And we're back!
Discussion #10: Bovines, Lemuriformes, Gruiformes, Salamanders
What we have:
Bovines:
- African buffalo
- American bison
- Wild water buffalo
Lemuriformes (lemurs, lorises and galagos):
- Red ruffed lemur
- Ring tailed lemur
- Black-and-white ruffed lemur
Gruiformes (Cranes and rails):
- Red crowned crane
Salamanders:
- Axolotl
- Fire Salamander
- Danube Crested Newt
Explain what you think is still needed from the aforementioned groups, and give your reasoning as to why. Take into account that slots in the roster are not unlimited, so try to keep the discussion realistic.
Bovines:
I don't think we really
need any more bovines, but I think we have space for at least one or two more members. Domestic cattle are gaining traction recently, with the
Highland Cattle being the most popular it seems, and I wouldn't it. I personally would want either the
Texas Longhorn or the
Ankole-Watusi due to their impressive horns. In terms of wild species, the
Lowland Anoa adds a smaller member of the family, but while it's popular on the forums, I personally don't really care for it (wouldn't be mad at it's inclusion, just not interesting to me because of the water buffalo). I'd like to advocate for the
Gaur, the largest wild cattle species, and the
Wisent, which finishes of the bison with a forest dwelling European species and another animal with a long conservation history.
Lemuriformes:
Same thing as I said with the bovines, we don't
need more lemurs, but a few more wouldn't hurt. However, any more lemurs would need to be truly unique to stand out and be worth it imo. Luckily, the two most popular are just that. The
Coquerel's Sifaka (or any sifaka tbh) and it's unique form of locomotion would allow for some interesting exhibit builds, and the
Aye-Aye is literally just a lil freak and should get in purely on that merit alone. Of course, lemuriformes also includes all the other weirdo non-monkey and non-ape primates (aside frome tarsiers). Of the remaining groups, I'm only really interested in a species of
Slow Loris, only if we get a sloth as well. Not high priority, but they're interesting enough that I think they'd make good additions to the game (an Asian nocturnal house would be sweet).
Gruiformes:
Not super well-versed on this group, so I was surprised that I have more than one species I wanna mention. The striking
Grey Crowned Crane would add to the surprisingly few African birds in the roster whilst standing out entirely from the Red-Crowned Crane so there'd be extremely limited overlap. I also wish to bring up the
Guam Rail, due to it's recent conservation success story, going from Extinct in the Wild to Critically Endangered thanks to captive breeding. Neither species would be regarded as high priority in my eyes, but once again would be really neat to have.
Salamanders:
I don't think any more salamanders are necessary, purely due to already having 3 and more focus needs to be put on the currently lacking lizards. That being said, I wouldn't pass at the opportunity to have a giant salamander species.
Hellbender is probably the most realistic given it's size, but either the
Japanese or
Chinese Giants would be much better picks imo (though I wouldn't complain about any of the 3).
Olms have also recently become an option again due to their return to captivity. It may only be one zoo, but they're too unique a species for us to pass up if we had more spots in the roster left. I also wanna bring up the
Iberian Ribbed Newt, but having two European salamander species already kinda dampens its chances (yes, the Olm is also European, but it's far more distinct than the newt).
