Islands across the world are known for their unique biodiversity and collections of animals and plants found nowhere else on the planet, and have brought about several rich human cultures as well, and I thought now that we've scratched several regions of the world to some degree... why not take a look at how we can expand the variety of island animals, as in many cases, island species are under threat from habitat destruction and introduced species, and zoos around the world work in conserving them.
To start, here goes with a normal pack
Firstly scenery wise, it'd have to be Polynesian, they mastered the art of naval navigation and spread their culture to islands across the pacific, even into South America! It'd also be a pretty unique and colorful set of pieces to work with I would hope.
Now for the animals, here are my thoughts. A broad spectrum of iconic island animals should be represented, kinda like how the aquatic pack was all over the place geographically speaking
In my opinion, the best candidates are
- North Island Kiwi or Kakapo - New Zealand
- Marine Iguana - Galapagos
- Coquerel's Sifaka - Madagascar
- Fossa - Madagascar
and for the exhibit animal, this is hard, I'm thinking either Rhinoceros Chameleon or New Caledonian Giant Gecko
These animals I feel broadly represent the kinds of bizarre and unique types of animals that you'd see on islands, and two of them at least, are zoo staples
If this could be an animal pack I'd maybe add
- Cuban Crocodile -Cuba
- Tamaraw -The Philippines (Mindoro)
- Santa Cruz Island Fox - Channel Islands, California
Kind of out there choices, but I thought that they were interesting mainly because of the conservation success story of the island fox, and the fairly unknown yet fascinating Tamaraw and it's recent struggles. Cuban crocs share this too, I felt, also another crocodile is never a bad thing IMO.
And that's that. Seems like a really weird list, but it's also a pretty weird idea in general, lemme know what you guys think! What ideas do you have for an "Island Pack"? What animals would you include or remove from my list? What scenery ideas do you have? Feel free to add on to this!
To start, here goes with a normal pack
Firstly scenery wise, it'd have to be Polynesian, they mastered the art of naval navigation and spread their culture to islands across the pacific, even into South America! It'd also be a pretty unique and colorful set of pieces to work with I would hope.
Now for the animals, here are my thoughts. A broad spectrum of iconic island animals should be represented, kinda like how the aquatic pack was all over the place geographically speaking
In my opinion, the best candidates are
- North Island Kiwi or Kakapo - New Zealand
- Marine Iguana - Galapagos
- Coquerel's Sifaka - Madagascar
- Fossa - Madagascar
and for the exhibit animal, this is hard, I'm thinking either Rhinoceros Chameleon or New Caledonian Giant Gecko
These animals I feel broadly represent the kinds of bizarre and unique types of animals that you'd see on islands, and two of them at least, are zoo staples
If this could be an animal pack I'd maybe add
- Cuban Crocodile -Cuba
- Tamaraw -The Philippines (Mindoro)
- Santa Cruz Island Fox - Channel Islands, California
Kind of out there choices, but I thought that they were interesting mainly because of the conservation success story of the island fox, and the fairly unknown yet fascinating Tamaraw and it's recent struggles. Cuban crocs share this too, I felt, also another crocodile is never a bad thing IMO.
And that's that. Seems like a really weird list, but it's also a pretty weird idea in general, lemme know what you guys think! What ideas do you have for an "Island Pack"? What animals would you include or remove from my list? What scenery ideas do you have? Feel free to add on to this!
