An odd selection of aquatic animals.

[markun]

I think it is important to stress that we have no idea how big an aquatic DLC would be or what else would be in it. It does seem odd that there wouldn't be more than 4 animals but it isn't by any means unthinkable.

First we have the Grey Seal, a very tiny percentage of zoos exhibit this animal, you have a better chance to find it in an aquarium than in a zoo, and even there they are not guaranteed and are quite rare.

Second we have the King Penguin, that is the most perplexing choice for me, because even though this is not the Emperor Penguin, almost impossible to find in zoo, it is still not the most popular species. They are a difficult bunch to keep in zoos, and even Aquariums have a hard time creating facilities for them. African Penguins seem to be the popular zoo penguin species widely found across the world, and if one penguin species is all we get, that slot would have made sense to be given to them. So this one left me scratching my head.

Grey seals are found in 46 collections in Europe so they are far from obscure. King penguins in 18 and as has been mentioned, not always in indoor facilities. From Scotland to Hokkaido there are zoos that keep them outside. I definitely hope we will get a temperate climate penguin like the Humboldt or African too. But again, we just don't know that there is only one penguin slot.

We all speak from our own perspectives, I have a European perspective whilst having a pretty good knowledge of Australian zoos too for example. It's inevitable that our views will be formed on the basis of our experience but sometimes it is good to consider things from a wider perspective. Something might be the case in the United States but it doesn't mean it's the same everywhere.

As a comparison, there are no pronghorns in Europe and only three collections house Dall sheep. But I don't dismiss them as bizarre choices on that basis.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

The king penguin is really the only animal in that video I'm automatically happy with, but I'll take the seal. I'm not thrilled with the idea of the giant otter, because I agree that the Asian small-clawed is the much more obvious and well-known choice.

I still keep my hopes up that we might see both, maybe in a bigger DLC. I mean, they are really, really popular in zoos as far as I know.

 

[Moonfox]

I don't personally want Planet Zoo's animal roster to be limited to animals which are very common in zoos. For one, this is a game and it should be fun - we should be able to build our dream zoos! A better argument to include "uncommonly kept" animals is that it's all relative: I'm in Australia and I never get to see many species that are not from Asia/Africa/Southern Hemisphere, especially since accredited zoos are strongly encouraged to keep species that are in their local region. What might be common to you may be entirely exotic to me, and what might be mundane to me would be exciting to you. For example, when we visitied San Diego zoo last December, everyone was so excited about the platypus - the first of their species to be kept in a zoo outside Australia. We could appreciate their excitement (those platypus came from our local zoo!) but we were there to see absolutely anything else.

King Penguins are kept at my local zoo/aquarium, indoors of course. No Australian Zoo keeps African Penguins, but I've been to a few with Kings. I think they're a great choice: striking, recognisable and they are kept in zoos.

Grey seal is a lesser known true seal, they're visually interesting (with sexual dimorphism and juvenile coats) and come from parts of the world that aren't well represented in Planet Zoo yet. The rig name might not even be accurate, so it could be a different species, but I think they'll be wonderful to have - their face shape is adorable.

I love that we might be getting a giant river otter! I think they're a fantastic choice as well: a large, iconic species that adds another animal to the South American group. I would love to also have small clawed otters in future, and with the leak of the sun bear, maybe it's a possibility?

I expect the 4th animal to be a sea lion - Californian or Australian. I think having a seal and a sea lion in the pack would be awesome, especially from an educational viewpoint as a lot of people don't know that they are different, or how they're different.

I'm really excited for the pack. For me, it would be two familiar animals (king penguin and sea lion), and two exotics (giant river otter and grey seal). I'm not at all attacking you, but I do feel like your view of exotic/boring comes from a very Americanised lens - I would be ecstatic to see a beaver in a zoo, I've never seen one in my life! Planet Zoo caters to an international audience, I think the team are doing a great job of picking diverse species, some unexpected, some highly requested, and bringing attention to species that some people may have never heard of in their lives.

One more thing I should mention: none of this is confirmed. We might not even get all of these species in one pack, we might not get them at all. The rigs could be loosely named and the animal model is a different species based on the original rig. We'll know in December, but I'm honestly happy with all new inclusions to the game.

In the end: we're finally getting semi-aquatic species! How awesome! I didn't know if we would ever have otters or seals, but they're on their way! Now we can put our underwater viewing to good use, and that's fantastic news! There's always the chance to add more species down the line, but how great is it to be having these three (likely four)?!

 

[Cocolori]

I still keep my hopes up that we might see both, maybe in a bigger DLC. I mean, they are really, really popular in zoos as far as I know.

I wondered if they were going for greater geographical spread? Assuming all four animals are in one pack that means you have an asian animal, a Southern ocean / antarctic animal, a north american / european atlantic animal and a south american animal. An asian short clawed otter would mean another addition to Asia and maybe they want to round out the SA selection a bit more. Lot's of people on the forums seem to like to build in continent based sections and complaints were widespread with the SA DLC that it didn't have enough to represent the diversity. There's a group in the community that want the most common species in zoos so they can create realistic builds, a group that want good geographic spread and a group that want more unique and endangered species. This may be about trying to balance those needs.

 

[FoxyDee]

I don't personally want Planet Zoo's animal roster to be limited to animals which are very common in zoos. For one, this is a game and it should be fun - we should be able to build our dream zoos! A better argument to include "uncommonly kept" animals is that it's all relative: I'm in Australia and I never get to see many species that are not from Asia/Africa/Southern Hemisphere, especially since accredited zoos are strongly encouraged to keep species that are in their local region. What might be common to you may be entirely exotic to me, and what might be mundane to me would be exciting to you. For example, when we visitied San Diego zoo last December, everyone was so excited about the platypus - the first of their species to be kept in a zoo outside Australia. We could appreciate their excitement (those platypus came from our local zoo!) but we were there to see absolutely anything else.

King Penguins are kept at my local zoo/aquarium, indoors of course. I've never been to a zoo that keeps African Penguins, but I've been to a few with Kings. I think they're a great choice: striking, recognisable and they are kept in zoos.

Grey seal is a lesser known true seal, they're visually interesting (with sexual dimorphism and juvenile coats) and come from parts of the world that aren't well represented in Planet Zoo yet. The rig name might not even be accurate, so it could be a different species, but I think they'll be wonderful to have - their face shape is adorable.

I love that we might be getting a giant river otter! I think they're a fantastic choice as well: a large, iconic species that adds another animal to the South American group. I would love to also have small clawed otters in future, and with the leak of the sun bear, maybe it's a possibility?

I expect the 4th animal to be a sea lion - Californian or Australian. I think having a seal and a sea lion in the pack would be awesome, especially from an educational viewpoint as a lot of people don't know that they are different, or how they're different.

I'm really excited for the pack. For me, it would be two familiar animals (king penguin and sea lion), and two exotics (giant river otter and grey seal). I'm not at all attacking you, but I do feel like your view of exotic/boring comes from a very Americanised lens - I would be ecstatic to see a beaver in a zoo, I've never seen one in my life! Planet Zoo caters to an international audience, I think the team are doing a great job of picking diverse species, some unexpected, some highly requested, and bringing attention to species that some people may have never heard of in their lives.

One more thing I should mention: none of this is confirmed. We might not even get all of these species in one pack, we might not get them at all. The rigs could be loosely named and the animal model is a different species based on the original rig. We'll know in December, but I'm honestly happy with all new inclusions to the game.

Excellently said! It is true that Frontier have to find a balance between favourite animals, less known ones and unique ones. For example I cannot understand the fuss around having a leopard in game, for me it is too similar to jaguar visually, so if there were a african pack, I will not be happy with leopard, instead I would like to see something unique, for example a honey badger, because we do not have an badger yet. But leopard is a stample zoo animal. I will not be excited for it, but I understand the reasons for potentionally including it.

They cannot really please everyone, so compromises have to be made.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I would be ecstatic to see a beaver in a zoo, I've never seen one in my life!

That is a perfect example, as beavers are really really common in german zoos. At least to the ones I've been. And for me they are a staple especially for smaller zoos. I guess we all should step away from our egocentric views of what is common and what is not, so you said it very well!

I wondered if they were going for greater geographical spread? Assuming all four animals are in one pack that means you have an asian animal, a Southern ocean / antarctic animal, a north american / european atlantic animal and a south american animal. An asian short clawed otter would mean another addition to Asia and maybe they want to round out the SA selection a bit more. Lot's of people on the forums seem to like to build in continent based sections and complaints were widespread with the SA DLC that it didn't have enough to represent the diversity. There's a group in the community that want the most common species in zoos so they can create realistic builds, a group that want good geographic spread and a group that want more unique and endangered species. This may be about trying to balance those needs.

I agree that it seems they might move away from the regional packs, at least maybe for the next one. I still think (and hope) we'll see an european and north american pack down the line,and of course asia and africa. It would only be fair if these packs would be 5 animals per pack only.

However, I don't see a problem with including asian small clawed otters if we get a bigger pack for swimming animals and that's still what I assume.All the emphasis on how it's much easier to add new animals and more animals just lets me guess that we have finally been heard. If not in this pack, maybe in the next. I mean, why the emphasis on "we only need 3 days instead of month" now? Planet Zoo is one year old, you would guess the topic would have been covered long before if there wasn't any actuallity in it.

 

[Thtp15]

Really guys? Come on. We got a leak that they are working on aquatic animals (whenever they will publish these) and you are complaining about their choice? Did you not see that they easily transfer the behaviour to other sceletons? So make a smaller one or another species with the same behaviour is easy to do? (But then someone will come up with "Why another reskind animal?")

Could this not be some examples to prove/anlayze the general behaviour?

Sorry but to satisfy this community seems to nearly impossible. Instead to thank them for doing this and to be happy about that they try to fullfil our wish to have aquatic animals in the game (even if they do not need to do so) just again discontent. So sad.

 

[FoxyDee]

Really guys? Come on. We got a leak that they are working on aquatic animals (whenever they will publish these) and you are complaining about their choice? Did you not see that they easily transfer the behaviour to other sceletons? So make a smaller one or another species with the same behaviour is easy to do? (But then someone will come up with "Why another reskind animal?")

Could this not be some examples to prove/anlayze the general behaviour?

Sorry but to satisfy this community seems to nearly impossible. Instead to thank them for doing this and to be happy about that they try to fullfil our wish to have aquatic animals in the game (even if they do not need to do so) just again discontent. So sad.

I think everyone in this thread is thankful for these amazing new animals. Speculating why choosing one over the other in a civil matter like in this thread is nowhere near complaining I think.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

May I point out that the leak doesn't say we won't get any other animal? Because, well, we were in alphabatically order. Just because we saw a giant otter under G doesn't mean there isn't something interesting under a. or h like in harbour seal.

 

[paul78]

I’ll take them. I don’t really care what seal species we get. It’s going to be great building exhibits for these little guys.

 

[random goat]

I think everyone in this thread is thankful for these amazing new animals. Speculating why choosing one over the other in a civil matter like in this thread is nowhere near complaining I think.

Indeed, not like these animals have been announced officially anyway. I'm pretty sure that when they are, the devs will mostly receive a massive wave of gratitude messages.

 

[Markiz]

Perhaps I am not that educated about animals as I thought I was but of all animal groups, Seals mostly look alike inbetween themselves, species-wise. Like they could put ANY existing species of seal instead of Grey and it wouldn't make that much of a difference to me. Like Harbour and Grey seal are almost same animals. This sounds like Formosan Bear argument all over again

 

[nutrit]

Perhaps I am not that educated about animals as I thought I was but of all animal groups, Seals mostly look alike inbetween themselves, species-wise. Like they could put ANY existing species of seal instead of Grey and it wouldn't make that much of a difference to me. Like Harbour and Grey seal are almost same animals. This sounds like Formosan Bear argument all over again

Habour and gray seal are very much different from each other in size and scull shape. Two completely different animals for me. But I’m happy with every animal we get no matter the species.
I dream they would put on steam as much species as they can and we could buy them separately according to our needs, tastes and financial possibilities.

 

[Markiz]

Don't look that much different, but it's probably me :

Separate animals idea sounds great tho. I would stay behind something like that. I mean not instead of DLCs, but they could go hand in hand. Like after DLC is relased, day after separate animals would be up for purchase. Maybe with thatidea even building sets could be sold separately as DLC is dissected

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I dream they would put on steam as much species as they can and we could buy them separately according to our needs, tastes and financial possibilities.

As much as I'm pro markungs suggestion with one buyable animal per month, buying ALL animals would make me broke very very fast And I'm relatively stable.

The size difference is actually on reason wh I would prefer harbour seals and asian small clawed otters. We are really in need in some smaller animals that do not need a huge habitat. (Asian small clawed otters are relatively easy to keep, if I remember correctly).

 

[FoxyDee]

Seems like the grey seals have really adorable white fur pups.

 

[Markiz]

Indeed

 

[Danny_zoo]

I'm surprised about the comments about the seal. I'm not an expert in zoos and I haven't visited many, but it happens that in several of the zoos I've visited there were grey seals (Madrid, Benidorm, Tallinn, Helsinki...), so for me the seal is not such a weird choice.

I did a quick search on Google and it's true that they are not very common, but some North American zoos have them too.

Also, when I think in general of semiaquatic animals, seals are one of the first animals that come to my mind.

Besides, they are also found in Europe and we all know this continent lacks representation.

For all those reasons, I'm happy that they are at least considering to add it to the game.

On the other hand, California sea lions are the equivalent to the polar bear/jaguar/kangaroo of the previous packs. They are a must if an aquatic DLC drops in. I don't even consider the possibility that they are replacing it with a seal. I'm sure we will have both.

Well that is the difference right there, the zoos you mentioned are for the most part (exception Madrid) perfectly geared to include this species. Some of the ones you mentioned have different seal species though, like the harbor seal, not that it is important for this conversation, but just something I wanted to point out. The thing is I have visited close to 400 zoos worldwide, and been around designing a lot of ground breaking exhibits for some time, so my perspective is coming from a broader experience. Often when ever you have comments about this game from players saying this is common or that is not common in a zoo, they are primarily thinking about their own experience with zoos, maybe they have visited a dozen of them, maybe they have done some preliminary and vague research on the internet, but like I said I'm factoring the vast majority of modern zoos in every single continent.

 

[Markiz]

As long as Grey Seal can be found in one zoo irl, I am satisfied

 

[Danny_zoo]

I think it is important to stress that we have no idea how big an aquatic DLC would be or what else would be in it. It does seem odd that there wouldn't be more than 4 animals but it isn't by any means unthinkable.





Grey seals are found in 46 collections in Europe so they are far from obscure. King penguins in 18 and as has been mentioned, not always in indoor facilities. From Scotland to Hokkaido there are zoos that keep them outside. I definitely hope we will get a temperate climate penguin like the Humboldt or African too. But again, we just don't know that there is only one penguin slot.

We all speak from our own perspectives, I have a European perspective whilst having a pretty good knowledge of Australian zoos too for example. It's inevitable that our views will be formed on the basis of our experience but sometimes it is good to consider things from a wider perspective. Something might be the case in the United States but it doesn't mean it's the same everywhere.

As a comparison, there are no pronghorns in Europe and only three collections house Dall sheep. But I don't dismiss them as bizarre choices on that basis.

Markun as an FYI, I have visited close to 400 zoos worldwide, and close to half that number outside of the U.S. I have also lived in Europe several years in Spain and a small time in Germany during a project. There is not a major zoo in Europe I have not visited, and while Oceania is definitely my weakest point of reference, never even made it to New Zealand, I have visited Taronga Zoo, Adelaide Zoo, and had a behind the scenes tour of Australia Zoo on a professional consultation when Steve was still with us. Lived and breathe zoos all my life, even before someone decided one day that creating a game called Zoo Tycoon would be a good idea When it comes to having a wider perspective, I do not know how much wider it can get.