Why we NEED the California sea lion

My worry, and I do have anxiety so maybe I'm more prone to it, but anyways my worry is that they're not holding back certain animals for future content. Rather they may be planning to not put them in the game at all. I'd say that there's maybe 2-3 animals that seem like practical musts at some point, and while the California Sea Lion is way up in line, it's not quite at that level. Though I do still think it will come, what if....it doesn't show up in the North American pack? We hold out hope it's going to show up elsewhere of course...but...lets say they put out another aquatic pack and it's not included - at what point is the point of view shifted from "they're holding this back" to "I"m worried we may not get this animal at all". And that applies not just to the Sea Lion of course, that extends to any reasonably well known and requested animal that seems like they have a fair chance of making it in the game with enough content.
I totally can understand the anxiety part as, indeed, with the aquatic pack it feels like Frontier didn't propperly do their homework and was not even having a glimpse at the Meta-wishlist, which was already pretty popular by them. I get this feeling because they didn't include most requested subspiecies but more random one (otter, seal, I'd have to check about the penguin, but I believe that was only not popular with me ;) )

Regarding the sea lion, I think it's too early to be anxious. Lets wait and see. If they really don't include it in an NA pack and if they really miss the mark again with several other animals or the sea lion (I know some wish for the Stellar, but definately not the majority), lets be very vocal about it. I'm the first one to join you then.
 
I still think people missunderstand the aquatic packs intend in the animals they have chosen. Its not that they didnt do their homework, they most certanly did, as all of these animals do appear in zoos and are greatly executed, but even more so, the fact that they are all pretty much the best second choices of most people is impressive as all heck.

Lets see, what do we have here if we would use the fanfavourites?

American Alligator as the crocodilian, Californian Sealion as the piniped, Smallclawed otter as the otter and a warm water penguin as the Penguin.

All of these would atleast boost the popularity of a pack, if not even sell them itself. So instead of taking them for a pack, that will sell itself by simply introducing a new dimension, they chose other animals, that belong to the same family, but would have a clear different niche then the fanfavourite (king penguin with arctic and cold, otter by being ugly, giant and tropical, seal by being a seal and inhabiting a far more diverse distribution, the caiman by being really, really smol), round out some of the "ehhh" spots in the current roster with adding animals to southamerica and colder regions, aswell as adding an animal, that we would have likly never seen otherwise because of its akward geographical position, of only 2 animals from antarctica held often enough to be worth putting into the game.

Another thing is, together with the salty, they managed to have a diving animal for each continent besides africa, something we now have the african penguin for.
Also this pack has a much more coherent theme of jungle/biological garden vs cold weather port town, introducing a lot of more general items to the game, something this community loves to remind each other about.

So yeah, they most defenetly done their research, but not on whats popular, but what would be a good addition to the popular animals coming down the line, as we have allready seen with the african penguin. Next will props be the sealion and/or the alligator, and i really doubt they will have trouble to fit a second, smaller otter into the game.

In summary, kudos to frontier, you guys are really smart, even though most people here dont belive that
 
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I still think people missunderstand the aquatic packs intend in the animals they have chosen. Its not that they didnt do their homework, they most certanly did, as all of these animals do appear in zoos and are greatly executed, but even more so, the fact that they are all pretty much the best second choices of most people is impressive as all heck.

Lets see, what do we have here if we would use the fanfavourites?

American Alligator as the crocodilian, Californian Sealion as the piniped, Smallclawed otter as the otter and a warm water penguin as the Penguin.

All of these would atleast boost the popularity of a pack, if not even sell them itself. So instead of taking them for a pack, that will sell itself by simply introducing a new dimension, they chose other animals, that belong to the same family, but would have a clear different niche then the fanfavourite (king penguin with arctic and cold, otter by being ugly, giant and tropical, seal by being a seal and inhabiting a far more diverse distribution, the caiman by being really, really smol), round out some of the "ehhh" spots in the current roster with adding animals to southamerica and colder regions, aswell as adding an animal, that we would have likly never seen otherwise because of its akward geographical position, of only 2 animals from antarctica held often enough to be worth putting into the game.

Another thing is, together with the salty, they managed to have a diving animal for each continent besides africa, something we now have the african penguin for.
Also this pack has a much more coherent theme of jungle/biological garden vs cold weather port town, introducing a lot of more general items to the game, something this community loves to remind each other about.

So yeah, they most defenetly done their research, but not on whats popular, but what would be a good addition to the popular animals coming down the line, as we have allready seen with the african penguin. Next will props be the sealion and/or the alligator, and i really doubt they will have trouble to fit a second, smaller otter into the game.

In summary, kudos to frontier, you guys are really smart, even though most people here dont belive that
The theory still needs to be proven, though. While I'm not that worried about the integration of the california sea lion (as in "I'm sure they will add it"), the small clawed and the american alligator are not a given in my opinion. But of course I'd love to be proven wrong by Frontier.
 
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I mean its less of a theory, more of an observation of what happend and some facts about the animals chosen. Ofcourse i dont know if those three will make the cut in the end, but from a buissness standpoint, leaving them out for now was a good choice. I personally would have added the small clawed otter in the SEA pack, but i mean i would also have added a pheasent and the axisdeer, so not that that opinion would mean anything. The main thing i draw from this is, that if anything, frontier knows what we want and is more then competent from a buissness standpoint to know what to give us when. + They obviously also care enough to make the best product possible, as their certanly was not only discussion from the buissness side, but also from the zoo and animal people that they have for some cool and underrated species they could feature.

If anything, this paints a very positive picture of frontier as a company, that wants to do their best artisticly, but also knows how to restrain themself to lenghten the lifetime of the game, making them both more money and letting them also enhance their artistic vision of the game. After all, i bet that most people their are dead set on making this the best game they can, as seen by the extra ordinary quality of allmost everything in the game. And even things like the tapir, who knows? They fixed the animals of SEA one animal per update, so maybe they are just simply next in line.
Overall, im just simply having faith in both their abilitys as a company and their vision as artists, to bring us the best game ever, and im honestly really glad that i do, as most people here clearly dont, which is quite sad if you ask me.
 
I'm offended that frontier withholds animals from the base game AND dlc JUST to exploit their customers with overpriced dlc's at a later date.
If you think the DLC are overpriced don’t buy them (if you do, almost by definition, they are not overpriced). IMO, the DLC have all been very fairly priced. In fact, in terms of money spent vs. time PZ + DLC may be the best purchase I have ever made.
 
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Me too I want the California sea lion but also the South American sea lion because we often see it in zoos or aquatic parks
 
Alright, so we all know that people want the California sea lion. But I'm here to tell you all why we NEED it. Like actually need it, so help me God

1. Common as all hell in zoos. In Europe (according to Zootierliste), 92 collections hold California sea lions and in America, they're in several major zoos and aquariums including all 5 WCS parks in NYC.

2. Super unique: I know we already have the grey seal but the California sea lion is very different in terms of how it moves, being able to actually walk on the land. Not to mention, the way they undulate in the water is beautiful to behold and would be a treat to see in any zoo.

3. Heavily requested: Goes without saying but I think the California sea lion is one of the most heavily requested species out there, aside from some like the capybara
We don't "NEED" anything, and this kind of attitude is both toxic and setting baseless expectations only to be dissapointed later.
 
The three animals I expect are the sea lion, puma, and alligator. Less certain about the moose due to certain rumors (tl;dr "Frontier went to San Diego Zoo, asked about North American animals, brought up the moose and got told about how they fare poorly in captivity")--if I had to guess a fourth it would be the beaver or prairie dog. Exhibit animals are nearly impossible to predict.
 
(tl;dr "Frontier went to San Diego Zoo, asked about North American animals, brought up the moose and got told about how they fare poorly in captivity")
Moose are kinda like Proboscis Monkeys. They are best kept in zoos in areas where they live, because their diet is very dependent on native vegetation. Honestly, the way I would (have) add(ed) them to the game, is to have the Moose and Proboscis Monkey graze directly on vegetation in their habitat, leading to you having to replace/add trees/vegetation every few years.
IRL, both of them do well in zoos with a steady supply of fresh, native vegetation.
 
The main difference between moose and proboscis monkey is, that were moose live are actually zoos. Its not hard for european countrys to come up with the food for them, luckily
Yeah. To be honest, I wouldn't mind some species being locked to a specific region and biome (harder to care for species), as long we got a specialty greenhouse building that could be used to grow food for such "a hard to carefor" species. Either make it expensive upkeep every month (Maybe a few grand), or represent the fact that you have to have their food shipped, and make their food uber expensive (6-7k per feeding or something). Of course I'd also like more realistic animal death (Sometimes animals get cancer, or just drop down dead.), and injury (allowing for amputations), that force the player to decide between vet care, and euthaniasia for very sick animals. But that's just me.
(For example, one of the African wild dogs at the Oregon Zoo, has only three legs. And one of the Canary Rockfish is missing an eye.)
 
as long we got a specialty greenhouse building that could be used to grow food for such "a hard to carefor" species. Either make it expensive upkeep every month (Maybe a few grand), or represent the fact that you have to have their food shipped, and make their food uber expensive (6-7k per feeding or something)
Would absolutely love this

Sometimes animals get cancer
🤔 Might be interesting if you have a Albino Animal. You would definitely need to make sure that it has lots of Trees and/or a Shelter. Maybe also Routine Checks by the Vet to see if everything's ok with the Skin
 
Moose are kinda like Proboscis Monkeys. They are best kept in zoos in areas where they live, because their diet is very dependent on native vegetation. Honestly, the way I would (have) add(ed) them to the game, is to have the Moose and Proboscis Monkey graze directly on vegetation in their habitat, leading to you having to replace/add trees/vegetation every few years.
IRL, both of them do well in zoos with a steady supply of fresh, native vegetation.
For one thing I wasn't big on the proboscis monkey inclusion.

The other issue with moose is that unlike other "difficult" captive animals like the proboscis monkey or historically the giant panda, they are at no risk in the wild and have no conservation value. So few zoos have a reason to bother unless they're in an area where moose actually live (Scandinavia, Minnesota) and/or can afford to pay for their dietary requirements, which are as large as other large ungulates but much pickier.
 
But again, moose live where there are actual zoos.
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Look at this map, you see there are many bigger cities in that area, and you know what? Thats an outdated and not historic map, aka the map we would need for where the plants grow that they would much on. Historical range is pretty much all of middle europe above the alps, so thats poland, france, germany, these three countrys alone have more zoos then some continents have in total.

And even if we look at this more europe centric map, you can see that the moose is slowly crawling their way back. By now, they even made it to northern Germany and crossed over to the little red part in the Czech Republic. They are making there return, and live in tons of zoos. And that information isnt even hard to get by, just look at zootierliste, and its obvious.
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So yeah, this is really not comparable to the monkey with the funny nose. 132 documented holdings in the EAZA alone is not uncommon in captivity, not in the slightest
 
But again, moose live where there are actual zoos.
View attachment 262788

Look at this map, you see there are many bigger cities in that area, and you know what? Thats an outdated and not historic map, aka the map we would need for where the plants grow that they would much on. Historical range is pretty much all of middle europe above the alps, so thats poland, france, germany, these three countrys alone have more zoos then some continents have in total.

And even if we look at this more europe centric map, you can see that the moose is slowly crawling their way back. By now, they even made it to northern Germany and crossed over to the little red part in the Czech Republic. They are making there return, and live in tons of zoos. And that information isnt even hard to get by, just look at zootierliste, and its obvious.
View attachment 262789

So yeah, this is really not comparable to the monkey with the funny nose. 132 documented holdings in the EAZA alone is not uncommon in captivity, not in the slightest
Plus it's like the mascot of Canada
 
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