Let's talk about a third otter

[Aramar]

Thanks to wetlands pack we have now two wonderful otters in the game and both of them are beautiful and deserve their place on the game. The giant otter is very exotic and big, and represents South America, which is reallly needed. The Asian small clawed otter is the opposite, the smallest one, but so cute and common worldwide that is also a must-have.

Despite their huge differences, these two otters share a lot in common: they both live in groups and have the grassland and tropical biomes. The giant otter minimum temperature is 10 ºC and for the ASCO is 17 ºC. That's why I think a third otter is needed, an otter that can stand cold weather, and there are three main possibilities:

- Sea otter: visually they would be the most different ones, and their would have new animations swimming on their backs. However, they are not so common in zoos (but they are in some zoos).

- North American river otter or Eurasian otter: visually they are more similar to ASCO, but larger. However, their range is very versatile and they are more coomon in zoos than sea otters, with biomes ranging from grassland, temperate, taiga and tundra (maybe tropical too?). Since we got the American beaver over the Eurasian beaver, I think this time we should get the Eurasian otter instead (which is also found in Africa, so 3 continents). They usually live alone, so they could be easier to keep for small zoos, and they could come with new animations playing on the snow:

Some animals like bears, lemurs or crocodilians have more than 2 species, so I hope we get a third otter from a colder biome for those of us who build zoos in cold areas and snowy environments. Actually, I would even love if we got a third and a fourth otter if support for the game is long enough, being those the Eurasian otter and the sea otter.

Would you also like to get a third otter?

 

[Antimony96]

Two is enough, maybe the sea otter if there's ever a coastal/aquarium expansion. I'd rather future mustelid representation be the wolverine plus maybe something like a marten or black-footed ferret.

From a selfish perspective, the North American river otter is almost a necessity for small and mid-sized (and even some world-class) North American zoos, so I'd take it, but I recognize this game's global audience wouldn't be such a big fan.

 

[FoxyDee]

I would love to get a Sea Otter, visualy very different with some unique behaviour. I am not too concerned with the rarity in zoos as we already have the most common one, so a rarer one would be ok with me.
I know there are still people wanting EU or NA otter, but for me, it would just be a slightly larger ASCO with a different continent tag and that would not justify its inclusion in a DLC for me.

 

[peafowl]

Two is enough, maybe the sea otter if there's ever a coastal/aquarium expansion. I'd rather future mustelid representation be the wolverine plus maybe something like a marten or black-footed ferret.

came to say the same. I'd much rather have the wolverine, mink and yellow throat marten

 

[Bearcat9948]

At this point the only acceptable otter is a sea otter species. I love sea otters and it would be a great animal to pair in a themed area with the sea lions (and hopefully some pelicans or something).

 

[Doran]

Eurasian otter, because it wouldnt steal spot of anything special as reskin animal compared to sea otter which would do that.

 

[Firestar97]

I would definitely love to get the Sea Otter or Marine Otter for my Marine Park (from those two I would like the Sea Otter more though)

I love sea otters and it would be a great animal to pair in a themed area with the sea lions (and hopefully some pelicans or something).

Pelicans are definitely needed. Maybe we could even keep them together with the Otters if we provide some Cliffs where they can nest in Piece

Cool Stuff for Sea Otters would be Kelp (which they also sleep in) and Clams which they can crack open and eat.
Funfact: Sea Otters carry their favorite Rock around in a Pouch behind one of their Front Legs (they seem to prefer the left one)
Funfact 2: Sea Otters hold Hands while sleeping to not float away from each other

 

[becks474]

If we should ever get something like a clone pack a third Otter is very welcome. But for the normal packs I think the two we got until now is enough in my opinion.

 

[Ozric]

Lutra lutra you say

I've been lucky enough to see a few in the wild

 

[AlexSea]

I think that the otter representation we have is good enough, but if I had to choose a third otter, I'd definitely go for the Sea Otter. They'd stand out a lot more than a North American/Eurasian Otter would.

 

[jcp011c]

I'm of two opinions here. Throwing out the fact that the Giant Otter is my own least favorite personally, a second otter was absolutely necessary for variety. I'm a proponent of "two" of most types of animals anyways, so the fact the ASCO was also the one that's seen quite often as opposed to the Giant Otters made them the ideal choice.

While we definitely needed a second otter, I'm not so sure we need a third. Personally would be fine with it, otters are among my favorite animals (excepting the Giant one), and we're now at a point where we have limited spots left to come. If we have content for just 2022 I'd say no to a third. But I'm open to a third if we have 2023 content.

point of fact I still have the North American River Otter somewhere in my top 50 wants, but it has dropped a bit since the ASCO was added. Eurasian Otter would be just as welcome. Sea Otter would definitely be another very different otter than what we have now though, so there's also that as a possibility.


Edit - as an aside. Anyone who feels like the ASCO and Giant Otter are very similar looking need to take another look. the ASCO is super cute, fuzzy, and has the classic "otter" face and nose. They are friend shaped without being friendly (to humans, they're quite social within their own groups). Giant Otters look like they have risen from some nightmarish eldritch dimension and want to (fiercely) mug you of your soul. They also remind me of Voldemort.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

I’m very, very torn here. On one hand, I absolutely adore otters and would love to see more. Selfishly I’d choose the North American river otter, since their position as a staple in NA zoos is absolutely incontestable. I love the ASCO, I think it was a perfect inclusion, but it’s still not the same. But the sea otter would be both more visually and behaviorally unique, so it’d also be an amazing get.

But on the other hand, I only really expect 15 more habitat species at this point. I don’t think a third otter is really important enough to block basically anything else that might be on the horizon. Ideal scenario would’ve been getting one of those instead of the giant otter, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.

 

[Mjmannella]

I'd rather keep the amount of carnivorans added to a minimum, as they're already quite over-represented. If we had to get another mustelid, I'd prefer it be something like a wolverine or a fisher.

 

[premierfong]

Sea Otter is a must!!!!!

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

I would absolutely 100% rather get a yellow-throated marten above a third otter species so that we get a climbing mustelid as well as burrowing and swimming ones. If a semi-aquatic mustelid was considered a necessity, I would rather it be a European mink - Critically Endangered and yet pretty common in European zoos.

That said, if we did have to get a third species of otter, I would choose the Eurasian. It differs from the two species of otter we already have quite a bit - for a start, they live alone or in pairs rather than groups. They also have probably the broadest biome tolerance of any species in the game - an argument could be made for them occupying every single biome currently in-game:

• Aquatic - This is obvious. Otters can live practically anywhere, so long as there is water.
• Desert - Although they are restricted to watercourses, they can live in rivers flowing through very arid regions such as the Euphrates River in Iraq, as well as along desert coastlines in North Africa. The picture below is of an area of river in Iraq where Eurasian otters were found to be living:
  
• Grassland - Obviously, they often occupy meadow and grassland habitats here in Europe but have also been discovered to live in the tropical dry woodlands of India, which I believe fall under the grassland biome in Planet Zoo.
• Taiga - They live in rivers flowing through coniferous forests throughout the northern hemisphere, from Scotland right the way across to the Russian Far East.
• Temperate - As above, they live in temperate woodlands throughout their range.
• Tropical - Although they are not especially commonly-seen, they are one of four species of otter that occur in the rainforests of Southeast Asia; the first ever photograph of one in Borneo was taken in the Danum Valley (also home to orangutans among other typical rainforest creatures) in 2018.
• Tundra - At Varanger, on the northernmost tip of Norway and well within the arctic circle, the Eurasian otter is one of the most commonly seen mammals along with the arctic fox.

 

[Alexjh]

I do think Sea Otter would be a nice round out to complete the otters - I've seen them in captivity in at least 2 separate places I can remember, and they have a very distinct flavour to them compared to other species. After that, I don't particularly think we need more? Apart from the Sea and Giant, most otters are fairly subtle tweaks on the same features?

Though in the broader mustelid camp, I do think we definitely still need Wolverine and Honey Badger at least, perhaps a marten sp too.

 

[NZFanatic]

Rather than jumping on the "we don't need a third otter" train I'll say that if I had to pick another it would be the sea otter, purely because it's actually useful to me for building zoos. Even in Europe the ASCO is far more common in captivity than the Eurasian, and I never build zoos in North America so I'd be unlikely to ever use the NA river otter, but the sea otter, although relatively rare in captivity, has the potential to be fairly ubiquitous. Not to mention that it's endangered.

 

[DrAkula87]

I could see the sea otter as a good addition to the game, since it looks distinct from the species we have and covers a different climate zone. However, as far as I can remember, I have seen them in aquariums rather than zoos (at least here where I live). So maybe it would be nice if we should ever get that big aquarium expansion.
And to be honest, there are a lot of other animals I would prefer before getting a third otter variant. (But who am I kidding, I'd gladly make a sea otter habitat in my zoo.)

 

[NZFanatic]

It occurs to me that there are other options that haven't come up, particularly the spot-necked otter, which is in a handful of collections I think. Granted it would be the same biome as the giant otter and ASCO but it shows there are plenty of other options out there. IIRC the African clawless otter is also relatively widespread, or used to be.

 

[sockeyejo]

Like others have said, IF we get a third, I'd hope for the sea otter as they're so different to the others and have the marine biome tag for building coastal areas. And they use stones to break open shells, which I'd love to see in the game!