DLC20 Discussion (maybe, but why not?)

Yeah so I'm telling you right now from the last pack this will probably be the roster:

Honey Badger
Borneo/Sumatran Elephant
Asiatic Lion
Blackbuck
Gaur
Lion Tailed Macaque
Indian Wolf
 
At first, I wasn't really into the idea of the Asiatic lion but the more I think about it... It would be a really nice addition simply because of how poorly the base game African lion has aged.

Same vibes with the elephant, too. I don't think we need it but it will be a fun addition in the same way that the new flamingo was. And I really do think we've got one on the way. With the exception of the first one we haven't had an animal pack that didn't showcase three different species so it would be a strange deviation... Not impossible but would be an odd deviation, IMHO.

As far as canids go this time around... I really don't see them going with the Indian wolf, TBH. That falls far too obviously into the "clone" category and there's nobody asking for it. I think we have a better shot at that slot going to a second small mammal (civet, mongoose, or loris are three strong options) or a bird of some sort.

But if we do get a canid? My money is on the jackal. It could leverage a lot of the existing canid resources while avoiding "clone cries."
 
Now that I've had time to think on it, I've realized that if this is truly an India pack, it has the potential to knock numbers 2 and 3 off my personal wishlist - the Demoiselle crane and pygmy hog, respectively. Neither would require too much effort, too. One's just the pig rig and the Demoiselle could be based on the existing crane... still not gonna get my hopes up for both at the same time, though.

As far as other predictions go, I think that blackbuck kind of has to be included, right? It might be the most wanted ungulate at this point, so that's a lock in my opinion. I could easily see the Asiatic lion, gaur, a mongoose, perhaps another monkey... and (sadly) a jackal. Overall... yeah, LOTS of potential here. Let's hope for the best.
 
Exactly! Which is another reason why this elephant situation is so weird. The only way elephants could be included in a strictly Indian pack is if they were Asian elephants at the species level. Which is just freaking weird if you ask me. It can literally no longer be an India Pack if there is a new subspecies of Asian elephant. And like you said, South Asia is not super marketable and very close to Southeast Asia. And a general Asia Pack seems unlikely and would definitely be a choice by Frontier. Like, I admit I really don't want another elephant, but you really have to jump through hoops to make their inclusion in this pack make any sort of flipping sense.
An asia pack actually seems pretty realistic to me as they could basically just add whatever they wanted from one of the most zoo animal rich continents.
 
Why are some people so opposed to fully aquatic animals like fish, sharks, and stingrays anyways?

Did any of the Planet Zoo devs say anything about fully aquatic animals? Never found any info about that so I can't confirm or deny it.
no one is opposed to it its just that 6 years into development they are not going to rework the entire water and habitat systems to support fully aquatic animals when we will only get a handful which will be enough to be useless since bar a few exceptions aquatic animals are kept in large numbers within designated aquarium sections.
At this stage the game fundamentally isnt built for aquariums in any capacity the water is not flexible enough to easily build tanks there is no mechanism for getting animals into the water without land or having habitat gates over water, and there currently is no separate lighting for indoor sections making them unappealing on a large scale. There is also the fact that we only get maximum 8 animals at a time and proper aquariums would require significantly more than a single pack to support themselves in isolation from a zoo and that there is a lot of competions within the aquarium game field.

The developers never deny anything frontier is notoriously vague about every detail so they are never going to out right deny aquariums but it is a confident assumption that they are never coming.
Still, I hope the Honey Badger is just a decoy to draw attention away from a potential aquarium DLC to surprise us with.
Please stop your only going to disappoint yourself and potentially confuse others. the honey badger is not a decoy it is a legitimate animal from a legitimate pack that is releasing and has nothing to do with aquariums. They are never going to make a distraction teaser or pack for another dlc since that just makes no sense it will detract from sales confuse and upset the consumers and overall make the company seem dishonest.
 
Honestly, for those who whant an Aquarium in Planet Zoo. There won't be one, at least, not yet, considering the vast (and entirely) aquatic fauna it encompasses. The most advisable option would be in a hypothetical Planet Zoo 2 or Planet Aquarium
 
The problem here is that you appear to stop looking for differences after colour. That's basically stopping before you start. Would be be fair if I said leopards and jaguars are identical because they come is basically the same colour?
The rhinos I presented have very significant differences in their backs, shoulders, and especially their heads. The shape of the mouth, the number of horns, and the size of the ears are very clear giveaways for Differentiation species.
On another point, you did say Sumatran rhinos are brown. Did you also notice they're fuzzy?
Leopards have a different head shape, they're less bulky, have different spots compared to jaguars. They're different species that look very different and live in different continents and habitats.
Rhinos are all the same animal. Some are in Africa and some in Asia but once you've built for one you've built for them all.
 
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They're all different species. Not only that, none of them are even the same genus.
Ok I legitimately didn't know this.
Another rhino would still be really boring, especially one that isn't even in captivity.
Another rhino would literally add nothing in terms of habitat building, since we already have three with very similar or nearly identical habitat requirements. It would be a purely cosmetic addition that wouldn't come with anything new... Just like its predecessor, the black rhino.
 
We are getting a second asian elephant. That is worse.
The elephants we have look terrible compared to the animals from the latest DLCs... At the very least, a new elephant would come with a good model.

Rhinos, however, we already have three, two of which look really good
 
I’ve already posted by wishlist. But I think it’s worth remembering there’s quite a few Indian subspecies that haven’t been mentioned too much here that are very possible (I hope we don’t get them though).

Examples:
  • Indian Wild Boar
  • Indian Wolf
  • Indian/Sri Lankan Leopard


As I said I’m hoping for: Ratel, LT Macaque, Blackbuck, Nilgai, Gaur, Fishing Cat and either the Himalayan Monal or Demoiselle Crane.

One animal I wouldn’t rule out as an oddball choice for Frontier is the critically endangered Pygmy hog. Seems right up their street (conservation status, little known, easy to clone but size makes it seem fairly unique).
 
I think one thing that is nice is Frontier is finally bolstering the roster with primates. This will be the third pack in a row and the fourth (and maybe fifth if we got a langur too?) primate species in the last three packs.

And they’ve in general been solid, common choices too.
  • Hamadryas Baboon
  • White-Faced Saki
  • Lion-Tailed Macaque

Coquerel’s Sifaka was a slight odd choice and less appealing given their inability to give it correct animations but not going to say no to any primates we get.

Now roll on a prospective Africa pack with a Mantled Guereza and Aye-Aye (and Gelada?).
 
Asiatic Lion = Panthera leo leo
West African Lion = Panthera leo leo

Wouldn’t even be a subspecies, a subpopulation. I doubt it.
I think Frontier is still going by the old taxonomic classification and not the more current, updated data.
The whole "Asiatic subpopulation" thing got reassessed in 2017, and so were tigers (which were now listed as having two subspecies: P. tigris tigris and P. tigris sondaica); yet, we still got two "obsolete" subspecies of tigers, namely Bengal and Siberian, which to my understanding are now simply considered populations...
Although with tigers it's a little bit messier because some scientists support the idea of six separate monophyletic clades (and therefore six subspecies).
Although not a cat, the dingo is another animal with extremely confusing taxonomy. Yet, that didn't stop Frontier from adding it, and using the outdated subspecies name Canis lupus dingo (while, according to current science, the dingo is merely a breed of domestic dog).
Taxonomy has never been an issue for Frontier. I don't think this is going to stop them from adding the Asiatic Lion under its former scientific name of Panthera leo persica

Edit: several zoos still use the old subspecies name; and it's not just smaller zoos either, as even London Zoo lists their lions as P. leo persica.
Screenshot_2025-05-29-09-27-19-82_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg
 
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what just happened
Possible India/South Asia animal pack on the way. The key art was revealed on stream yesterday.
Two species are confirmed: Honey Badger and Lion-Tailed Macaque.
Asian Elephant is featured prominently in the key art, but we don't know if it's just there as "decoration" or if we're actually getting a new subspecies of Asian Elephant.
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