What are your unexpected favorite animals in Planet Zoo?

[Fabian]

So, to pass the time while we're all waiting for potential news of a new DLC to arrive ... what animal additions in the previous DLC packs did you initially not care about and wouldn't even have included yourself in the game, but ended up surprisingly becoming one of your favorite animals in the game?

(Base Game animals obviously also count, in case there are any unexpected favorites for you in that animal roster.)

Just for memory, here's the list of the DLC animals again:

Spoiler: DLC Roster

Deluxe Edition
Komodo Dragon
Pygmy Hippo
Thomson's Gazelle

Arctic Pack
Arctic Wolf
Dall Sheep
Polar Bear
Reindeer

South America Pack
Colombian White-Faced Capuchin
Giant Anteater
Jaguar
Llama
Red-Eyed Tree Frog (E)

Australia Pack
Dingo
Koala
Red Kangaroo
Southern Cassowary
Eastern Blue-Tongued Skink (E)

Aquatic Pack
Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
Giant Otter
Grey Seal
King Penguin
Diamondback Terrapin (E)

Southeast Asia Animal Pack
Binturong
Clouded Leopard
Dhole
Malayan Tapir
North Sulawesi Babirusa
Proboscis Monkey
Sun Bear
Giant Malaysian Leaf Insect (E)

Africa Pack
African Penguin
Fennec Fox
Meerkat
Southern White Rhinoceros
Sacred Scarab Beetle (E)

North America Animal Pack
American Alligator
American Beaver
Arctic Fox
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
California Sea Lion
Cougar
Moose
American Bullfrog (E)

Europe Pack
Alpine Ibex
Eurasian Lynx
European Badger
European Fallow Deer
Fire Salamander (E)

Wetlands Animal Pack
Asian Small-Clawed Otter
Capybara
Nile Lechwe
Platypus
Red-Crowned Crane
Spectacled Caiman
Wild Water Buffalo
Danube Crested Newt (E)

Conservation Pack
Amur Leopard
Przewalski's Horse
Siamang
Scimitar-Horned Oryx
Axolotl (E)

To begin:
I probably never would have included the Dhole or the Dall Sheep, but I really fell in love with those two animals after they were released. The Wild Water Buffalo is a similar case – initially, I was a bit meh on those guys, but they look fantastic and fit in perfectly as an Asian ungulate which we so desperately need more of.
Sun Bear also came a bit out of nowhere for me, as I didn't really care much for them before, but I love them now, easily in my Top 10 favorite animals of the game. And the Badger and the Fallow Deer were already among my most anticipated animals before the Europe Pack, but they turned out even better than I initially expected them to; two extremely versatile and interesting animals.

 

[FoxyDee]

Good thread, I have a few:

Southern Cassowary - I really did not even know these things existed, but they are so awesome.
Sun Bear - to be honest, only Polar Bear was on my wishlist of bears upon release, but I fell in love with Sun Bears, they are so unique.
Babirusa - another of the animals I did not know much about, but so glad we got them and I got to learn about them.
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog - these really pleasantly surprised me, they are so cute.
Fallow Deer - I did expect a Red Deer, but the Fallow Deer has such a beautiful model. 10/10
Red-Crowned Crane - I wanted the Grey-Crowned Crane, because the Red-Crowned Crane looked so dull in comparision, but they have grow on me.

 

[DarthQuell]

Wow, nice. Ok, here we go:

• Deluxe - I gotta say, I love the pygmy hippo. I didn't think I'd use them as much as I do; they are solid choices for when I build an African area, especially if it's a tropical theme
• Arctic - I don't use many of these, but I'd have to say the Arctic wolf; it's the one I use the most in that pack and it's a nice model
• South America - hmm, tough. An animal I use quite often in that pack is the capuchin. I just love how loud they are in-game and hearing their chatter
• Australia - my favorite is probably the southern cassowary. I was excited about the rest, but the cassowary in particular I was shocked and it instantly became my favorite of the pack
• Aquatic - I gotta say, it's the Cuvier's dwarf caiman. I thought "meh" to them, but I absolutely adore them
• Southeast Asia - of all these, the dhole was my surprise pick. I never thought it'd be added, but they did, and I love it. Close 2nd would be the North Sulawesi babirusa
• Africa - I'm surprised by how much I use the meerkats. Just so versatile for me
• North America - all the animals I love, but in particular one that I noticed I use often without realizing is the black-tailed prairie dog
• Europe - hmm, I gonna say the fallow deer. I like the choices here, but I'm surprised that I like the fallow deer more than the others
• Wetlands - haven't used all the animals yet, but of all of them, I'm particularly fond of the spectacled caiman and the capybara. Both are animals that I tend to exhibit in my SA themed areas
• Conservation - I honestly thought that the scimitar horned oryx would be my favorite. I was wrong. Turns out it's the siamang, which I wasn't particularly interested in at 1st

 

[TheHippoGirl]

They are still not my favorites but I learned to love the lama and the dingo. At first, I was disappointed by their inclusion (especially the dingo) as I wanted other south american and australian animals more. But they both look amazing in the game and I like them now.

 

[NZFanatic]

Hard to say. Most of the "unexpected" species were ones I wanted (like the Nile lechwe). I suppose the spectacled caiman counts - it was an animal I was utterly flabbergasted by (really? Another crocodile?) but I ended up using it because it fit into a habitat I built for American alligators far better, and I had to admit it was a perfect fit. Cuiver's caiman is too small to deal with unless you really want to muck around with the habitat, and the alligator is too big for me to build the kinds of habitats I usually see them in (indoors, relatively small), but the spectacled caiman is just right.

I still refuse to use the llama until we have other barnyard animals for it to make sense with, but I agree that I don't hate the dingo as much as I used to, but that's mostly because the Australian roster is so small that we don't really have much choice but to put it in. The platypus is like the dwarf caiman - it's just too difficult to build a realistic habitat for.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

The animal I build most habitats for are Flamingos. Love building for them. And as everybody knows I am not a bird fan.
I didn't care at all about the SEA animal pack but now can hardly have a zoo without Binturongs.
I rarely build for them, but Anteaters were another one that were never on my list and ttat I like a lot.

On the other hand I am a HUGE ape fan IRL, especially Orang Utan. Primates in general really. They are almost never in my zoos. I hate building climbing frames and the bugs kill immersion. I also love Sea Lions but am not good with water habitats.

 

[AlexSea]

Absolutely the Nile Lechwe. I hadn't even heard of it before it was announced for the Wetlands Animal Pack, but now it's my favorite antelope in the game by a fair margin. I think the fur texturing has something to do with that. The way Frontier textures fur and hair has come a long way since launch.

 

[markun]

Not something I ever disliked at all, in fact it was on my wish lists but the sun bear is now my favourite bear in the game and has become one of my favourite animals full stop, just love them!

 

[NZFanatic]

Not something I ever disliked at all, in fact it was on my wish lists but the sun bear is now my favourite bear in the game and has become one of my favourite animals full stop, just love them!

They're the only bears in any zoo in New Zealand (Wellington Zoo has one - used to be two, a father/daughter duo, but the father died recently), so they're my favourites, too (well...second only to the giant panda, but I don't get to see them in NZ).

 

[NZFanatic]

I hate building climbing frames

Me too, but I can't bring myself to exclude the primates, so I try. I've gotten not bad at it, but I have a bad habit of avoiding "random placement" if that makes sense - I'm too concerned with everything leading somewhere when I could just have, you know, random poles and platforms everywhere. They don't all have to be connected, but I can't help myself.

 

[Fabian]

I hate building climbing frames and the bugs kill immersion.

I think that's the reason a lot of us tend to avoid building for apes. It also takes so much time to make climbing frames look good, and then to have the animals glitch their way through each frame makes me feel like it's ultimately not worth the hassle.

 

[ElectricMonk]

Mostly the animals I liked when they released I still like. Some I didn’t expect to get but that I liked as much now as I did then. Probably the main ones are dingo, cassowary and spectacled caiman all of which I like more than I did at first… I still think the dingo was a waste given the number of Australian animals we have, but if we’d had 2-3 more it would have been great. The spectacled caiman I love but it makes the dwarf caiman utterly pointless so, frankly, I’m still annoyed that we’ve got two caimans - it’s just that I like the second more than the first.