Animals You Were Pleasantly Surprised Made It Into the Game

What animals that you really like or love made it into the game that you thought never had a chance because they are so rare/ obscure in zoos where you live that most people have never heard of them?

(For reference, a refresher if needed, here's the Zoopedia: https://www.planetzoogame.com/zoopedia?version=pc

For me it was:
- Dhole
-Binturong
-Sun Bear*
-Axolotl*
-Maned Wolf*
-Striped Hyena
-Fossa*
-Sloth Bear
-Asiatic Black Bear (Formosan Black Bear in the game) (Although this bear was in the base game, so wasn't really a surprise as much as the others because I knew it was in the game from the day I bought the game.)

I put a star by Axolotl, Fossa, Maned Wolf, and Sun Bear because....
-Axolotl are common pets here but I feel like people who aren't animal people wouldn't know what you were talking about if you said "Axolotl".
-Fossa because they're a little more well-known from the Madagascar movies and I have seen them in quite a few zoos here but people usually think from the Madagascar movies that fossa are medium-sized cats and have no idea what they're actually like.
-Maned Wolf because they're very common in zoos here but again most people don't really know what they are and try to howl at them like they're real wolves at the zoo when they see the name "Maned Wolf" on the sign or even worse, they don't even bother to look at the sign and just call them a fox.
-Sun Bears are also fairly common in zoos here and people know it's a bear when they see it at the zoo but if you were to talk about bears to someone here in the US, they're much more likely to know Brown Bears/Grizzlies, North American Black Bears, Polar Bears, and Panda Bears and not have any idea what a Sun Bear is.

Dhole, Binturong, Striped Hyena, Sloth Bear, and Asiatic Black Bear are incredibly rare here in zoos (at least at the ones I've visited).

Dholes unfortunately make sense because they're banned for import due to being considered injurious wildlife that could potentially become invasive and as a result are only in 3 zoos in the entire United States of America (Used to be 4 but the ones at Minnesota zoo all recently died sadly, so now it's just Miami Zoo in Florida, The Wilds in Ohio, and the Bronx zoo in New York that have them). Considering how rare they are here, I fully understand why most people would have no idea what a dhole is. Apparently it seems they're much more common in European zoos though, so maybe that's what got them in the game since Frontier is a UK-based company. I've only seen the ones at the Miami zoo and actually it was only 1 out and he/she was sleeping the whole time I was there even though I stayed at the exhibit for probably close to an hour and even returned later before I had to leave the zoo to catch my flight, and he/she was still sleeping and still the only one out.

-I've only ever seen an Asiatic Black Bear at a single zoo here and it was actually a privately owned zoo oddly enough. (Capital of Texas Zoo near Austin Texas)

I don't think I've ever seen a Sloth Bear at any zoo I've been to, not sure what zoos in the US have them if they are here at all.

As for Binturong, only one zoo I went to was supposed to have one but it either wasn't on exhibit or was hiding really well, but I think they are in maybe a couple of other zoos I've never been to, but still not very common.

I've only seen Striped Hyenas at one zoo I've been to. Hyenas in general aren't in very many zoos I've personally been too or heard of, but when a zoo does have hyenas, it's almost always Spotted Hyenas. I love Spotted Hyenas but I was excited when I got to see the elusive and rare in the US Striped Hyenas at the Fort Worth Zoo.
 
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Hmm... maybe...
  • Asian Water Monitor
  • Babirusa
  • Blue Penguin
  • Caracal
  • Cassowary
  • Crested Porcupine
  • Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
  • Giant Anteater
  • Mute Swan
  • Platypus
  • Saiga
  • Sloth Bear
  • Takin
  • Tasmanian Devil
  • Wolverine
I'm gonna say Nile Lechwe too... because even though I didn't really know anything about them before their inclusion, they sure are pretty little things, and I gotta say I do love them.

Also, Sloth Bears are found in the Columbus Zoo in Ohio...
 
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Despite how ubiquitous they are in US zoos I was pleasantly surprised about the prairie dog. Wasn't particularly high on the meta-wishlist.

And while it wouldn't have been my first waterfowl pick, the mute swan was also very surprising since Eurasia seemed like it was going to be another all carnivores/ungulates pack.
 
Most of these are not really obscure, but I wished for these animals that I though we would never get
Little Penguin
Kiwi
Collared Peccary
Platypus
Striped Hyena
Somali Wild Donkey

Mute Swan was a rather nice suprise too. I was also never expecting to get 3 fox species, very glad for those. And the Lar Gibbon (though we would not get them after we got the Siamang).
 
The little penguin stands out in this regard for me. After we got the emu in the Grasslands Animal Pack, the little penguin became my most wanted bird species because, whilst we had two penguins in the game already, the little penguin is the penguin in zoos here, and absolutely essential for building a realistic Australian zoo. However, I always thought the chance of them ever making it into the game was absolutely minute - the rockhopper seemed like the obvious pick if we ever got a third penguin, and the rareness of the little penguin in zoos outside Oceania certainly didn’t do it any favours in regards to being on Frontier’s radar.

I remember how I was both extremely excited and extremely anxious after “Cerulean Pebble” was given as a hint for a new animal in the Oceania Pack special livestream, because while “cerulean” seemed like a very obvious nod towards the little penguin, some other people were speculating that the “pebble” part of the name could have been hinting towards the rockhopper instead. It really felt like the little penguin’s one and only chance to be added to Planet Zoo, so even though it seemed like the far more likely option of the two based on the hint (and the fact that every other teased animal appeared to be Oceanian), I was still very worried the people predicting rockhopper could be right. I can’t describe how elated I was watching the Oceania Pack announcement trailer for the first time and seeing the little penguins swim by!
 
For me it’s probably:
  1. Red crowned crane
  2. Mute swan
  3. Little blue penguin
At least for talking about the birds right now, these are the guys I was very pleasantly surprised with.
 
This is a nice topic i was thinking about the other say. Despite my region still lacking badly un keystone species for adequate local representations there have been a lot of animals that i was pleasently surprised to see were added to the roster and i never expected them to make it into a zoo game. Some of them are:

  • giant otter
  • maned wolf
  • nine banded armadillo
  • mute swan
  • red river hog
  • Axolotl
  • Fire salamander
  • Danube crested newt
  • sloth bear
  • red crowned crane
  • collared peccary
  • crested porcupine
  • platypus
  • Southern cassowary
  • takin
  • black tailed prairie dog
  • fallow deer
  • butterflies
  • flying fox and egyptian fruit bat
  • binturong
  • chinese pangolin
  • sun bear
  • african penguin
  • giant anteater
 
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My main interests are European/Eurasian and Australasian fauna and I would never have guessed that by this stage in the game we’d be able to build fairly realistic zoos in those areas, especially Europe.

There are still gaps - I would love musk ox, otter and brown bear for example but overall Europe has done surprisingly well.
 
I was pleasantly surprised about:

Dhole
Arctic Fox
Prairie Dog
Proboscis Monkey
Mute Swan
Red Crowned Crane
Water Buffalo
Nile Lechwe
Quokka
Lar Gibbon
Addax
Dama Gazelle
 
Gonna have to give another shout out to the lil’ blue, definitely an underrated highlight of last year for me and absolutely essential for Australasian zoos. Same for the kiwi - easily my most wanted animal from a personal standpoint, and by far one of the most essential species in representing the region; but I never thought non-Australia Oceania would get so much as an acknowledgment tbh - especially since almost all of its species are non-mammals, which automatically makes them less likely to get in unfortunately.

The whole Oceania pack was just a pleasant surprise in general for me, as it was previously among one of the most ignored regions in zoo games (still feel like we have just the bare minimum in some ways, but I wasn’t expecting to even get that, so I’m pretty happy lol).

Also gonna have to give a shout out to the red canid duo of the dhole and the maned wolf. Both are among some of my favorite animals irl but I never thought we’d get either. Hell, tbh I didn’t think we’d get any large canids beyond the wolf and maybe the African wild dog when the game was first announced, so I was pretty happy to see just how requested the maned wolf was in the community.

Oh, and of course, the mute swan. I wasn’t expecting much at all from Eurasia as the livestream showcased nothing but carnivorans and ungulates, leading me to fear it was just going to be Arid 2.0. In the end… yeah it kinda was lmao - one slot for something that wasn’t a carnivoran or ungulate, but at least the choice for that slot was a great one that single-handedly (wingedly?) saved the pack from being a complete dud to me.
 
These are my top three and maybe even the only three I was pleasantly surprised with when they were added. Honestly, Frontier mainly surprises me with species that I don't want. 😂

Little Penguin
Sloth Bear
Somali Wild Ass
 
More so about what's common in zoo games versus what's more obscure in real life, though some of these fit that as well.

Aardvark (and in the base game as well!)
Striped Hyena (actually ends up being my favorite hyena of the two as well)
Little (Blue) Penguin - getting two penguins was fantastic, getting a third that was the species I would have hoped for was great.
Saiga Antelope
Amur Leopard (seems it tends to be the African one for most games, or just generic "leopard")
Axolotl
Binturong
Brown Throated Sloth - given zoo holdings was expecting it to be a 2 toed sloth if we got one, this one was actually my preferred no less.
Chinese Pangolin (and a base game addition no less)
Collared Peccary and Wild Boar- after getting the Red River Hog I didn't think we'd get any more pig type animals, but definitely thrilled we got both.
Dhole - Obscure addition but great for a canid for Asia.
Japanese Macaque - great addition for the base game and very visually distinct from other monkeys.
NIB Kiwi - not an animal that makes it into zoo games for sure, but iconic and thrilled it was included.
Wisent - with the Bison already in the game, wasn't sure this animal would make it in since it was so visually similar. Very glad it did, great addition for European zoos.
 
Animals I wanted but didn't expect:
  • Dall Sheep (I wanted any mountain sheep)
  • Cassowary
  • Dhole
  • Striped Hyena (one of my most wanted!)
  • Sloth Bear
Animals I was surprised/excited about after they were revealed
  • Chinese Pangolin
  • Nile Lechwe
 
Somali Wild Ass. I was sure we'd get another zebra species if we ever got another African equid, but I was so stoked when I saw Frontier made the correct choice.

It's a little sad that it came in the "oops all African ungulates" pack so the haters hate on everything in that pack as a whole.
 
Well, the ones that instantly come to mind:

Striped Skunk - This was the best addition yet for me. They have been one of my favourite animals since I can remember, such adorable and misunderstood little creatures. I really didn’t think they had a chance at addition after the NA Animal Pack passed us by, but we got them!!! And in a Halloween themed pack of all themes, my favourite time of year. I really could not believe my ears when they were confirmed in the livestream, and the next day when they were announced, I couldn’t have been happier!
Wisent - another one that had seemed unlikely. Every time I bought up the Wisent, I was met with criticism and outrage. Nearing the end of last year, I was sure support was coming to an end too, and had no expectation of them making it in game. I had already settled on the Muskox as a sort of compromise. But there they were, and the HEADLINER of a pack no less. I was over the moon to see them.
Highland Cattle (and other domestics) - I really didn’t think we’d get them. After the Wisent, I only really had the request for domestics, but never thought we’d see them. But of course, we did with the Barnyard pack, and it brought with it one of my favourite animals, the Highland Cattle! I really expected them to go with a Jersey or Holstein Friesan once I saw the true extent of the ‘barnyard’ theming, but Frontier once again proved me wrong in the best way.

These were my top three surprise additions, as they had been number one on my wishlist at the time of their introduction to the game.
 
What animals that you really like or love made it into the game that you thought never had a chance because they are so rare/ obscure in zoos where you live that most people have never heard of them?

(For reference, a refresher if needed, here's the Zoopedia: https://www.planetzoogame.com/zoopedia?version=pc

For me it was:
- Dhole
-Binturong
-Sun Bear*
-Axolotl*
-Maned Wolf*
-Striped Hyena
-Fossa*
-Sloth Bear
-Asiatic Black Bear (Formosan Black Bear in the game) (Although this bear was in the base game, so wasn't really a surprise as much as the others because I knew it was in the game from the day I bought the game.)

I put a star by Axolotl, Fossa, Maned Wolf, and Sun Bear because....
-Axolotl are common pets here but I feel like people who aren't animal people wouldn't know what you were talking about if you said "Axolotl".
-Fossa because they're a little more well-known from the Madagascar movies and I have seen them in quite a few zoos here but people usually think from the Madagascar movies that fossa are medium-sized cats and have no idea what they're actually like.
-Maned Wolf because they're very common in zoos here but again most people don't really know what they are and try to howl at them like they're real wolves at the zoo when they see the name "Maned Wolf" on the sign or even worse, they don't even bother to look at the sign and just call them a fox.
-Sun Bears are also fairly common in zoos here and people know it's a bear when they see it at the zoo but if you were to talk about bears to someone here in the US, they're much more likely to know Brown Bears/Grizzlies, North American Black Bears, Polar Bears, and Panda Bears and not have any idea what a Sun Bear is.

Dhole, Binturong, Striped Hyena, Sloth Bear, and Asiatic Black Bear are incredibly rare here in zoos (at least at the ones I've visited).

Dholes unfortunately make sense because they're banned for import due to being considered injurious wildlife that could potentially become invasive and as a result are only in 3 zoos in the entire United States of America (Used to be 4 but the ones at Minnesota zoo all recently died sadly, so now it's just Miami Zoo in Florida, The Wilds in Ohio, and the Bronx zoo in New York that have them). Considering how rare they are here, I fully understand why most people would have no idea what a dhole is. Apparently it seems they're much more common in European zoos though, so maybe that's what got them in the game since Frontier is a UK-based company. I've only seen the ones at the Miami zoo and actually it was only 1 out and he/she was sleeping the whole time I was there even though I stayed at the exhibit for probably close to an hour and even returned later before I had to leave the zoo to catch my flight, and he/she was still sleeping and still the only one out.

-I've only ever seen an Asiatic Black Bear at a single zoo here and it was actually a privately owned zoo oddly enough. (Capital of Texas Zoo near Austin Texas)

I don't think I've ever seen a Sloth Bear at any zoo I've been to, not sure what zoos in the US have them if they are here at all.

As for Binturong, only one zoo I went to was supposed to have one but it either wasn't on exhibit or was hiding really well, but I think they are in maybe a couple of other zoos I've never been to, but still not very common.

I've only seen Striped Hyenas at one zoo I've been to. Hyenas in general aren't in very many zoos I've personally been too or heard of, but when a zoo does have hyenas, it's almost always Spotted Hyenas. I love Spotted Hyenas but I was excited when I got to see the elusive and rare in the US Striped Hyenas at the Fort Worth Zoo.
Miami’s dholes recently died, Bronx is likely soon. Axolotl’s addition didn’t suppress me at all with Minecraft’s popularity and all.
 
I was surprised and exited for:
• Sloth Bear (More common than you think)
• Dhole
• Blue Penguin
• Somali Wild Ass
• Lar Gibbon
• Takin
 
There are 3 different groups for this imo:

There are animals that i thought were neat but that they didnt have a real chance. Somewhat sadly i didnt have many wild card wishes fullfilled for me, but the biggest one was likly the dhamas gazelle. I just think that they are the prettiest gazelle and being critically endangerd also fits the bill for the game (even if the "conservation focus" feels like just another catchphrase for marketing instead of something actually translated into gameplay), but it was allways overshadowed by other north african desert antelopes, first the scymitar horned oryx and then the addax, so i can confidently say that im among the 3 people that were actually really happy with it when the arid line up was revealed, even if the rest of it was kind of a headache. Its easily among the top 3 of the pack for me and the only ones i realisticly would keep if id be the one revamping the pack, but hey its here and that makes me very happy :)

The next group are animals not on my radar but that im just very happy made it in regardless. The main examples here would be the dhole, spec caiman and the nile lechwe for me.
The dhole is in my very humble opinion among the most versatile animals in the game and even if its a shame that we didnt get the fluffy variant (which also would have been leagues more generally popular) im still glad we got them as a filler pick for pretty much all of southern and eastern asia. Spec caiman and nile lechwe have pretty much the same reasoning. They both dont seem that different but then they also are very visually distinct from the rest of their groups with unique color and patterns, fullfill a valueable new niche (perfectly sized croc, semiaquatic antelope) and are both great quality models. Its easy to overlook how valueable these additions were, just look at all the people that count these 3 among the downsides of their respective packs, but all 3 of them have a very valueable niche in the game that only becomes apparent when you actually give them a shot and go in there open minded.

The last group are animals i activly did not want but that swayed me otherwise, with none other then the wisent as my number 1 example.
I did not want the wisent, i thought that it was frankly unnessecary on the same level as the EBB and that people should just use the bison as a stand in but then it was revealed and oh my that model is just gorgeous. It perfectly highlighted everything that makes the wisent unqiue with a beautiful quailty that makes it easily my favorite model in the game and fixes the wisents biggest issue in my eyes, the fact that i thought it wasnt visually distinct enough to be included. Imo you should be able to distinguish every animal in game from each other at a glance and this model did that beautfiully, bringing the wisent from an animal i activly did not want to one of if not my favorite animal in the game
 
Definitely those guys, I just love them:

1728035127419.jpeg


But I also love all the obscure animals everyone seems to hate like Dama gazelle, Saiga, Proboscis monkey or Nile lechwe.
 
When I look back to the early stages of the game, there a few animals that I didn't think we will ever get but I hoped for to build realistic zoos.
I want to divide these animals in different groups:

Not unexpected per se but a surprise because of the size and/or animations etc:
  • meerkat and prairie dog: It was such a game changer with actual digging animations! Also, I was sceptical getting such small animals. I'm glad Frontier prove us small animals could be implemented in a realistic way.
  • Gibbon and siamang: with the kind of buggy climbing animations those two primates were a nice surprise. They are essential for a zoo game but I didn't think we'd get them. And then even with realistic brachiating animations, only wish they would show this more often. Never expected Frontier could implement such complicated animations.
  • porcupine: because of the complicated model and the animations

"Oddballs": I always wanted those in a zoo game but didn't really think they would make it in as they are not the most well known species
The first animals that come to my mind just now are (probably forgetting some):
  • fossa
  • red river hog
  • Somali wild ass
  • Tasmanian devil
  • sloth bear
  • takin
  • wombat

Nice surprises anyways:
  • mute swan: ZT2 didn't have any waterfowl, with a few years into PZ I didn't expect them to happen in this game either.
  • barnyard animals: petting zoo animals with actual petting animations implemented in such a late phase of the game was really nice, too
  • Egyptian fruit bat: flying bats in a zoo game were and are still so exciting!

(edited because I forgot the bats)
 
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