Black swan would be fantastic. I don’t care, Australia/ Oceania can get another beautiful bird. Personally I don’t care for a trumpeter swan much, I find that I want other endemic bird species. I wouldn’t complain if we got one though.
Analyzing required animals by Taxonomical group
The more birds the merrier
Yeah black swan would be awesome, incredibly common and gives more of an actual zoo animal vibe than the mute swan.
But i really would like to see atleast a duck before that.
Black swan would be great. Black necked as well but black swan is the one most distinctive.
I'm real happy with the swan and definitely won't mind another. Giving us the mute swan was smart because we have the typical swan people think of; had we started with another, it might've been a bit rough.
That said, to answer the question, a black swan or black-necked swan are what I'd go with. Both are different enough than the rest, as the rest look real similar.
However, before we get another swan, I'd prefer geese and ducks
That said, to answer the question, a black swan or black-necked swan are what I'd go with. Both are different enough than the rest, as the rest look real similar.
However, before we get another swan, I'd prefer geese and ducks
This analysis was well liked last time I made it so here's an update:
Empty groups:
Groups with any demand that have no representative in the game
- Birds-of-prey
- Caecilians
- Crustaceans
- Elephant-shrews
- Galagos
- Hedgehogs
- Hornbills
- Hyraxes
- Lorises
- Millipedes
- Mudskippers
- Musk-deer
- Pelicans and relatives (pelican)
- Rabbits and hares
- Rails
- Sereimas
- Storks
- Tenrecs
- Tuatara
- Treeshrews
Essential incomplete groups:
Groups missing an essential species
- Cranes (grey crowned crane)
- Crocodilians (african crocodile)
- Insects (mantis)
- Lizards (chameleon, australian monitor)
- Marsupials (tree kangaroo)
- Monotremes (echidna)
- Musteloids (coati)
- New-world monkeys (a lot)
- Old-world monkeys (baboon, indian monkey)
- Pinnipeds (walrus)
- Ratites (rhea, kiwi)
- Rodents (mara)
- Snakes (python, cobra)
- Turtles (african spurred tortoise)
- Waterfowl (duck)
Non-essential incomplete groups:
Groups that have all essential species but are still in demand
- Anteaters
- Antelopes
- Armadillos (?)
- Bears
- Caprines
- Deer
- Flamingos
- Frogs
- Lemurs
- Penguins
- Salamanders
- Small cats
- Sloths (?)
Groups considered complete by most:
- Aardvark
- Apes
- Arachnids
- Bats
- Big cats (pantherines)
- Bovines
- Camelids
- Canines
- Centipedes
- Elephants
- Giraffes and relatives
- Hippos
- Odd-toed ungulates (equines, rhinos, tapirs)
- Pangolins
- Snails and slugs
- Suines
- Viverroids (Hyenas, Malgasy carnivores, Mongooses, Viverrids)
A few of the completet ones heavily depend if the person in question is a domestics enjoyer or not, cause if they are bovines, equines and suines go from complete to essential icomplete.
Similar for those that dissapprove domestics a wild camelid from SA also is essential to complete.
Id also put viveroids to non essential incomplete as it seems that while a new moongose isnt essential, most people would favor them over the usual cat, dog and ungulate clones
Similar for those that dissapprove domestics a wild camelid from SA also is essential to complete.
Id also put viveroids to non essential incomplete as it seems that while a new moongose isnt essential, most people would favor them over the usual cat, dog and ungulate clones
I hope for one more canid... but I will admit I'm in the minority and I agree stuff like another mongoose, a civet and maybe even a genet would be better for the game! So yeah, viverroids not complete IMO...
For small cats we "need" Pallas'... Ocelot (for SA), Bobcat (for NA), Serval (super common in zoos), and others would be welcome.
As far as domestics go, I'd hope for multiple breeds of each species OR at least a broad type with multiple colors.
What is sad is the empty groups would need two animal packs and a scenery pack dedicated to them if they all are to be included...
If I may rank the groups? from what I want most at 1 to what I least need:
For small cats we "need" Pallas'... Ocelot (for SA), Bobcat (for NA), Serval (super common in zoos), and others would be welcome.
As far as domestics go, I'd hope for multiple breeds of each species OR at least a broad type with multiple colors.
What is sad is the empty groups would need two animal packs and a scenery pack dedicated to them if they all are to be included...
If I may rank the groups? from what I want most at 1 to what I least need:
- Rabbits and Hares (I'm such a mammal lover!)
- Pelicans
- Hyrax
- Birds of Prey
- Storks
- Hedgehogs
- Hornbills
- Sereimas
- Tree Shrews
- Elephant Shrews
- Galagos
- Tenrecs
- Crustaceans
- Millipedes
- Rails
- Mudskippers
- Caecillians
- Musk Deer
- Lorises
- Tuatura
1. Mallard Duck
2. White Stork
3. White Faced Whistling Duck
We coverd the northern hemisphere (or more like allmost everywhere) with the mallard, SA, Africa and madagascar with the whistling duck and got with the stork an iconic large bird for africa, europe and asia.
Also only 3 more birds are a crime against humanity
Somd honorable mentions:
- Victoria crowned pidgeon
- A Pelican
- Western Cappercallie
- Black Swan
- Ruddy Shellduck
- Paradise Shellduck
- Nene
- Mandarin Duck
- Scarlet Ibis
- California Quail
And these are just birds that i rank above literally every single new mammal
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Also you skipped the pelican
3 birds?
Brown Pelican: A pelican is a must-have. Normally I would go Great White but considering the Americans have no birds at all and we just got a big white pond bird, the brown pelican might be the better choice. However, I think the game could carry two pelicans if they had been introduced earlier on.
Scarlett Ibis: I like birds which gives me a reason to build aviaries, as they are essentials in zoos. And together with the pelican, I can even put two species in a themed aviary making it feel a bit more realistic. Further bird representation for the Americas which is also colorful, and unique from our other birds, can be housed in tropical houses and be mixed with some of our other SA species. Lots of reusability.
The roseate spoonbill is almost an equally good choice, for the same reasons. Ibis wins for being smaller and standing more out compared to the flamingo.
Mandarin Duck: With a rather large introduced range, it can be used as a ''wild'' pond bird for many locations but is still exotic enough to also be used as a typical zoo bird both in and outside of aviaries. Easy to fit into various projects.
Brown Pelican: A pelican is a must-have. Normally I would go Great White but considering the Americans have no birds at all and we just got a big white pond bird, the brown pelican might be the better choice. However, I think the game could carry two pelicans if they had been introduced earlier on.
Scarlett Ibis: I like birds which gives me a reason to build aviaries, as they are essentials in zoos. And together with the pelican, I can even put two species in a themed aviary making it feel a bit more realistic. Further bird representation for the Americas which is also colorful, and unique from our other birds, can be housed in tropical houses and be mixed with some of our other SA species. Lots of reusability.
The roseate spoonbill is almost an equally good choice, for the same reasons. Ibis wins for being smaller and standing more out compared to the flamingo.
Mandarin Duck: With a rather large introduced range, it can be used as a ''wild'' pond bird for many locations but is still exotic enough to also be used as a typical zoo bird both in and outside of aviaries. Easy to fit into various projects.
The pelican just simply isnt in my top 3.
Ofcourse i want a pelican, but if its just 3 birds my top criteria are range and biome diversity.
The pelican isnt competing with the ducks here, the mallard is imo the nr 1 most important bird to be added, not because it itself is particulary exciting (i think most of us agree that the mandarine would be) but because it exist everywhere where a puddle can form. Its also not like they are ugly, both male and female are very visually appealing in their pattern and colors and if they wouldnt be literally everywhere the green and blue feather would be seen as colorfull and beautifull instead of mundane.
The White faced whistling Duck beautifully contrasts the mallard allmost perfectly.
They are beautiful and colorfull aswell, but very different both in pattern and colors, live in pretty much all of subsaharan africa, madagascar and warm south america and are a whistling duck, which is either a goose or its own thing, taxonomy isnt quite sure on that one, while also being very commonly held in zoos.
Together both species cover pretty much the entire world, giving a suitable waterfowl to literally everywhere, while also being very distinct from another so they do not devalue each other. Perfectly synergistic combo
Lastly the white stork would be the one id be most open to sub for a pelican, but i personally prefer the white stork. They cover everything the pelican does as an iconic bird from africa and india, while also covering europe, anatolia and central asia aswell. The most important factor would be biome and habitat design though.
Pelicans, as awesome as they are, are a distinctly aquatic animal and while i defenetly have seen creative pelican displays, for example in the zoom zoo where they keep pelicans in the water moat of the giraffe savannah habitat, the stork simply offers more options. They are just as fitting for habitats with water, be it marshes, riversides, floodplains whatever, but they are also grassland animals, be it the african savannah, european farmland or just a green meadow.
I get that pelicans are the goat of missing birds that isnt a duck, but it doesnt feel like a back bone species to me like these 3 do, but its defenetly part of the top 5 together with the victoria crowned pidgeon
Pelicans are as much just a principal thing for me. The more waterfowl and semi-aquatic birds that get added, the less valuable they become.
I just don't understand why they haven't been zoo-game essentials right from the start with Zoo Tycoon alongside flamingos, penguins, and ostriches. I want justice for the pelicans. Especially knowing they were on the early concept art for Planet Zoo.
I just don't understand why they haven't been zoo-game essentials right from the start with Zoo Tycoon alongside flamingos, penguins, and ostriches. I want justice for the pelicans. Especially knowing they were on the early concept art for Planet Zoo.
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Mandarin duck
Great white pelican
Helmeted guineafowl.
Idkk these seem like the overall most usefull to me
Propaply cause they are for some reason or another harder to make.
I agree 300% though, its a shame that they arnt must haves and have never been in a zoo game that isnt a browser game
It's the throat sack I think. A game like Zoo Tycoon never had such a complex animal body part.
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