Im here for the beaver
This would bring us up to a total of 116 animals, and if I'm doing the math right, 87 of them are habitat animals.
Eltanin Casciani
Community Manager
For this event, we focused on the USA to mimic the theme of traditional USA road-trip maps, similar to the famous ones for Route 66. However, keep an eye out as we will definitely talk about Canada in posts on our socials further down the line!
I can't begin to tell you how HAPPY I am! Excellent diversity of animals, each of which is both highly popular and highly usable. I'm thrilled and can't wait for October 4!
Also want to give a shout out to the folks who did the music for the trailer. It made me feel right at home (and down home).
Also want to give a shout out to the folks who did the music for the trailer. It made me feel right at home (and down home).
I agree with you, the Sea Lions don't look quite right colorwise , but maybe it's color variation.
Either way, just a little nit pick but it is something I thought as well. Still glad they're making it in!
California sea lion - Wikipedia
The California sea lions are practically my neighbors and they live right at the beach and the sea rocks in La Jolla, where you can get really close to them.
Hey guys! The bullfrog is also confirmed to be our second “aquatic style” exhibit like the terrapin. You can spot the exhibit in the trailer in one of the sea lion shots
That's a really good finding!
This pack looks amazing - can't wait to get my hands on it!
Are there going to be any scenery items in this pack? I don't mind the lack of building pieces at all (honestly, with what we've got now I'm not sure I could think of anything building wise that I'd want to be able to go all into-the-wilderness with these new animals!), but I'd love a few more plants to go with this theme - giant redwoods, maples/beech/oaks etc, some more shrubbery and dead tree props.
I can't wait to get a glimpse of the prairie dogs.... EEEK.
Are there going to be any scenery items in this pack? I don't mind the lack of building pieces at all (honestly, with what we've got now I'm not sure I could think of anything building wise that I'd want to be able to go all into-the-wilderness with these new animals!), but I'd love a few more plants to go with this theme - giant redwoods, maples/beech/oaks etc, some more shrubbery and dead tree props.
I can't wait to get a glimpse of the prairie dogs.... EEEK.
If I could grade each animal I’d probably do so as follows:
Arctic fox- very unexpected and a welcome addition. Gives some closure to people who were upset it wasn’t included in the arctic pack. B-
Moose- not common overall in zoos but very iconic animal. Happy to have them in game. A+
Cougar- definitely needed and very common in us zoos. A
Beaver- great choice and a true game changer imo. A+
Prairie dog- excellent inclusion and a bit of a surprise tbh. A+
American alligator- needed for sure as it rounds out the games crocodilians and another iconic NA animal. A-
California Sea Lion- great choice much like the fox satisfies fans disappointed in the aquatic pack not including them. A+
Bullfrog- iconic and quite impressive. Another great addition. A
Now these are just my own personal grades but each choice is amazing really. Missed opportunities the skunk, porcupine, raccoon, Pelican, turkey, elk, lynx, bobcat, black bear, and mountain goat just to name a few. But definitely solid picks and happy to have them. It’s hard not to give this pack anything less then a A imo.
Arctic fox- very unexpected and a welcome addition. Gives some closure to people who were upset it wasn’t included in the arctic pack. B-
Moose- not common overall in zoos but very iconic animal. Happy to have them in game. A+
Cougar- definitely needed and very common in us zoos. A
Beaver- great choice and a true game changer imo. A+
Prairie dog- excellent inclusion and a bit of a surprise tbh. A+
American alligator- needed for sure as it rounds out the games crocodilians and another iconic NA animal. A-
California Sea Lion- great choice much like the fox satisfies fans disappointed in the aquatic pack not including them. A+
Bullfrog- iconic and quite impressive. Another great addition. A
Now these are just my own personal grades but each choice is amazing really. Missed opportunities the skunk, porcupine, raccoon, Pelican, turkey, elk, lynx, bobcat, black bear, and mountain goat just to name a few. But definitely solid picks and happy to have them. It’s hard not to give this pack anything less then a A imo.
I'm hoping this means they will be moving the African bullfrog to the aquatic exhibit as well. If they share the same base model and animations, it wouldn't be hard at all. Ofc, when the base game launched it didn't have an aquatic exhibit, so tropical rainforest was fine for the African bullfrog. But now that there is an aquatic exhibit, that will also have a frog species, I'd like to see the African get moved to this as well. Fingers crossed they thought of that!
What a great choice of animals. I bet the raccoons would make it in but the Arctic fox is even better because it perfectly fits into the Arctic area of my zoo. Also, two rodents in one pack, great. I'm especially curious for the animations of the beaver.
Can't wait to add these animals to my zoo.
Can't wait to add these animals to my zoo.
I've never been called young in that charming way
No, in all honesty, it's so cool that we now get more and more smaller animals and especially once that are also kept in lower budget zoos. This pack is pure love, really. And yes, a big shoutout and thank you to @random goat indeed, for the exceptional work, time, effort and seriousness put into the meta list. With this pack it doesn't feel like a random bingo card anymore, but like what it is: A very useful tool for Frontier to get an idea about most wanted animals in that chaos of 1.000.000 wishlists.
As a player I feel so heard with this pack, it's simply amazing.
I'm glad we have a hero like @random goat in this community! 
My hot take on the picks for the animals:
Sea lion: Star of the pack, hugely popular, will go great with the new guest seating for education talks. Five stars A+
Moose: great pick, we need more ungulates in general and deer specifically, and it's high up on the meta wish list, plus my local zoo has them so I'm biased. Five stars A+
Beaver: another great pick, the first rodent in the game which is huge. Also I saw them at the national zoo in Washington DC and loved them there so again, I'm biased. Five stars A+
Cougar: I feel like there are enough large cats, we need small cats so I'd have preferred Canadian Lynx (or Ocelot to represent Arizona but that's a stretch) but cougars are high up on the meta wish list so I know they had to include it. Solid B
Alligator: Again, I feel like we have enough crocodilians but again it's high up on the meta wish list so it had to be done. I'm biased towards Chinese alligators because they're more endangered and have greater conservation value (and my local zoo has Chinese not American alligators) but what can you do. Have to give it a B only because it's so popular so it'd be wrong to leave it out.
Prairie Dog: Sleeper hit. Another rodent which is great, and another small animal which is also sorely needed. Plus it allows the burrowing mechanic to be used on more than just the meerkat. A+
Arctic fox: The only complaint is it should have been in the Arctic DLC instead of the wolf. But better late than never I suppose.
Bullfrog: This is the only disappointment. We already have a goliath frog, a tree frog, and a poison dart frog. Adding a plain vanilla green pond frog like anyone can find in their nearest body of water is just boring. There are so many invertebrates and herps that are completely unrepresented (slugs as one example, and the California banana slug would have fit the theme perfectly, or salamanders as another example with many North American species to pick from) that adding another frog is redundant. But if they must add a frog, an endangered one would have been preferable to the very common and even invasive in some areas bull frog.
But exhibit animals don't really matter, and with that as the only disappointment this is a great pack overall.
Sea lion: Star of the pack, hugely popular, will go great with the new guest seating for education talks. Five stars A+
Moose: great pick, we need more ungulates in general and deer specifically, and it's high up on the meta wish list, plus my local zoo has them so I'm biased. Five stars A+
Beaver: another great pick, the first rodent in the game which is huge. Also I saw them at the national zoo in Washington DC and loved them there so again, I'm biased. Five stars A+
Cougar: I feel like there are enough large cats, we need small cats so I'd have preferred Canadian Lynx (or Ocelot to represent Arizona but that's a stretch) but cougars are high up on the meta wish list so I know they had to include it. Solid B
Alligator: Again, I feel like we have enough crocodilians but again it's high up on the meta wish list so it had to be done. I'm biased towards Chinese alligators because they're more endangered and have greater conservation value (and my local zoo has Chinese not American alligators) but what can you do. Have to give it a B only because it's so popular so it'd be wrong to leave it out.
Prairie Dog: Sleeper hit. Another rodent which is great, and another small animal which is also sorely needed. Plus it allows the burrowing mechanic to be used on more than just the meerkat. A+
Arctic fox: The only complaint is it should have been in the Arctic DLC instead of the wolf. But better late than never I suppose.
Bullfrog: This is the only disappointment. We already have a goliath frog, a tree frog, and a poison dart frog. Adding a plain vanilla green pond frog like anyone can find in their nearest body of water is just boring. There are so many invertebrates and herps that are completely unrepresented (slugs as one example, and the California banana slug would have fit the theme perfectly, or salamanders as another example with many North American species to pick from) that adding another frog is redundant. But if they must add a frog, an endangered one would have been preferable to the very common and even invasive in some areas bull frog.
But exhibit animals don't really matter, and with that as the only disappointment this is a great pack overall.