Old world monkeys:
I would say that we need at least four monkeys from each region where multiple primate species live (Asia, Africa and Latin America); that means two Asian and three African monkeys are, in my view, essential. My choices would be:
For Asia
1. A tropical macaque - I would go for the lion-tailed macaque, partly because of how different it looks from any other primate in-game but also because they are present in captivity and would add an endemic Indian species to the game.
2. A more common langur - I would personally pick the dusky leaf monkey, as it has a wide continental representation (kept in zoos in Europe, America, Asia and Australia) and is threatened in its native range.
For Africa
1. Grivet monkey - One of the most common primates in zoos that would serve as an African equivalent to the capuchin monkey - a small, highly-social primate that serves as the sort of monkey a relatively newly-opened zoo would get. They would be a good representative of the savannah biome.
2. De Brazza's guenon - A semi-aquatic, colourful and commonly-kept wetland monkey that ranges quite widely across East and Central Africa; they are able to be kept in mixed enclosures with a variety of other tropical species.
3. A baboon or baboon-like monkey - I would go for a species that can represent habitats other than savannah or forest; the gelada is top of my list, but I would also love the Guinea baboon, which is the smallest and rarest of the true baboons, richly-coloured, highly sociable and representative of far Western Africa (Gambia, Senegal etc.), including parts of the Sahara Desert. Both are kept in both European and North American zoos.
This isn't even getting into others that would either add realism but do less for me personally (like the mantled guereza) or that I would love but are not as commonly-kept (the golden-bellied mangabey fits into this category).
Insectivora:
It's difficult to say any species is necessary, although I have seen the West European hedgehog kept in a large open-topped outdoor enclosure before. They are slightly shorter in length than a meerkat, but are much more rotund and heavier, so they could fit. They are very charismatic animals (in a poll to find Britain's favourite mammal, the hedgehog received more than double the votes of second place, the red fox), but they are not that commonly-kept.
I'd love for things like shrews, sengis and tree shrews to come as well, but uncertainty of how they would actually work makes me cautious about recommending them.
Skinks and true lizards (Lacertoidae):
Because skinks are the biggest group of lizards, I feel a few more species would definitely be justified. I would definitely love the monkey-tailed skink, which lives in social groups and carry their young around on their backs like monkeys. They would also serve as good Solomon Islands representation. I'd also like to see the Peter's banded skink and fire skink, which are found in the deserts and rainforests of Africa respectively. The latter are brightly-coloured while the former are a sociable species. But these are personal wants, rather than things without which the game would feel incomplete.
As for true lizards, I would love the ocellated lizard, one of the biggest reptiles in Europe, but can also accept that they are not an absolute requirement. They are actually kept in some pretty large outdoor enclosures - seeing them included as a habitat species would be kind of fun, but also would make the iguanas stand out like a sore thumb.
Caecelians:
Never really considered the caecilians before, but now that I think of it I have seen one species in a zoo - the Rio Cauca caecilian, also called the aquatic caecilian or rubber eel. It would add another fully-aquatic amphibian to the game, which are sociable and actually quite common in zoos (Zootierliste records 32 European zoos as keeping them). I think they'd be lovely to have, but again are probably not necessary.
I would say that we need at least four monkeys from each region where multiple primate species live (Asia, Africa and Latin America); that means two Asian and three African monkeys are, in my view, essential. My choices would be:
For Asia
1. A tropical macaque - I would go for the lion-tailed macaque, partly because of how different it looks from any other primate in-game but also because they are present in captivity and would add an endemic Indian species to the game.
2. A more common langur - I would personally pick the dusky leaf monkey, as it has a wide continental representation (kept in zoos in Europe, America, Asia and Australia) and is threatened in its native range.
For Africa
1. Grivet monkey - One of the most common primates in zoos that would serve as an African equivalent to the capuchin monkey - a small, highly-social primate that serves as the sort of monkey a relatively newly-opened zoo would get. They would be a good representative of the savannah biome.
2. De Brazza's guenon - A semi-aquatic, colourful and commonly-kept wetland monkey that ranges quite widely across East and Central Africa; they are able to be kept in mixed enclosures with a variety of other tropical species.
3. A baboon or baboon-like monkey - I would go for a species that can represent habitats other than savannah or forest; the gelada is top of my list, but I would also love the Guinea baboon, which is the smallest and rarest of the true baboons, richly-coloured, highly sociable and representative of far Western Africa (Gambia, Senegal etc.), including parts of the Sahara Desert. Both are kept in both European and North American zoos.
This isn't even getting into others that would either add realism but do less for me personally (like the mantled guereza) or that I would love but are not as commonly-kept (the golden-bellied mangabey fits into this category).
Insectivora:
It's difficult to say any species is necessary, although I have seen the West European hedgehog kept in a large open-topped outdoor enclosure before. They are slightly shorter in length than a meerkat, but are much more rotund and heavier, so they could fit. They are very charismatic animals (in a poll to find Britain's favourite mammal, the hedgehog received more than double the votes of second place, the red fox), but they are not that commonly-kept.
I'd love for things like shrews, sengis and tree shrews to come as well, but uncertainty of how they would actually work makes me cautious about recommending them.
Skinks and true lizards (Lacertoidae):
Because skinks are the biggest group of lizards, I feel a few more species would definitely be justified. I would definitely love the monkey-tailed skink, which lives in social groups and carry their young around on their backs like monkeys. They would also serve as good Solomon Islands representation. I'd also like to see the Peter's banded skink and fire skink, which are found in the deserts and rainforests of Africa respectively. The latter are brightly-coloured while the former are a sociable species. But these are personal wants, rather than things without which the game would feel incomplete.
As for true lizards, I would love the ocellated lizard, one of the biggest reptiles in Europe, but can also accept that they are not an absolute requirement. They are actually kept in some pretty large outdoor enclosures - seeing them included as a habitat species would be kind of fun, but also would make the iguanas stand out like a sore thumb.
Caecelians:
Never really considered the caecilians before, but now that I think of it I have seen one species in a zoo - the Rio Cauca caecilian, also called the aquatic caecilian or rubber eel. It would add another fully-aquatic amphibian to the game, which are sociable and actually quite common in zoos (Zootierliste records 32 European zoos as keeping them). I think they'd be lovely to have, but again are probably not necessary.
