And here we are in the last conventional discussion!
Discussion #15: Old world monkeys, Insectivora*, skinks and true lizards, Caecelians
What we have:
Old world monkeys:
- Japanese Macaque
- Mandrill
- Proboscis monkey
Insectivora*:
None
Skinks and true lizards (Lacertoidae):
- Eastern blue-tongued lizard
Caecelians:
None
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.
*Insectivora has been retired as a taxonomic group, but for the simplification of discussion we'll discuss all its former sub-groups together, which include:
hedgehogs, shrews, moles, tenrecs, elephant-shrews, tree-shrews, colugos plus a few others
Old World monkeys: YES! Please more of them. Although, my opinion is similar to ohers.
1. My biggest necessity is still
a colobus monkey species, the mantled colobus specially as it is often kept with gorillas, pygmy hippos, guenonos and can also be kept in walk-through habitats (
see here) and they are definitley the species kept by most institutions. Even so, I haven't seen anyone mentioning alternatives.
The Angolan colobus is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, compared to the mantled, it occurs further in the South, which includes the Congo basin. It is also kept commonly in AZA zoos and a bit rarer in European institutions.
The second alternative is the king colobus, a endangered species from the West African Guinea forest, a region which has very little representation in the game right now.
2. The second necessity is a "
baboon" and to be honest, I don't care if a true baboon or not. My preference would be a Gelada or a Hamadryas baboon, they both have strong points for being included.
3. A second
macaque would also be cool, but not necessary. I personally also would add the lion-tailed macaque due to its Indian distribution or a crab-eating macaque, as it is really widespread throughout SEA. Barbary macaque and crested macaque got low on my wishlist, but would by no means be bad inclusions.
4. A
guenon is another category I really want to be filled. I personally would go for a Roloway or Diana guenon, but I wouldn't be opposed to any other species.
5. Another
langur is personally very low on my list. This niche is nicely occupied by the proboscis monkey, even not having a real presence outside of Asia. But if we get another one, I hope it's gonna be the Javan langur.
Insectivora: I can just see 3 species which would make sense, the tailess tenrec, the rufous sengi a hedgehog species. And none of them is really high on my list, but I wouldn't mind them.
Skinks and true lizards: my favourite species of lizard is the Solomon islands skin, due to its unique social behavior, but as we probably wouldn't see any of it in the game, I wouldn't say it's anything necessary.
Caecelians: I also wouldn't be against the inclusion of the Rio Caucan cecilian, as it has a decent presence in European zoos and is being bred on a regular basis. But I wouldn't argue for it to being included.
Meanwhile for the final discussion: oddballs!!
What are oddballs? Any animal that fits current game mechanics but the majority of its taxonomical group doesn't/it somehiw wasn't discussed until now.
Here are the ones I thought about:
- Ground hornbill
- Kakapo
- Mudskipper
- Secretary bird
- Tuatara
Feel free to add more suggestions if you have any
I strongly advocate for the secretary bird, even tought I honestly would prefer the red-legged seriema, but as I belive that the secretary has a bigger chance, I would be totally fine with it.
Mudskippers, tuatara and ground hornbills would be nice, tough.
