I was hoping for a tiger salamander in a temperate exhibit box. I still think we may someday get an exhibit system overhaul update and a dlc with like 20 exhibit animals from all over, with tons of variety and custom backgrounds etc
Well, because if we did things by taxonomic diversity, insects and arthropods would make up most of our exhibit choice. Hell, Beetles alone number 400,000 species, with total estimations ranging to 2.1 million species. 25% of known animals species are beetles.
So they go be megafauna diversity. Which basically translates to Mammalian (Boreoeutherian if you want to be specific, and iferan if you really, really want to be the overacheiver) diversity since most mega fauna is mammalian. Unfortunately, since these games more limited than in real life, they have to go with what's charismatic, and that's mammals.
1. More arthropod variety is hardly a bad thing
2. Foxes are not megafauna, at all. The lightest threshold for megafauna is 45kg, while the heaviest fox period (Red fox) is 17.6kg. I wish people were more open about saying they have mammal biases (particularly for carnivorans) than trying to force an excuse as to why it "has" to be a certain way
3. There are several non-mammals that reasonably classify as megafauna, including the aforementioned African spurred tortoise (31kg-45kg on average, 91kg for record-breakers).
Found this awesome male California sea lion clip art if anyone is gonna make custom billboards
With it being a hectic day at work I couldn't respond here yet, but oh my, I am extremely happy with this pack.
First of all, North America benefited the most from an animal pack in my eyes, and I feel that aside from the fact that these animals were all community picks (a pat on the back for the hard work of @random goat here!), all of these help us flesh out the game to a point where you can comfortably make several variations of a North America section in multiple zoos. Either by including them all or just a few, I feel like this rounds it out perfectly.
But more-so than with the South East Asia Pack ( which by all means, I love and I want each and every animal of), I feel like all of these animals can serve multiple functions in multiple sections. Beavers and prairie dogs are those cute and interesting animals that little kids love, an arctic fox can help us flesh out our arctic areas, a cougar is perfect for when we want to make a zoo in Florida that keeps rescued cougars, alligators can be used in reptile houses and crocodile/alligator farms, and of course sea lions are such a classic zoo animal that they can basically be used anywhere! This will certainly help with the longevity of the pack, and I hope to see many different takes in the coming months
Looking forward to having these in my zoos you all, it looks really amazing!
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.
Thank you for your words guys, you almost make me blush lol. But yeah the real hero here is the dev team for the excellent job they do and for listening to us. Also participation of each and every person is key to make the list substantial and visible to CMs so everyone who contributes should be congratulated too.I'm glad we have a hero like @random goat in this community!
I just do it out of interest because I freaking love this game after all. I also just hope the meta-list should help the devs realize that they got a gem on their hands, and that people are still dieing for dozens of more animals and never-ending content!
Amazing looking pack guys! All these animals look incredible. Beavers look adorable, I can't wait to see the jump animation for the fox, and the movement animations for the sea lions look spot on. And if the moose can dive and use the underwater plant feeder, it'll be the surprise star of the pack for me!
Jup, they actually mostly eat waterplants in lakes and ponds if avialable, and they are pretty good at it. Just look at him go
If the moose is able to dive that makes 7 new diving animals in the new update! Definitely a mini aquatic pack 2!
Bengal tiger
Siberian Tiger
Jaguar
American Alligator
American Beaver
California Sea Lion
Moose?
Bengal tiger
Siberian Tiger
Jaguar
American Alligator
American Beaver
California Sea Lion
Moose?
Honestly, im by far most hyped for a diving moose lol. That would be so cool and something entirly unique in the game
1. You missed my point entirely. My point was that taxonomic diversity means that we should have an overwhelming representation of small animals, and few larger animals. Simply put, the game couldn't handle this. To be truly representative lets just look at vertebrates right now. Of the 144 animal species in the game, including the NA pack, 101 are mammals. Since Mammalia comprises only 8% of Vetebrates, we'd need 202 species of birds, ~151 species of non-avian reptiles, 63 species of amphibians, ~50 species of Agnathans (Hagfish and lamprey), and roughly 695 species of fish.
If we wanted to keep with just 144 species, that means we get 11-12 mammals, 17 reptiles, 23 birds, 7 amphibians, 5-6 hagfish/lamprey, and 79-81 species fish.
2. The point was that the average, Joe Blow, does not make that distinction. Unless you are an animal nerd, megafauna is something you hear about zoos and endangered. Most endangered species that people are exposed to at a zoo are mammals. Effectively the two terms are synonymous to a random person off the street.Hence they are treated like this here. Because they aren't aiming for a niche market of animal lovers who want to play zoo management games.
3. True, but most are not charismatic (to the general public). Hence why people, even in China and Japan don't know that they have Giant Salamanders (1-1.5 meters long). This is a real problem in conservation, hence why there are umbrella species. Species that are charismatic, and by protecting habitat for them, you can reach dozens of other endangered or threatened species. The World Wide Fund For Nature just hand a similar discussion a few years back when the Giant Panda was upgraded to Vulnerable from Endangered.
That said, I do agree with you. We need more reptile and bird diversity. That said, I personally hope for more turtle diversity. I would love to see soft turtles, sea turtles. and side necked turtles/
They haven't put in the game, but caribou/reindeer do swim between artic islands, and as a result get eaten by sleeper sharks sometimes. Just like polar bears.
Frontier please give us a diving moose if it can’t dive already! Please!
One of the new enrichments is underwater plant feeder
I know! The beaver will most likely use this but the moose would be awesomeOne of the new enrichments is underwater plant feeder
Obviously there has to be weighing for certain high-level clades for the practicality of a zoo game. That doesn't mean you just let diversity blow away in the wind. For example, you could work to have more waterfowl and less canids, or more crocodilians and less felids. Balance is always possible.
Then educate the Joe Blow in the game instead of distorting the game to satisfy their unsound views of animal relationships.
What is niche is Frontier aiming for then? The devs boast about how much research they do for animals (though it's not always up-to-date), does that not indicate that they want the animal nerd demographic?
My solution to that is to just give make marketing for obscure species. Humanity is more than capable of bolstering literally any species into fame with some word-spreading. Make a movie or a meme with them. Take a quirky photo of the species. It worked for meerkats, blobfish, and many other animals.
Maybe retroactively, the hippos as well! Would be awesome, just saying.
I'm not necessarily expecting all that though, even just considering the fox (jump animation), the sea lion (entirely new rig), beaver (same, I assume), and the feline diving that seems like a lot of work and animating all ready. Underwater hippo feeding and diving moose would just be the cherry on an already fantastic cake for me
I think this goes for the moose as well, it looks too
please this
Cougars!!! Finally!!!
do you speak Spanish??? I never thought it was like that, I'm from Mexico btw