Per recent datamining, there are at least five DLC packs left between now and the end of Planet Zoo's lifespan. We don't actually know what any of these packs will encompass, but by looking for patterns in the previous seven DLC packs (excluding the Deluxe Pack) we can make educated guesses. It only took a bit of thinking to figure out that most of the DLC so far has, in fact, fit into intuitively sound patterns, making it easier to predict where Frontier will go with the next and possibly last five packs.
PART 1: ARCTIC, SOUTH AMERICA, & AUSTRALIA
Absences are often more conspicuous than inclusions. Considering the base rosters of most zoo games, as well as the animals that one would intuitively expect in a zoo management simulator, the most glaring omissions from Planet Zoo were the lack of polar bears and the lack of almost any animals from South America or Oceania. Indeed, Arctic, South America, and Australia would be the first three packs, with the Arctic coming up first likely to coincide with holiday sales (the inclusion of Christmas-related scenery). In all likelihood, at least some of these animals (namely the polar bear, jaguar, kangaroo, and koala) were at one point planned for the base game, but made into DLC because that's how games work these days. Either way, these first three packs filled some of the most obvious holes in the roster and also expanded the building options.
PART 2: AQUATIC & SOUTHEAST ASIA
Perhaps the next most obvious animal inclusions after the few mentioned above were seals, penguins, and to a lesser extent otters. Unfortunately. Planet Zoo lacked deep diving in earlier versions, sharply limiting the ability to implement these characters. Thus, the Aquatic Pack broke the streak of region-based packs for the purpose of implementing semiaquatic animals that could utilize the new diving mechanic, while also taking the opportunity to implement a lot of zoo-prop scenery like the artificial rocks and metal fences. Southeast Asia, on the other hand, throws a monkey wrench into my whole system, and I'm still not entirely sure what Frontier was thinking with it. There were certainly some popular Southeast Asian animals like the clouded leopard and Malayan tapir, but these weren't as popular on the meta-wishlist as animals like the meerkat, white rhino, or moose. Maybe they deliberately wanted to release a pack without mega-star animals.
PART 3: AFRICA & NORTH AMERICA
Starting with these two packs, it seems like Frontier is stepping away from introducing major new mechanics and focusing primarily on fanservice. Three of the four habitat animals in the Africa Pack had at least 50 votes on the meta-wishlist prior to its release, as did five of the seven habitat animals in the North America Pack. It's hard to think that this is a coincidence; Frontier is paying attention to fan reception, particularly on this very forum. Still, Frontier isn't fully ripping from the meta-wishlist; neither the Arctic fox nor the prairie dog were very highly voted; the former's inclusion seems to be to fit in a smaller canine that might have been considered for the Arctic Pack, while the latter is both a very common zoo animal and uses the burrowing mechanic introduced in the Africa Pack. This leads us to...
PART 4: THE FUTURE
There are several paths forward that Frontier could take for the next five DLC, but they all most likely follow the same route--a focus on fanservice, with a special eye given to the meta-wishlist without it being the end-all that decides future animal inclusions. With most regions other than Europe, the Middle East, and Central/East Asia covered, it's easy to imagine that Planet Zoo will do one last region-based pack (Europe/Eurasia) and then shift to biome-centered packs, which we've so far only seen with the Aquatic Pack. Or they could not do a final regional pack at all and spread those animals across biome packs. Alternatively, just as 2020 ended with a game-changing pack that opened the door for semiaquatic animals, 2021 could end with the long-speculated aviary pack. But I'm not so sure; the references to "flying" in the files seem to be leftover from the scrapped plans for ambient pigeons in Planet Coaster, and a half-decent aviary pack for walk-through, mixed-species aviaries would require at least a dozen birds, if not closer to 20. I'm even more skeptical of a large aquarium expansion despite references to a ferry and other water-related things in datamining (I suspect that these are scrapped elements of the Aquatic Pack); the scale to have a remotely adequate selection of fish and a proper aquarium system would require a far bigger pack and a far bigger update than anything Frontier has done so far.
My probably-wrong prediction of the next DLC (most likely December 2021) is a Rainforest or Tropical Pack; we haven't gotten any tropical animals since the Southeast Asia update in March, and there are a wide selection of popular wishlist animals to knock out, most notably the capybara (which is in the files and might have been planned for the Aquatic Pack as well) and the lar gibbon. The free update would most likely be brachiation if Frontier has finally figured out how to properly implement that. A Primate Pack is also not out of the question and has featured in at least one claimed roadmap leak.
PART 1: ARCTIC, SOUTH AMERICA, & AUSTRALIA
Absences are often more conspicuous than inclusions. Considering the base rosters of most zoo games, as well as the animals that one would intuitively expect in a zoo management simulator, the most glaring omissions from Planet Zoo were the lack of polar bears and the lack of almost any animals from South America or Oceania. Indeed, Arctic, South America, and Australia would be the first three packs, with the Arctic coming up first likely to coincide with holiday sales (the inclusion of Christmas-related scenery). In all likelihood, at least some of these animals (namely the polar bear, jaguar, kangaroo, and koala) were at one point planned for the base game, but made into DLC because that's how games work these days. Either way, these first three packs filled some of the most obvious holes in the roster and also expanded the building options.
PART 2: AQUATIC & SOUTHEAST ASIA
Perhaps the next most obvious animal inclusions after the few mentioned above were seals, penguins, and to a lesser extent otters. Unfortunately. Planet Zoo lacked deep diving in earlier versions, sharply limiting the ability to implement these characters. Thus, the Aquatic Pack broke the streak of region-based packs for the purpose of implementing semiaquatic animals that could utilize the new diving mechanic, while also taking the opportunity to implement a lot of zoo-prop scenery like the artificial rocks and metal fences. Southeast Asia, on the other hand, throws a monkey wrench into my whole system, and I'm still not entirely sure what Frontier was thinking with it. There were certainly some popular Southeast Asian animals like the clouded leopard and Malayan tapir, but these weren't as popular on the meta-wishlist as animals like the meerkat, white rhino, or moose. Maybe they deliberately wanted to release a pack without mega-star animals.
PART 3: AFRICA & NORTH AMERICA
Starting with these two packs, it seems like Frontier is stepping away from introducing major new mechanics and focusing primarily on fanservice. Three of the four habitat animals in the Africa Pack had at least 50 votes on the meta-wishlist prior to its release, as did five of the seven habitat animals in the North America Pack. It's hard to think that this is a coincidence; Frontier is paying attention to fan reception, particularly on this very forum. Still, Frontier isn't fully ripping from the meta-wishlist; neither the Arctic fox nor the prairie dog were very highly voted; the former's inclusion seems to be to fit in a smaller canine that might have been considered for the Arctic Pack, while the latter is both a very common zoo animal and uses the burrowing mechanic introduced in the Africa Pack. This leads us to...
PART 4: THE FUTURE
There are several paths forward that Frontier could take for the next five DLC, but they all most likely follow the same route--a focus on fanservice, with a special eye given to the meta-wishlist without it being the end-all that decides future animal inclusions. With most regions other than Europe, the Middle East, and Central/East Asia covered, it's easy to imagine that Planet Zoo will do one last region-based pack (Europe/Eurasia) and then shift to biome-centered packs, which we've so far only seen with the Aquatic Pack. Or they could not do a final regional pack at all and spread those animals across biome packs. Alternatively, just as 2020 ended with a game-changing pack that opened the door for semiaquatic animals, 2021 could end with the long-speculated aviary pack. But I'm not so sure; the references to "flying" in the files seem to be leftover from the scrapped plans for ambient pigeons in Planet Coaster, and a half-decent aviary pack for walk-through, mixed-species aviaries would require at least a dozen birds, if not closer to 20. I'm even more skeptical of a large aquarium expansion despite references to a ferry and other water-related things in datamining (I suspect that these are scrapped elements of the Aquatic Pack); the scale to have a remotely adequate selection of fish and a proper aquarium system would require a far bigger pack and a far bigger update than anything Frontier has done so far.
My probably-wrong prediction of the next DLC (most likely December 2021) is a Rainforest or Tropical Pack; we haven't gotten any tropical animals since the Southeast Asia update in March, and there are a wide selection of popular wishlist animals to knock out, most notably the capybara (which is in the files and might have been planned for the Aquatic Pack as well) and the lar gibbon. The free update would most likely be brachiation if Frontier has finally figured out how to properly implement that. A Primate Pack is also not out of the question and has featured in at least one claimed roadmap leak.
