Desert biome: what we have, what we need

[yoav_r]

The game has a lack of true desert animals, and it is the only biome in the game which is still lacking compared to its general biodiversity and representation in zoos.
I thought I'd make apost summarizing the situation and options for continuation.

It is worth noting, there are a few desert-adjacent animals in the game, which can live in deserts but mostly live in grasslands or scrublands, and yet true desert animals are lacking.
To clarify, true desert animals would be animals which live mainly and nearly exclusively in deserts.


In total we have:

• five (5) true desert habitat animals
• six (6) true desert exhibit animals

So here's a summary of the desert situation in game:

Eco-Region	Deserts	True desert animals in the game	Other desert inhabitants in the game	Regional candidates for the game	Completion Rate*	Picture
South africa	Namib Kalahari	Gemsbok Meerkat	Habitat African Elephant African wild dog Cheetah Spotted Hyena* Springbok Exhibit: Puff Adder	----	100%
North africa	Sahara	Habitat: Fennec fox Scimitar horned oryx Exhibit: Sacred scarab beetle	Cheetah Common ostrich	Habitat: Addax African spurred tortoise Dromedary Rock hyrax Sand cat Striped hyena Exhibit: Agama(any) Horned viper small tortoise (any)	25%
Middle East	Arabian Syrian	Exhibit: Sacred scarab beetle	---	Habitat: Arabian sand gazelle Arabian Oryx Caracal Dromedary Hamadrayas Baboon Honey Badger Leopard (arabian/persian) Onager Rock hyrax Sand cat Striped Hyena Exhibit: Agama(any) Horned viper small tortoise (any)	6.66%
Central asia	Gobi Karakum	Habitat: Bactrian camel Przewalski's horse	----	Habitat: Onager Pallas's cat Saiga	40%
Australia	Australian	Habitat: Red Kangaroo Exhibit: Common death adder Eastern brown snake Eastern blue tongued lizard	Habitat: Dingo	Habitat: Emu Perentie Short-beaked echidna Wallaby (desert dwelling) Exhibit: Frill-necked lizard Thorny devil	38.4%
South america	Patagonia	----	----	Habitat: Big hairy armadillo Greater rhea Guanaco Patagonian mara Exhibit: Argentinian tegu	0%
North America	Great Basin Mojave Sonoran	Habitat: Black-tailed Prairie dog Exhibit: Gila monster Western diamondback rattlesnake	American Bison Cougar Jaguar Pronghorn	Collared Peccary (adjacent) Mexican wolf (adjacent)	100%

* The completion rate is how well the region is represented. Check notes for formula.

In my opinion a region needs a completion rate >50% for the region to be properly represented in the game

Spoiler: Several notes

1. Only arid and semi-arid desert are taken into acount, as cold deserts ingame are represented by tundra and taiga, and coastal regions are not represented
2. The deserts are categorized by eco-regions
3. Completion rate = 100 * (num_of_ingame_true_desert_animals / num_of_region_common_zoo_species)
4. The regional candidates column is supposed to have all species categories which represent the region in zoos
   1. Species categories - we don't every species of some groups (like gazelles or spiny lizards), so I chose a representative of each group
5. The north american deserts didn't seem to have any true desert animal which could qualify as habitat animals

So in summary,
Regions with good representation:

• North american deserts*
• South african deserts

Regions with mediocre representaion:

• Australian deserts

Regions lacking in representaion:

• Central asia
• North africa
• Middle east
• South america

*by lack of biodiversity

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

I like the list but i have one gripe and that the tegu. If that isnt a good candidate for a habitat reptile i dont know what reptile would be

 

[yoav_r]

I like the list but i have one gripe and that the tegu. If that isnt a good candidate for a habitat reptile i dont know what reptile would be

I went by the logic of it being smaller than the green iguana. In my local zoo it has an open habitat, but I've already seen them in exhibits

 

[Aramar]

I think a desert DLC is still likely to happen at some point. There are many options to make an interesting animal pack with animals that are very different from each other.

 

[avietar]

I'd love a desert DLC.

 

[NZFanatic]

I went by the logic of it being smaller than the green iguana. In my local zoo it has an open habitat, but I've already seen them in exhibits

It's kind of the same with the iguana itself anyway - a hundred examples of them in open-air habitats, a thousand of them in exhibits.

 

[DarthQuell]

I agree about the lack of desert biodiversity in NA, but just the same I will add the greater roadrunner and coyote to that list. Maybe the swift fox? Not sure. The Mexican beaded lizard is good, but too much like the Gila monster

Now, for the rest, you kinda got all the ones I can think of

(It's kinda hard when you live in a swampy area and temperate forests)

 

[yoav_r]

I agree about the lack of desert biodiversity in NA, but just the same I will add the greater roadrunner and coyote to that list. Maybe the swift fox? Not sure. The Mexican beaded lizard is good, but too much like the Gila monster

Now, for the rest, you kinda got all the ones I can think of

(It's kinda hard when you live in a swampy area and temperate forests)

According to the internet, despite being popular animals thanks to the animated characters, they are both ridiculously umcommon in zoos.

They require relatively high maintenance and open space, and have very little appeal to the general public.

Edit: I'm not from america and my info may be incorrect. If I'm wrong I'd be glad to add the roadrunner. The Coyote is too close to the mexican wolf

 

[DarthQuell]

According to the internet, despite being popular animals thanks to the animated characters, they are both ridiculously umcommon in zoos.

They require relatively high maintenance and open space, and have very little appeal to the general public.

Edit: I'm not from america and my info may be incorrect. If I'm wrong I'd be glad to add the roadrunner. The Coyote is too close to the mexican wolf

No, it's fine, I understand, actually.

I don't live near the desert, I'm from Houston, so I live in a swampy area (that's why we get a lot of flooding). I frequently go to northeast Texas, which is part of the Piney Woods, a huge forest of pine trees and frequent Bigfoot sightings (yes, really). That's where I see coyote and roadrunners.

But now that I'm thinking about it, a better choice would be the jackrabbit. Their huge ears are for keeping them cool in the heat, so those may work instead


EDIT: I decided to verify the roadrunner, and it mentioned arid lowland, mountainous shrubland and woodland. So, it's not a true desert ani mal, unless you're counting arid scrubland

 

[Chuditch]

Really cool list, and I'm definitely hoping we get greater desert representation given it's among my favourite habitats! However, neither the eastern brown snake or eastern bluetongue are classifiable as true desert animals as the core of the range is in other habitat, and the occurrence of the common death adder in deserts is extremely marginal. The frilled lizard also only barely stretches into deserts, they're mostly humid savanna animals. For some additional suggestions for Australia, there's obviously the emu, the southern hairy-nosed wombat, and exhibit animals could include the central bearded dragon and inland taipan. The yellow-footed rock-wallaby would probably be the best option for a desert wallaby (there aren't many other wallaby species in arid environments large enough or common enough to be included).

 

[jcp011c]

I'd love to see a desert DLC, but around the world type of thing. Coyote (maybe roadrunner as well) for North America, Emu for Oceania, Dromedary and King Cobra (exhibit) for Asia and Crested or Cape Porcupine for Africa.

 

[yoav_r]

I'd love to see a desert DLC, but around the world type of thing. Coyote (maybe roadrunner as well) for North America, Emu for Oceania, Dromedary and King Cobra (exhibit) for Asia and Crested or Cape Porcupine for Africa.

Not to bum you out, but emus, cape porcupines and king cobras don't live in deserts at all, and coyotes are not unique to deserts (although they do live there).

The dromedary fits though

 

[Chuditch]

Not to bum you out, but emus, cape porcupines and king cobras don't live in deserts at all

Not sure about the others, but emus definitely live in deserts. To overlay their distribution map with a map of Australian climates:

They’re absent from the harshest regions given they’re more water dependent than kangaroos, but they still inhabit many of the arid regions of Australia.

EDIT: Upon some quick research, king cobras don't live in deserts, but the cape porcupine does inhabit arid areas as long as they aren't too dry. This includes the coastal areas of the Namib Desert.

 

[yoav_r]

But now that I'm thinking about it, a better choice would be the jackrabbit. Their huge ears are for keeping them cool in the heat, so those may work instead

Yes! Plus it will give us a lagomorph, of which we have none. I'd love to have a lagomorph in the game, and this one may be the best suited for a zoo game. The rest are either domesticated or not zoo animals.

 

[yoav_r]

Not sure about the others, but emus definitely live in deserts. To overlay their distribution map with a map of Australian climates:

They’re absent from the harshest regions given they’re more water dependent than kangaroos, but they still inhabit many of the arid regions of Australia.

EDIT: Upon some quick research, king cobras don't live in deserts, but the cape porcupine does inhabit arid areas as long as they aren't too dry. This includes the coastal areas of the Namib Desert.

According to wikipedia, while they may occure in deserts, they are extremely rare there and are much more common in scrublands and grasslands. That's why I didn't put them in the list, but I do think they are prime candidates for a scrubland pack.

Regarding the cape porcupine, I did exclude coastal desert, but if we inclue them I agree it fits.

 

[Chuditch]

According to wikipedia, while they may occure in deserts, they are extremely rare there and are much more common in scrublands and grasslands. That's why I didn't put them in the list, but I do think they are prime candidates for a scrubland pack.

Wikipedia doesn't say they're extremely rare, but it does mention how they are much less common in deserts than in other habitats. Which is definitely true, in deserts they tend to be erratically distributed and highly dependent on local rainfall conditions. However, they are a lot more common in semi-arid areas than in truly arid regions (as I know from experience), so if we're including semi-arid as desert (and I thought we were given the notes) they have more of a foothold there. It's the same thing with the wombat and rock-wallaby I mentioned earlier, their primary habitat is semi-arid environments with only more marginal distribution into true desert.

I definitely agree they'd fit better in a scrubland pack than a desert pack though, the latter is just more likely.

 

[jcp011c]

Not to bum you out, but emus, cape porcupines and king cobras don't live in deserts at all, and coyotes are not unique to deserts (although they do live there).

The dromedary fits though

Oh thank you. For some reason I though both porcupines and the cobra did live in deserts. My bad info and apologies.

 

[yoav_r]

While we are waiting for announsments, do you think a NA pack could include a peccary ro other NA desert animal?

 

[Aramar]

If it's a North America animal pack, I could see a peccary. If it's just a normal pack, I don't think thye would go for a desert animal.

Please, no coyote unless we get 10 animals or more

 

[biggest_dreamer]

The peccary has slowly crept up my list of most wanted NA animals specifically because of its desert-dwelling status. I think I'd even include it in my ideal 4+1 setup at this point, alongside the cougar, sea lion, and alligator.