I'm really like the back and forth (in a good way) conversation this thread has sparked! But I think this particular post resonates with my mindset on the topic most, personally. It's a hard thing for zoo or animal enthusiasts to realize that the general public is not as savvy about non-big name or regionally relevant animals as we are. I remember seeing a facebook post some time ago about the aardwolf and there were a ton of people convinced it was fake. Much as I love my wombat and there's a huge support for Tasmanian Devils, I feel like it would be passing interest for casual players. Of this list above I'd probably agree with most, except the possibly the jackal. I do think storks, swans and geese, in general terms, would be more recognizable than many animals, but I see your point there. But them side by side, I wonder how much of the general public could say which is which.
A good counter point though which
@KönigDerKaffeebohnen brought up that people who are playing PZ are for the most part likely more knowledgeable about animals as well. That's true but I just wonder how far that takes sales. I want Planet Zoo to be super successful for as long as possible. I'd love to get 3-4- even 5 more years of content. I'd be fine if new content never ended lol.
But we're done with the truly "big names" after this last pack. The top tier type of animals were all included in the base game, as should be the case. That's somewhere around 10-20 animals in total (your lions, giraffes, giant pandas and so forth). Animals that just about anyone with a few years on them would recognize, in general species terms.
DLC have now grabbed all the second tier animals missing at launch. Think back to November 2019, to the "where's the polar bear/penguin/african rhino/meerkat/kangaroo/leopard " type of posts. Personal wants would vary of course, but as for as a general take, with the Prewalski's horse and a true Leopard, the game has knocked out the last two animals that were constantly being mentioned since launch. Mentioned because they were too high profile, well known and iconic enough that they must be included at some point. It's taken two and a half years but we're there now.
The big hitters are now in two separate categories, animals that zoo and animal enthusiasts would consider iconic, necessary, interesting, or providing alternatives for animals in the game by way of biome or continent - the Maned Wolf, Spectacled Bear, Emu, Tasmanian Devil, Red River Hog, Wolverine for example. The other are animals that may not shine quite as brightly but are more well known among the general public - the skunks, armadillos, rabbits, geese and so forth.
What I'm actually looking at are the animals where those two categories overlap. That are going to likely be recognizable by the casual player and yet are also iconic or different enough to be interesting and highly requested - the Sloth and the Porcupine aretwo that come to mind here. There's nothing like either one of them in the game, and I do think most people would see a sloth and porcupine and know that's a sloth or porcupine. I could put the Walrus and Raccoon here as well. I'm not quite sure if the Dromedary should go in this, but I'm thinking possibly not, I think casual players would not be able to tell the difference between a Bactrian Camel or a Dromedary. They're gonna just call them "Camels".
All this takes regional bias aside. Of course we're going to know more about more animals that live closer to where we live than most people. Many Americans can pick out a coyote or Black Bear. but look at how we've come to talk about the game's past DLC already - another bear, another canid complaints or comments have quite often come up. Now true, not wishing for more of the same doesn't equate not being knowledgeable about a species. It doesn't negate the fact they're not really primed to be the star animals either.
One last thing to add, you could look at the meta list and say, that a particular animal is popular. Sure, of course. With any list, there has to be a #1, #2 and so forth. That doesn't mean that they've been all that popular all along.
