Looking back at my 25 animals on the meta wishlist, and 12 of them (nearly half) have ranges partly or entirely within Asia. None of my chosen animals have been added yet either, so a lot of my most-wanted species are still from Asia. Five of my top preferences are:
Yellow-throated marten: I have already waxed lyrical about these animals, but I'll do so again. Brightly coloured, active, adaptable and sociable animals that are my absolute most-wanted species in the game.
Bar headed goose: One of my most-wanted birds, which is among the most commonly-kept exotic animals in European zoos. They can live in walkthrough enclosures, mixed-species exhibits or simply be a waterbird that goes onto an ornamental lake. They also have the advantage of being lovely to look at.
Giant Asian pond turtle: One of the largest freshwater turtles, kept in zoos throughout Europe, North America and Asia (I believe that there are also plans for a zoo in New Zealand to get them as well). They can live in large outdoor enclosures, are peaceable vegetarians that can live with both their own species and in mixed enclosures and would be an ideal representative for the critically endangered Asian freshwater turtles.
Owston's civet: A bit of an oddball species, found in a small number of British zoos. They can be kept in both outdoor enclosures and nocturnal houses, and there have been studies that indicate that the very survival of this species depends upon breeding within zoos.
Another Asian deer: My original 20 included the Vietnamese sika deer, which is extinct in the wild. But with the arrival of the fallow deer, this species has been overshadowed by the Bukharan deer, which has a unique habitat (desert-temperate), is absolutely spectacular and would work well in Asian plains mixed enclosures.
As you can see, most of my choices are rather small species - in fact, that is true of most of my meta wishlist. It doesn't really matter which continent they are from, so long as the animals are small and versatile, with some more unusual species also being my preference.
Yellow-throated marten: I have already waxed lyrical about these animals, but I'll do so again. Brightly coloured, active, adaptable and sociable animals that are my absolute most-wanted species in the game.
Bar headed goose: One of my most-wanted birds, which is among the most commonly-kept exotic animals in European zoos. They can live in walkthrough enclosures, mixed-species exhibits or simply be a waterbird that goes onto an ornamental lake. They also have the advantage of being lovely to look at.
Giant Asian pond turtle: One of the largest freshwater turtles, kept in zoos throughout Europe, North America and Asia (I believe that there are also plans for a zoo in New Zealand to get them as well). They can live in large outdoor enclosures, are peaceable vegetarians that can live with both their own species and in mixed enclosures and would be an ideal representative for the critically endangered Asian freshwater turtles.
Owston's civet: A bit of an oddball species, found in a small number of British zoos. They can be kept in both outdoor enclosures and nocturnal houses, and there have been studies that indicate that the very survival of this species depends upon breeding within zoos.
Another Asian deer: My original 20 included the Vietnamese sika deer, which is extinct in the wild. But with the arrival of the fallow deer, this species has been overshadowed by the Bukharan deer, which has a unique habitat (desert-temperate), is absolutely spectacular and would work well in Asian plains mixed enclosures.
As you can see, most of my choices are rather small species - in fact, that is true of most of my meta wishlist. It doesn't really matter which continent they are from, so long as the animals are small and versatile, with some more unusual species also being my preference.
