Map of the entire roster by (approximate) animal distribution

[yoav_r]

I compiled a map of animals by distribution. each animal is placed in roughly the center of it's distribution. Thought this could help people plan their zoos and examine the roster.

Main maps:

Habitat animals map:

Spoiler: Habitat and Walkthrough Exhibit mammals map

Spoiler: Exhibit animals

Duplicate maps:
The following maps have duplicate icons for animals with a wide range, to better illustrate their distribution:

Spoiler: Habitat animals with duplicates (split hemispheres)

Base game map:
Good to see how far the game has come.

Spoiler: Habitat animals (base game roster)

UPDATE 27/06/2025: All maps have been updated for the Asia pack.

 

[DragonNTiger]

Nice... but shouldn't the King Penguin be on that little Antarctic peninsula below South America? I mean, King Penguin can be found at the southern tip of South America too, so it would make sense to put them there.

 

[yoav_r]

Nice... but shouldn't the King Penguin be on that little Antarctic peninsula below South America? I mean, King Penguin can be found at the southern tip of South America too, so it would make sense to put them there.

The arctic and antarctic animals are hard to represent on a projected map.

I considered putting multiple pins for them, but that would be a problem for animals with much wider range (like the flamingos), so I just put their pins at one population center.

 

[DarthQuell]

This is super helpful to see where the game is lacking and for the devs to decided where to head to next

 

[Aidan635]

I've always been interested in creating one of these, so this is awesome! It really shows which areas are saturated with animals or unsaturated with animals, such as Africa compared to North America and Northern Asia/Europe. Really well done!

 

[Doran]

Infographics and maps are always cool.

 

[yoav_r]

I've always been interested in creating one of these, so this is awesome! It really shows which areas are saturated with animals or unsaturated with animals, such as Africa compared to North America and Northern Asia/Europe. Really well done!

Thanks!

IMO the most "empty" areas are north africa, europe, western asia and (relative to its biodiversity) south america. I know the most likely dlc now is NA, but in my personal opinion these other areas could use a dlc first.

 

[yoav_r]

I added a map for the base game animal roster

 

[Doran]

I added a map for the base game animal roster

Saltwater crocodile is in base game. You should update it.

 

[yoav_r]

Saltwater crocodile is in base game. You should update it.

Thanks. fixed it.

 

[Aramar]

Cool map. Thanks for the work!

We have talked million times about it because it's confusing, but the timber wolf is, according to the scientific name, the map and the description at the zoopedia, the generic grey wolf, so it should be placed in the middle of the map. But I understand that I looks like the American subspecies and therefore it also makes sense to place it where you put it.

 

[yoav_r]

Cool map. Thanks for the work!

We have talked million times about it because it's confusing, but the timber wolf is, according to the scientific name, the map and the description at the zoopedia, the generic grey wolf, so it should be placed in the middle of the map. But I understand that I looks like the American subspecies and therefore it also makes sense to place it where you put it.

If it looks like a timber wolf and is called a timber wolf... I chose to put it at the central range of timber wolves. The model is clearly a timber wolf.

In my region of the world the wolf subspecies looks completely different, so I can't really say the timber represents the general gray wolf.

 

[NZFanatic]

If it looks like a timber wolf and is callled a timber wolf... I chose to put it at the central range of timber wolves.

In my region of the world the wolf subspecies looks ompletely different, so I can't really say the timber represents the general gray wolf.

Yeah, well, the rest of the Zoopedia information says it's a generic grey wolf, including it's taxonomical binomial, which in any decent description always supercedes an incorrect common name.

 

[Doran]

Im curious how this map would look with birds pack.

 

[yoav_r]

Yeah, well, the rest of the Zoopedia information says it's a generic grey wolf, including it's taxonomical binomial, which in any decent description always supercedes an incorrect common name.

If it was just the common name I'd agree, but the model is distinctly a timber wolf, and looks nothing like the eurasian or arabian (or any other) subspecies. My logic would be model > zoopedia > common name.

Edit: plus, if this is the Gray Wolf including all it's range, than it disvalidates the arctic wolf as an ingame animal. Moving it to the center of gray wolf territory would mean removing the arctic wolf.

 

[NZFanatic]

If it was just the common name I'd agree, but the model is distinctly a timber wolf, and looks nothing like the eurasian or arabian (or any other) subspecies. My logic would be model > zoopedia > common name.

The model just looks like a wolf. It doesn't look especially like any of three North American subspecies "timber wolf" is used to loosely describe either.

Above all of that should be Frontier's intention. If it was ever intended to be a North American subspecies, it clearly isn't now, otherwise it would have a subspecific trinomial and a localised distribution map, and the rest of the Zoopedia would be for a North American subspecies. You're basically ignoring 99% of the in-game features around the wolf in favour of 1% of the feature. No matter what it looks like, it's obviously supposed to represent a generic wolf that can be used in any region where wolves live, and this was clearly done on purpose.

 

[Aramar]

If it looks like a timber wolf and is called a timber wolf... I chose to put it at the central range of timber wolves

Except that the name timber wolf is many times a synonymous to grey wolf (even the zoopedia says so) and if you play the game in other languages like French, it is directly called grey wolf. Common names have this problem, that they vary from one place to another, like it happens with moose/elk, so the best thing is to focus on the scientific name. Anyway, I agree that the model looks more to a North American wolf and it's your map, so you can put it wherever you want. I was just making a remark.

 

[yoav_r]

The model just looks like a wolf. It doesn't look especially like any of three North American subspecies "timber wolf" is used to loosely describe either.

Above all of that should be Frontier's intention. If it was ever intended to be a North American subspecies, it clearly isn't now, otherwise it would have a subspecific trinomial and a localised distribution map, and the rest of the Zoopedia would be for a North American subspecies. You're basically ignoring 99% of the in-game features around the wolf in favour of 1% of the feature. No matter what it looks like, it's obviously supposed to represent a generic wolf that can be used in any region where wolves live, and this was clearly done on purpose.

Except that the name timber wolf is many times a synonymous to grey wolf (even the zoopedia says so) and if you play the game in other languages like French, it is directly called grey wolf. Common names have this problem, that they vary from one place to another, like it happens with moose/elk, so the best thing is to focus on the scientific name. Anyway, I agree that the model looks more to a North American wolf and it's your map, so you can put it wherever you want. I was just making a remark.

You know, what? You guys convinced me. I will update the map later. The question remaining is what should be done with the arctic wolf? Should it be removed entirely?

 

[Aramar]

You know, what? You guys convinced me. I will update the map later. The question remaining is what should be done with the arctic wolf? Should it be removed entirely?

I think you can keep the Arctic wolf and the dingo, since they are subspecies that have a very clear distribution range.

 

[NZFanatic]

Edit: plus, if this is the Gray Wolf including all it's range, than it disvalidates the arctic wolf as an ingame animal. Moving it to the center of gray wolf territory would mean removing the arctic wolf.

The Arctic wolf is probably the exact reason that they made the timber wolf generic. We can't know for sure, but my theory is that the timber wolf was originally going to be a North American subspecies (hence why it looks like a vague mix of North American wolves), but they changed it to give it more versatility, probably because they knew they'd be adding the Arctic wolf and didn't want the only two wolves in the game to both come from North America. There's also a campaign where it's named as a Northwestern wolf, which I assume was recorded during development before they changed their minds on it (likewise another campaign calls the West African lion the 'Barbary lion').

This was also a point of contention that arose when the Arctic Pack was released. I've been asking for clarification on it ever since then, but unfortunately Frontier has never addressed it and probably never will.

The reason I push on this matter is because I don't want people thinking they can't use the wolf to represent the Eurasian subspecies if they want to. People are obviously free to make their own choices about the animals in the game, but I think everything should be as accurate as possible to what information we actually have rather than our own coneptions.