To be fair, in most places habitat ducks are just wild animals that choose to live in zoos because it's easy food and shelter.
In aviaries there are more exotic and zoo relevant species, but obviously we don't have anything aviary related.
Analyzing required animals by Taxonomical group
In aviaries there are more exotic and zoo relevant species, but obviously we don't have anything aviary related.
That aint fair though. Ponds with both free roaming and tropical ducks are extremly common in zoos.
The mandarine duck is the 22. most common EAZA animal with 491 holdings and thats just one of MANY duck species that are commonly held in zoos in open ponds
Still, I understand why we never got them even if I want them for realism purposes. They have abyssmal appeal to the general public.
They aren't exactly tigers or gorillas, but the general public, in my admittedly limited experience, does respond positively to swans and brightly colored ducks (i.e. mandarin and wood ducks)
Edited to add pictures.
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Haha I had to re read that cause when you said wood duck I was thinking tye Australian wood duck and was confused cause their the most boring animals on earth. Then I searched up wood duck and I was like oohhhhh that wood duck.
ABC species are what make people come by the zoo, not what makes them stay for long. I think the same can be said about the animals in PZ.
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I don't mean to insinuate that waterfowl only work as "live props", but waterfowl are still appealing to see on a zoo visit (even if you are not allowed to feed them). They do make lakes and other large bodies of water more appealing. If frontier also comes up with a free ranging behaviour then ducks and swans would be great candidates.
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The existing peafowl would be fantastic for free ranging behaviour
Indeed. But having more species that could use this behavior would ne neat.
Next discussion's main group is fowls, so this will be very relevamt very soon
On the subject of free roaming animals, this was before my time but I’ve read that a nearby zoo has free roaming rock hyrax on opening day. Honestly I can hardly even picture how that would work, since I’ve only ever personally seen free roaming birds (peafowl, guineafowl, waterfowl, turkeys) but it’s an interesting thought at least.
My local zoo has sort of free roaming alpine marmots. They were originally intended as habitat mates for the mouflons and chamois but have since mcgyered their way out of the enclosure and live now more or less free in the general area around that enclosure
I know that the zoo hagenbeck in hamburg has free roaming patagonian Maras
And we're back with the big groups:
Discussion #13: Fowls*, monitor lizards and relatives (anguimorpha), arthropods (minus insects)
What we have:
fowls*:
Arthropods (minus insects):
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.
*new aviary rule: until aviaries arrive, aviary animals can't be included. if there's any doubt your candidate can be a habitat animal you need to provide an example of the animal being kept in a open habitat.
Discussion #13: Fowls*, monitor lizards and relatives (anguimorpha), arthropods (minus insects)
What we have:
fowls*:
- Indian peafowl
- Gila monster
- Komodo dragon
- Nile monitor
Arthropods (minus insects):
- Amazonian Giant Centipede
- Goliath Birdeater
- Mexican Red-knee Tarantula
- Brazilian Wandering Spider
- Brazilian Salmon pink Tarantula
- Giant Forest Scorpion
- Giant hairy Desert Scorpion
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.
*new aviary rule: until aviaries arrive, aviary animals can't be included. if there's any doubt your candidate can be a habitat animal you need to provide an example of the animal being kept in a open habitat.
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Anthropods are exhibit animals aka not worth to be included in the game.
Monitor Lizards are pretty cool, we defenetly need an arboreal and an australian one. Luckily for us, the lance monitor is both arboreal and from australia, so win win. The crocodile monitor also would be pretty dope, being among the longest living lizards and the apex predator of new guinea with a decent captive population aswell, so one of these two would be imo essential, but other monitor lizards would be neat in general to get more habitat reptiles into the game.
Fowls are the real meat this time, as we need many and desperatly:
- Golden Pheasent (among the most common animals in captivity, yellow)
- Silver Pheasent (Also insanly common, white)
- Common Pheasent (Very common, gigantic range due to being among the oldest invasive species and having established large populations in both europe and north america, brown green)
- Satyr Tragopan (Most common Tragopan, very beautiful coloration and pattern)
- Domestic Chicken (Petting zoo staple and very iconic animal)
- Great Curassow (Central American mostly ground dwelling bird with strong gender dimorphism)
- Helmeted Guinea Fowl (African Savanah bird that would double as a domestic, both great for african villages and savanah enclosures)
- Chukar Partridge (very distinct looking ground bird from anatolia, the middle east and central asia with very similar looking subspecies all over central asia, northern africa, the middle east and europe, largest range and most common in zoos)
- A turkey (dc if domestic or wild, propaply north americas most iconic bird together with the bald eage)
- California Quail (Very distinct looking Quail, North America could really use some birds)
- Western Capercallie (Largest Grouse species, good bird representation for europe and northern asia)
- Australian Brush Turkey (Only Megapode with an international zoo presence larger then a single holding with 6, only animal on the list without 40+ holidings. Australian representative)
Are 12 essential fowls a bit much? Maybe, but i simply choose one bird of each of the 9 not yet represented groups of land fowl, with 4 pheasents cause they are among the most common zoo animals and we really should be spoiled for choice there.
If i had to limit myself to 3, which is still way to little, id choose the golden pheasent for being the most common, the chukar partridge for its insane range across its subspecies and the california quail for its significantly smaller size and being a more interesting choice for american represntation then a turkey and more visually appealing (to me) then the great curassow, but really if it wasnt for the fact that its unrealistic to see every single one of them in the game i genuinly believe that all of them should be in the game and would completly negate the need for birds as we would have lots to choose from in all sizes, biomes and colors.
They might not be the most flashy, but they defenetly would be very usefull additions to flesh out the roster, just like waterfowl
Ok lets go
Fowl:
Man there are so many possible species, but ill just narrow it dont to what i wanna see
-Mute swan, such an iconic bird, more of a zoo resident than an actual zoo animal but they would be amazing to breath some lives into ponds and lakes
-Mallard, pretty much the same as the swan
-Mandarin duck, super pretty duck thats also common and "well" known
-Helmeted guinea fowl, a nice filler or habitat mate for african hoofstock areas, also super common
-Chicken, yeah good old domestic chicken, if we get a petting zoo pack those would be awesome. Dont really care which breed.
Monitors:
While i could live without anymore monitors i wanna mention the argentine black and white tegu here which i think would make a cool inclusion since they are a non Rainforest SA species, can be puppy dog tame so are amazing as Ambassadors and children zoos, and most importantly a realistic habitat reptile thats not a tortoise, croc or monitor.
Also i think something like the Ackie monitor would be a nice option if we ever get more standard exhibits.
Non insect arthropods:
-African giant millipede, because those guys are hella cool, but far from high prio for me
- Some kind of crab, Hermit or Halloween crabs maybe. Mostly because a beach themed exhibit would be neat. But again they are not really high priority for me since i feel like IF we get mor standard exhibits lizards should be the focus.
Edit: I just remebered we already had waterfowl
, so just ignore the water birbs
Fowl:
Man there are so many possible species, but ill just narrow it dont to what i wanna see
-Mute swan, such an iconic bird, more of a zoo resident than an actual zoo animal but they would be amazing to breath some lives into ponds and lakes
-Mallard, pretty much the same as the swan
-Mandarin duck, super pretty duck thats also common and "well" known
-Helmeted guinea fowl, a nice filler or habitat mate for african hoofstock areas, also super common
-Chicken, yeah good old domestic chicken, if we get a petting zoo pack those would be awesome. Dont really care which breed.
Monitors:
While i could live without anymore monitors i wanna mention the argentine black and white tegu here which i think would make a cool inclusion since they are a non Rainforest SA species, can be puppy dog tame so are amazing as Ambassadors and children zoos, and most importantly a realistic habitat reptile thats not a tortoise, croc or monitor.
Also i think something like the Ackie monitor would be a nice option if we ever get more standard exhibits.
Non insect arthropods:
-African giant millipede, because those guys are hella cool, but far from high prio for me
- Some kind of crab, Hermit or Halloween crabs maybe. Mostly because a beach themed exhibit would be neat. But again they are not really high priority for me since i feel like IF we get mor standard exhibits lizards should be the focus.
Edit: I just remebered we already had waterfowl
, so just ignore the water birbs
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Fowl
Ok, yes. We need so many more. What though? Well, a domestic turkey is good. I'd also choose golden pheasants. I'd also consider that helmeted guineafowl are important, too. Honorable mention would be the Australian brushturkey
Monitors (and relatives)
Do tegus count? If so, then the Argentine tegu for SA is a great choice. The one and only time I've seen them was for sale at a reptile expo. Caiman monitors are very cool and would be a great choice as well. And finally, for Australia, the perentie.
Arthropods
Honestly we are lacking in exhibits in the 1st place, so we need quite a few. I'd choose:
Ok, yes. We need so many more. What though? Well, a domestic turkey is good. I'd also choose golden pheasants. I'd also consider that helmeted guineafowl are important, too. Honorable mention would be the Australian brushturkey
Monitors (and relatives)
Do tegus count? If so, then the Argentine tegu for SA is a great choice. The one and only time I've seen them was for sale at a reptile expo. Caiman monitors are very cool and would be a great choice as well. And finally, for Australia, the perentie.
Arthropods
Honestly we are lacking in exhibits in the 1st place, so we need quite a few. I'd choose:
- Praying mantis (maybe the Chinese giant mantis)
- Jungle nymph
- Madagascar hissing cockroach
- A few more butterflies wouldn't hurt. Species could be:
- Paper kite
- Tailed jay
- Green swallowtail
- Walking sticks. Any species, but since the Lord Howe stick insect was datamined at one point, then that one
Galliformes (fowl): A couple of Asian pheasants and an Eastern Wild/Domestic Turkey are essential. Guineafowl are also very good.
- Cool Asian Pheasant(s): There are many great options. I would like about 2-3 if they are a habitat animal, but more would be nice if they are put in aviaries/WE. I could see it going either way.
- Golden Pheasant: the most popular and a brightly colored pheasant
- Lady Amherst's Pheasant: would contrast nicely with the golden
- Silver Pheasant: also contrasts nicely with the golden, and I like the idea of a silver and golden pheasant
- Reeve's Pheasant: cool tail
- Domestic or Eastern Wild Turkey: Really iconic bird for NA (the biggest tradition of a major US holiday involves eating them), much larger than peafowl (or the occilated), definitely kept in open-air, cool sound effects, were threatened at some point but have now spread quickly near areas with people (we kill foxes), NA needs a bird
- Guineafowl: I've seen helmeted guineafowl as a roaming bird in a few zoos. The vulturine also looks cool, but I think I'd prefer the helmeted. I don't quite think of them as essential, but they are an excellent choice.
- Domestic chicken: a kind of expected choice if we get domestics, red junglefowl could also work if we don't, but I'd prefer the Asian fowl above
- Currasows: It is a potential choice for a habitat bird, but I would only be interested if we don't get WE or aviary birds
- Capercaillie: While I'd prefer other birds for Europe (swans, ducks, and pelicans), it is an option for a European bird, which is still needed
- Australian Monitor: Pretty important for Australia, I've heard lace monitors and perenties thrown around. I don't have a preference. Pick one
- Argentine Tegu: I'm not sure if Tegu count, but they would be a fantastic option for a southern SA animal, grow to 4 ft, I could see them as a habitat animal
- Blue Spotted Tree Monitor: very cool tree lizard
- Caiman Lizard: very cool lizard that should probably go in an exhibit
- Chinese Crocodile Monitor: Cool potential Asian exhibit lizard
I've already listed the insects I want. I'm done with spiders and scorpions.
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Fowls are difficult bc Other than wild Turkeys, helmeted guinea fowl, and domestic chicken, as afar as I know all galliformes are kept in covered aviaries and pheasantries including green peafowl (EDIT: I remember seeing crested guinea fowl at Brevard zoo on an open top enclosure but I personally consider that to be an outlier). Unless Frontier demonstrated that they do not care about that reality and add an animal otherwise kept as an aviary/pheasantry animal as a habitat animal, then my take is that helmeted guienea fowl and domestic chicken (any breed goes) are the two galliformes that I want due to their commonality, and the potential use of the former as a free range animal flocking around zoo grounds without an exhibit. The chicken would be great in case we get a farmyard/petting zoo pack.
Habitat Anguimorphs I would want are Perentie and Lace monitor. I choose Australian monitors instead of African and Asian species such as the savannah monitor and Asian water monitor because not only Australia can always use more representation, but I can imagine some people finding an African or Asian monitor redundant since we have the Komodo and Nile monitors. Exhibit anguimorphs I advocate for are the Chinese crocodile lizard, an endangered beastie that is kept and bred in many zoos. It has striling colours and, a crazy face, a tail that gives it its name. While not as critically essential, the Sheltopusik and Mexican alligator lizards would be nice additions. The Sheltopusik would be another European addition with a snake-like morphology despite not being a snake. The Mexican alligator lizard is a charming animal with dragon-like characterteristics and a bright green color.
WARNING: COOL BUG-LIKE BROS AHEAD
For non-insect arthropods I think a crab would be awesome. Crab taxa that come to my mind are coconut crab, a fiddler crab, the land hermit crab, the vampire crab, and the Halloween crab. All these crabs have amphibious characteristic and aren't necessarily bound to be in an aquarium or be part of an aquatic pack. For coconut crab it is because of its large size that brought it to fame. For fiddler crabs it is becauseof their distinguishable characteristic with one big claw and their digging behavior. For the other three is is because of how recognizable they are in the pet trade (and they are cute and fun to watch. I mean have you ever seen a land hermit crab be as snug as a bug?).
Otherwise a giant millipede species such as the African giant millipede or the Seychelles giant millipede (the latter of which has a breeding program in Europe) would be a nice herbivore myriapod to counter the carnivorous centipede. I would push for lobsters and crayfish but they seem to fit beter for an aquarium.
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