifically, and the gaps raised there were:

• Coati
• Peccary
• More monkeys - in cateogries big, medium and small
• More medium sized animals for an area featured in the game only by charismatic megafauna compared to the weird medium and small critters of real life zoos.
• (And of course birds but we don't count them in PZ1 unfortunately)

The new pack adresses these gaps pretty well, giving us a big monkey (saki), 3 mid-sized lesser known critters (ocelot, bush dog, saki), and technically even two birds that touch on the region (flamingo and rhea). So if we judge this area the same we judged the previous areas as compared to what's feasible and likely in the game, I think we can now pinpoint two specific gaps (coati, tamarin) that keep us away from a realistic baseline roster for global zoos. That in addition to @IberianFlamenco🦩🦖 's good point that the orange category became less relevant as most of the areas were more fleshed out.

Objections?

Tangentially related, I was interested in building a roster for a zoo game with the intention of getting every biogeographic region you presented into the blue category. What's the process you used to determine how many species an area needs before it turns blue? Is there a set minimum required?

 

[Mjmannella]

For the roseate spoonbill and the ibis it’s because they do spend time in the trees

Counterpoint:

 

[Matyej167]

Okay after all the comments here's my verdict @call me Omi :

• North American deserts - go blue, that area is extremely well represented
• North American grasslands - go blue, who knew north america will get so much love
• Patagonia - goes yellow - poor Mara keeps us away from perfection. While patagonia has more animals to offer, the 3 omnipresent species in global zoos are rhea, mara, and cougar, and 2 of them are now with us. Once the third is here (fingers crossed) we'll be able to make decent pataonian representation in our zoos.
• South american rainforest - can go yellow. Reasoning below*
• South american grasslands - remains yellow, coati is missing, monkey is missing.
• Caribbean - remains grey as we are still under the 2 habitat species threshold.

South America rainforest reasoning
While I agree with @KönigDerKaffeebohnen that there's a chasm between south america's potential and its actual representation in the game, I went and looked back to the part of the thread where we were discussing the south american rainforests specifically, and the gaps raised there were:

• Coati
• Peccary
• More monkeys - in cateogries big, medium and small
• More medium sized animals for an area featured in the game only by charismatic megafauna compared to the weird medium and small critters of real life zoos.
• (And of course birds but we don't count them in PZ1 unfortunately)

The new pack adresses these gaps pretty well, giving us a big monkey (saki), 3 mid-sized lesser known critters (ocelot, bush dog, saki), and technically even two birds that touch on the region (flamingo and rhea). So if we judge this area the same we judged the previous areas as compared to what's feasible and likely in the game, I think we can now pinpoint two specific gaps (coati, tamarin) that keep us away from a realistic baseline roster for global zoos. That in addition to @IberianFlamenco🦩🦖 's good point that the orange category became less relevant as most of the areas were more fleshed out.

Objections?

And the Galapagos islands?

We have Galapagos giant tortoise from the base game, at the same time, the American flamingo are also native there, so we will have 2 habitat animals from the Galapagos islands, so the color of the islands on the map may change.

 

[RightWhale]

And the Galapagos islands?

We have Galapagos giant tortoise from the base game, at the same time, the American flamingo are also native there, so we will have 2 habitat animals from the Galapagos islands, so the color of the islands on the map may change.

I forgot about that?! Sneak representation pick by the American Flamingo? Hitting the islands with actual representation!

 

[RightWhale]

Counterpoint:

I do get that, but I think it more comes down to where they nest and where they spend most of their time. Though Frontier dropping a some small perchable trees would be amazing for bird representation.