DLC18 discussion and predictions

[Chuditch]

Ah cool! Where did you find them, isn't their range super small? They're such a beautiful wallaby, and the only macropod I still want in game.

As I mentioned earlier (and Thylaco pointed out) I saw them at Warren Gorge. Their distribution is fairly small and patchy yeah, given they’re restricted to rocky outcrops, cliffs and scree slopes in arid mountainous areas and most of Australia is pretty flat, but they’re thriving through much of the Flinders Ranges now thanks to conservation efforts and really easy to see in the right places!

is someone else's red kangaroo

Certainly seen lots of those today (as well as wallaroos and western grey kangaroos), I almost hit one while driving early this morning haha

Now if we got the gray kangaroo

Yes please I want my temperate roo

 

[Villanelle]

Certainly seen lots of those today (as well as wallaroos and western grey kangaroos), I almost hit one while driving early this morning haha

So cool. My brother in law and partner, and little nieces and nephews (they propagate recklessly) live just outside of Brisbane and I'm always so envious of the wildlife they have on their doorstep. But last time my niece was in England she was so excited about our squirrels

 

[Chuditch]

But last time my niece was in England she was so excited about our squirrels

I’ve never seen a squirrel in real life, whether in captivity or the wild, so I’d be pretty excited to see them!

I live pretty deep in the city so there’s not a ton of wildlife in the vicinity of my home, but we still get stuff like cockatoos, lorikeets, flying foxes, brushtail possums, rakali, bluetongues, water skinks, geckos and turtles (if it wasn’t obvious I live near a river), even the occasional koala.

 

[PlanetSoyJak]

To those doubting the possibility of this DLC being a "Zookeeper's Collection Pack" now that Zookeeper Day has passed, I think we should recognize that that particular name was given to such a hypothetical pack by the community, and this could still be a pack of multiple (mostly) unrelated animals, just with a different name like an "Around the World Animal Pack" or a "Finale Animal Pack" (although I will admit, those don't have the same ring to them as Zookeeper's Collection).
The presence of enrichment items and a zookeeper on the key art is still making me doubt this is simply a Highlands or Mountains Pack.

Me think it being Zoo Collection Pack, not "Zookeeper." I think it's a collection pack for your zoo's with all the "essentials" and wants of the community.

 

[Thylaco]

I’ve never seen a squirrel in real life, whether in captivity or the wild, so I’d be pretty excited to see them!

I live pretty deep in the city so there’s not a ton of wildlife in the vicinity of my home, but we still get stuff like cockatoos, lorikeets, flying foxes, brushtail possums, rakali, bluetongues, water skinks, geckos and turtles (if it wasn’t obvious I live near a river), even the occasional koala.

Once upon a time there was apparently Indian Palm Squirrels in Perth (purposefully maintained as a free roaming species in Perth Zoo for a while), but they're reportedly eradicated from Australia now.

Looking on Zootierliste, there doesn't seem to currently be any Sciuridae in Oceanian zoos.

I go up to Belair National Park occasionally, and I used to do weeding there regularly. We typically didn't see animals when weeding, though I did surprise a large kangaroo once. I also found a koala skull at one point (they are a lot narrower than you'd think they'd be).

 

[Chuditch]

Once upon a time there was apparently Indian Palm Squirrels in Perth (purposefully maintained as a free roaming species in Perth Zoo for a while), but they're reportedly eradicated from Australia now.

They were actually northern/five-striped palm squirrels, but yeah.

Eastern grey squirrels also once had feral populations in several places, including Melbourne, Ballarat and Adelaide, but they struggled to survive without human assistance (they didn't like native trees for one, being restricted to urban areas with plants from the Northern Hemisphere) and this combined with dedicated eradication efforts saw them extinct in Australia by 1973.

 

[Marvinb]

They were actually northern/five-striped palm squirrels, but yeah.

Eastern grey squirrels also once had feral populations in several places, including Melbourne, Ballarat and Adelaide, but they struggled to survive without human assistance (they didn't like native trees for one, being restricted to urban areas with plants from the Northern Hemisphere) and this combined with dedicated eradication efforts saw them extinct in Australia by 1973.

Now if only you guys were so lucky with rats, foxes and feral cats aswell

 

[Fallax]

I live around the border of England and Wales, so we don't have much super exciting stuff bar birds. I do live near a wetland so we get some interesting species like marsh harriers and cormorants but mostly it's just smaller passerines and invasive squirrels.

My best wildlife experience in Britain is seeing a Risso's dolphin calf. This summer I also was on the east coast and saw an absolutely huge colony of grey seals. Basically if you ever want to go wildlife watching in Britain, the coast is where all the action is, we have the largest grey seal population in the world and a large amount of sea birds.

 

[Chuditch]

Now if only you guys were so lucky with rats, foxes and feral cats aswell

We nearly were with foxes, there were a bunch of attempts from the 1840s onwards to introduce foxes to Australia for hunting but they continuously failed, possibly because they were being killed by dingoes. It was not until 1874 that a population finally took hold and from there it only took a few years for them to spiral out of control.

 

[Leaf Productions]

We will not get news today.

 

[nutrit]

We will not get news today.

It’s great we can always count on you @Leaf Productions

 

[Stygi]

I live in east anglia so it’s a bit of a wildlife dead zone, doesn’t help that the area is crawling with cats, the only animals I see consistently are pigeons and invasive grey squirrels, we occasionally get some more interesting birds and some foxes

 

[Marvinb]

I live in east anglia so it’s a bit of a wildlife dead zone, doesn’t help that the area is crawling with cats, the only animals I see consistently are pigeons and invasive grey squirrels, we occasionally get some more interesting birds and some foxes

Yeah same, the pain of living in densely populated urban areas
For me its pretty much only birds and bats, like i dont think i ever saw even a squirrel around my house lol

 

[Angeł]

Yeah same, the pain of living in densely populated urban areas

Yup! I’m in Greater London (half an hour from Central), and the wildlife here is… depleted to say the least.
We have a tonne of red foxes, sometimes some hedgehogs, badgers and bats. The occasional invasive muntjac deer.

Some relatives of mine live in Canterbury near Blean Wood, and they have a much more exciting lot! Not only do they have the usual British woodland suspects, but they have just seen a rewilding project introduce Iron Age Pigs, Exmoor Ponies, Longhorn Cattle AND (most excitingly) the Wisent to their woodland.

But, like @Fallax said, if you want to see the most exciting aspects British wildlife, look to the waters. Grey Seals, Basking Sharks, Dolphins, Grey Whales, Orcas, and the occasional Walrus populate our waters!

I once went paddleboarding in North Wales (where my partner at the time was from), and ended up surrounded by a huge colony of curious grey seals! The most exciting wildlife encounter I’ve had in the UK by a long shot!!!

 

[nutrit]

Yeah same, the pain of living in densely populated urban areas
For me its pretty much only birds and bats, like i dont think i ever saw even a squirrel around my house lol

I live in one of the major cities in Poland and I see wild boars, martens and pheasants nearly everyday.
Occasional herds of deer, roe’s and foxes are also nothing special.

 

[Marvinb]

Yup! I’m in Greater London (half an hour from Central), and the wildlife here is… depleted to say the least.
We have a tonne of red foxes, sometimes some hedgehogs, badgers and bats. The occasional invasive muntjac deer.

Some relatives of mine live in Canterbury near Blean Wood, and they have a much more exciting lot! Not only do they have the usual British woodland suspects, but they have just seen a rewilding project introduce Iron Age Pigs, Exmoor Ponies, Longhorn Cattle AND (most excitingly) the Wisent to their woodland.

But, like @Fallax said, if you want to see the most exciting aspects British wildlife, look to the waters. Grey Seals, Basking Sharks, Dolphins, Grey Whales, Orcas, and the occasional Walrus populate our waters!

I once went paddleboarding in North Wales (where my partner at the time was from), and ended up surrounded by a huge colony of curious grey seals! The most exciting wildlife encounter I’ve had in the UK by a long shot!!!

I saw a fox just casually trotting down the street at night when i was at vacation in london

Man i really hope those rewilding projects and conservation efforts going on throughout europe right now are gonna be successfull. Because right now the state of wildlife and nature in germany is just kinda depressing, and i assume its not too different in the rest of europe.
Germanys only "wild" herd of bison lives not to far from me, but currently its looking like they may be relocated because they constantly get into conflict with farmers and stuff

 

[NZFanatic]

I get birds. And cats. And not even the good birds - mostly just sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, chaffinches, goldfinches, greenfinches. Oh, and feral pigeons.

On the rare occasion, bellbirds. Or an Australian magpie.

My parents have better wildlife - kereru, kingfishers, bellbirds, fantails, oystercatchers, herons, and a creek full of our native kokopu. Apparently there was a blue penguin at the beach near their house once, and there are dolphins in the bay.

 

[NZFanatic]

rewilding

Iron Age Pigs, Exmoor Ponies, Longhorn Cattle

On the surface that all seems rather counterproductive to the concept of "rewilding" - boars hybridised with domestic pigs, and two domestic breeds. Any particular reason they aren't reintroducing actual wild boars? The ponies kind of make sense - there are theories that they are descendants of the last British wild horses and they certainly look the part. Some of these projects strike me as being similar to the Quagga Project, though - you're not really recreating something old, you're just making something new that resembles the old. Or the mammoth de-extinction project in the case of the boar (the idea being to breed Asian elephants with mammoth features rather than trying to clone true mammoths).

 

[Milurian]

I personally don't believe Planet Zoo is a real game. It was government-induced psychosis all along.

Thats why we dont have birds they are all already on spy missions

Weren't all animals in that game on loops in the way we call "exhibit animals" in PZ?

no the game had 2 kinds of animals the big and mini exhibits the big exhibit animals could move freely around a prebuilt exhibit with a select few options for enrichment and care objects. The animals in the mini exhibits were on a short fixed animated loop even shorter than the WTE. 108 of the 197 animals in the game are in these mini exhibits so they represent over half the games animals but there are still animals with free movement.

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

On the surface that all seems rather counterproductive to the concept of "rewilding" - boars hybridised with domestic pigs, and two domestic breeds. Any particular reason they aren't reintroducing actual wild boars? The ponies kind of make sense - there are theories that they are descendants of the last British wild horses and they certainly look the part. Some of these projects strike me as being similar to the Quagga Project, though - you're not really recreating something old, you're just making something new that resembles the old. Or the mammoth de-extinction project in the case of the boar (the idea being to breed Asian elephants with mammoth features rather than trying to clone true mammoths).

I know that wild boar require a Dangerous Wild Animals License to keep in a fenced enclosure - at least one of these rewilding projects here in the UK is basically using domestic pigs as a way to attract wild boar into the area without having to release them and go through the licensing work.

As for the cattle and horses, I think the logic is just based on what they do rather than what they look like - if they roam, eat and poop like an aurochs or a tarpan, that is as good as can be expected, and certainly saves time and money trying to recreate an animal that does the same thing but just looks 'wilder'.