This would also be a dream pack of mine, and I would like to apologize as I was going to add my idea for an education pack later down the line. Concept is somewhat similar to this one admittedly.View attachment 405170
Wow what a perfect idea to do N-th version ofNatural History Pack
The general rule of thumb I used before was animals with unique taxonomy (last of their kind, living fossils, members of surprising orders...), animals with ties to legendary Zoologists (they either carry their name, or were discovered by them) and maybe animals which discovery was important for growth of zoology. Now even tho I really like the Natural History aesthetic, I know very little about it, so last category falls of the list. If went after animals that have name connections with Zoologists, there would be some easy and also popular picks like Darwin's Rhea, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey or Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo, but not only am I a little sick of hearing about these ones (especially the last two, tho through no fault of their own) they would also be easy way out brainstorming roster. I did have Darwin's Rhea at least in all of previous renditions of this pack, and in realistic vision of this pack, I can still see it as #1 pick, but this time it rests.
I kept the first category, which is weird or rather interesting taxonomy, that could serve educational purposes, and added another "educational" category that would be something along the lines of "Unique evolutionary traits or adaptations"
So for the taxonomy section I picked Pacarana, Rock Hyrax and Short Beaked Echidna. I picked Pacarana because it's only living representative of its family Dinomyidae, but also for its peculiar prehistoric look. Its size lends them well to PZ habitats, and it doesn't hurt that it's from South America. Rock Hyrax has great distribution, and somewhat passionate fandom here on forums. It's also an Afrothere, and along Aardvark and Elephants in game would help show great diversity among this clade, which is good for zoological education (I think). Last but not the least, Short Beaked Echidna. I mean, to me, Monotremes are first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions zoology and natural history. We already have a Platypus that kickstarted a lot of mess in Zoological communities back in the day, but Echidna is impressive all on it's own.
View attachment 405172
Now the next four animals are a bit easier, it's all about adaptations and weird little evolutionary quirks. Here I picked Chinese Water Deer, Northern Sea Otter, West African Slender-Snouted Crocodile and African Spoonbill. Vampire fangs qualify Water Deer for this category. It would also finally give us our first endemic Asian deer. I believe they look unique enough to be accepted even by general audience. Sea Otter evolved into completely marine lifestyle, and developed many behaviors to help it thrive in such environment. From game perspective, it looks and behaves completely unique and different compared to other Otters we have in game, and was also in both Zoo Tycoons. Slender Snouted Crocodile, like Gharial, evolved slim jaws to catch fish, and was my excuse to bring in an African Crocodile, and Nile doesn't have anything interesting going for it. Dwarf Crocodile was an option, but I thought people would appreciate more Gharial "clone" rather than Caimans'. African Spoonbill is here because of the iconic beak that sets it apart from other wading birds. It's largest Spoonbill and can act the same as Crane and Flamingo.
View attachment 405174
And for accompanying scenery of course I want to see skeleton building pieces, fossils, skulls, horns, antlers, tusks, pelts, taxidermy, shells, jaws and whatnot. The more the merrier. Also new or upgraded educational scenery. Many examples found in this beautiful thread. Even if you're not crazy about zoo museums, we do need some "other" stuff to break up our zoos a bit. So far we have food places. Museums can take up large spaces, prompt new ideas and shift your mind from habitat creation for a moment or two. It's also not uncommon sight in real life zoos. It would also be another place to put out exhibit boxes in other than Reptile Houses, which brings me to...
View attachment 405175
Accompanying free update. What better theme to upgrade our exhibits than education. I won't repeat what many before me already said here, you know the drill: Different sizes, different shapes, more flexible customization, modular building, (maybe some species mixing)...etc, etc. It would breathe completely new (and necessary) life in our beloved glass rectangles. But speaking of which, it would be weird to have exhibit update along the pack with no exhibit animal. We could fit both in scenery pack, but I wanted to try out this new format. One other thing that fell on my mind was "all exhibit animal pack". There's so much untapped potential in exhibit roster, especially if we follow the theme of unique adaptations, education and taxonomy. It could contain Chameleons, Coconut Crabs, Frilled Lizards, Sea Kraits, Tuataras and so on and so on. However I'm well aware that such pack would be a nightmare to sell to casual players, so it remains a fantasy. But this is for Dream DLCs after all.
View attachment 405176View attachment 405177
That would be it, for now
Dream Pack Ideas
- Thread starter RightWhale
- Start date
This sort of pack is the absolute dream, in my mind. The one habitat animal I would probably change (although, to be clear, none of the original picks are bad), is one of the four 'adaptations' species to one about ethology - the study of animal behaviour, an integral part of zoological science. My choice, to add a new species of African tailed monkey to the game, would be the golden-bellied mangabey. Although they were first scientifically described in 1900 by Richard Lydekker, we have discovered barely anything about its behaviour since then. The first insights into its behaviour have come since 2020, when the first ever wild research began on a habituated troop in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I think they would make for a beautiful addition to the game and also are very social - they live in troops of at least seventy individuals.View attachment 405170
Wow what a perfect idea to do N-th version of
The general rule of thumb I used before was animals with unique taxonomy (last of their kind, living fossils, members of surprising orders...), animals with ties to legendary Zoologists (they either carry their name, or were discovered by them) and maybe animals which discovery was important for growth of zoology. Now even tho I really like the Natural History aesthetic, I know very little about it, so last category falls of the list. If went after animals that have name connections with Zoologists, there would be some easy and also popular picks like Darwin's Rhea, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey or Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo, but not only am I a little sick of hearing about these ones (especially the last two, tho through no fault of their own) they would also be easy way out brainstorming roster. I did have Darwin's Rhea at least in all of previous renditions of this pack, and in realistic vision of this pack, I can still see it as #1 pick, but this time it rests.
I kept the first category, which is weird or rather interesting taxonomy, that could serve educational purposes, and added another "educational" category that would be something along the lines of "Unique evolutionary traits or adaptations"
So for the taxonomy section I picked Pacarana, Rock Hyrax and Short Beaked Echidna. I picked Pacarana because it's only living representative of its family Dinomyidae, but also for its peculiar prehistoric look. Its size lends them well to PZ habitats, and it doesn't hurt that it's from South America. Rock Hyrax has great distribution, and somewhat passionate fandom here on forums
View attachment 405172
Now the next four animals are a bit easier, it's all about adaptations and weird little evolutionary quirks. Here I picked Chinese Water Deer, Northern Sea Otter, West African Slender-Snouted Crocodile and African Spoonbill. Vampire fangs qualify Water Deer for this category. It would also finally give us our first endemic Asian deer. I believe they look unique enough to be accepted even by general audience. Sea Otter evolved into completely marine lifestyle, and developed many behaviors to help it thrive in such environment. From game perspective, it looks and behaves completely unique and different compared to other Otters we have in game, and was also in both Zoo Tycoons. Slender Snouted Crocodile, like Gharial, evolved slim jaws to catch fish, and was my excuse to bring in an African Crocodile, and Nile doesn't have anything interesting going for it. Dwarf Crocodile was an option, but I thought people would appreciate more Gharial "clone" rather than Caimans'. African Spoonbill is here because of the iconic beak that sets it apart from other wading birds. It's largest Spoonbill and can act the same as Crane and Flamingo.
View attachment 405174
And for accompanying scenery of course I want to see skeleton building pieces, fossils, skulls, horns, antlers, tusks, pelts, taxidermy, shells, jaws and whatnot. The more the merrier. Also new or upgraded educational scenery. Many examples found in this beautiful thread. Even if you're not crazy about zoo museums, we do need some "other" stuff to break up our zoos a bit. So far we have food places. Museums can take up large spaces, prompt new ideas and shift your mind from habitat creation for a moment or two. It's also not uncommon sight in real life zoos. It would also be another place to put out exhibit boxes in other than Reptile Houses, which brings me to...
View attachment 405175
Accompanying free update. What better theme to upgrade our exhibits than education. I won't repeat what many before me already said here, you know the drill: Different sizes, different shapes, more flexible customization, modular building, (maybe some species mixing)...etc, etc. It would breathe completely new (and necessary) life in our beloved glass rectangles. But speaking of which, it would be weird to have exhibit update along the pack with no exhibit animal. We could fit both in scenery pack, but I wanted to try out this new format. One other thing that fell on my mind was "all exhibit animal pack". There's so much untapped potential in exhibit roster, especially if we follow the theme of unique adaptations, education and taxonomy. It could contain Chameleons, Coconut Crabs, Frilled Lizards, Sea Kraits, Tuataras and so on and so on. However I'm well aware that such pack would be a nightmare to sell to casual players, so it remains a fantasy. But this is for Dream DLCs after all.
View attachment 405176View attachment 405177
That would be it, for now
If just one exhibit species were desired, then a really popular option that is also a sign that zoological science continues to march on would be one of the species of king cobra. Just four days ago (the 16th October), a scientific paper was published that confirmed an earlier finding that the king cobra is actually made up of four different species. While the Western Ghats king cobra (from the Indian mountain range that bears its name) and the Luzon king cobra (from the Philippine island of the same name) are not in captivity, zoos house the other two species - the Northern king cobra (from Pakistan across northern and eastern India, Indochina and down to the Malaysian Isthmus of Kra) and Sunda Shelf king cobra (from south of the Isthmus of Kra, plus islands in Indonesia and the southern Philippines). Either would be great, although I'd personally favour the Sunda Shelf king.
This links to the new scientific paper.
Last edited:
Africa Pack 2: Safari Boogaloo
- Serval.
- Waterbuck.
- Diana monkey.
- Great white pelican.
- Leopard tortoise.
- Helmeted guineafowl.
- Barbary sheep.
- African giant millipede (E).
- Bolivian squirrel monkey.
- Geoffroy's spider monkey.
- White-faced saki.
- De Brazza's monkey.
- Spectacled langur.
- Barbary macaque.
- Tufted capuchin.
- Golden lion tamarin (WTE).
- Sumatran tiger.
- Eurasian wolf.
- Eurasian brown bear.
- Rothschild's giraffe.
- Asiatic lion.
- American flamingo.
- Lace monitor.
- Madagascar giant day gecko.
- Madagascar hissing cockroach.
- Japanese fire-bellied newt.
- Leopard gecko.
- Central bearded dragon.
- Frilled lizard.
- Scheltopusik.
- Indian cobra.
- Emerald tree boa.
- Tuatara.
- Shingleback lizard.
- Argentinian horned frog.
- Fiji banded iguana.
- Asian giant mantis.
- Goliath stick insect.
- Grey crowned crane.
- Common mallard.
- Cape Barren goose.
- Japanese green pheasant.
- Darwin's rhea.
- Gentoo penguin.
- Domestic turkey.
I would honestly be a big fan of a pack like this. Always secretly wished we could have got a reskin pack. Especially for the flamingo, monitor, tiger, and bear.
I’m not gonna say Frontier abandoned the exhibits, but I’m also not saying that either. Actually, I would say that. Especially considering a zookeeper pack didn’t have any exhibit animal. So weird.
Man, I openly advocated for more reskins. I'm hoping against hope that in PZ2 they do a drop-down system for these "easy" animals.
In the PZ1 base game it's glaringly obvious they added in extras to pad out the numbers and make it look better in marketing. But why stop at only one additional tiger or brown bear? Given both the Siberian tiger and Himalayan brown bear are practically 1:1 reskins of the Bengal and grizzly, they might as well have thrown in another one of each. They could have given us two wolves from the get-go instead of the weird "it's a generic wolf but wasn't always going to be" one we got. And really, would it have been too much effort to throw in a second flamingo?
Or just don't bother with that and give us those animals at the species level without spilling milk over subspecies
Wrap up dream packs
NA
1. Roosevelt elk
2. ABB
3. Coyote
4. Oceloted Turkey
E. Hellbender
SA
1. Greater rhea
2. Red howler monkey
3. Bush dog
4. Coati
WTE humingbirds
EU
1. Golden jackal
2. Capercaille
3. Barbary’s macaque
4. European hare
E. Legless lizard
AF
1. Honey badger
2. Secretary bird
3. Shoebill
4. Gelada
E. Black mamba
AS
1. Tanuki
2. Tree kangaroo
3. Japanese serro
4. Gray langur
WTE. Koi pond
AU
1. Tree kangaroo
2. Southern fur seal
3. Perentie
4. Quoll
WTE. Lorikeets
Snakes of the world
1. Cottonmouth
2. Cooperhead
3. Sidewinder
4. California mountain snake
5. Black mamba
6. King cobra
Reptiles
1. Jackson chameleon
2. Leopard gecko
3. Frilled lizard
4. New Mexico whiptail
5. Asian water dragon
6. Legless lizard
Amphibians
1. Hellbender
2. Tiger salamander
3. Blue dart frog
4. Wood toad
5. An Asian amphibean
6. ?
WTE
1. Humingbirds
2. Parakeets/lorikeets
3. Moths
4. Turtle pond
5. Koi fish
6. One more bat type
NA
1. Roosevelt elk
2. ABB
3. Coyote
4. Oceloted Turkey
E. Hellbender
SA
1. Greater rhea
2. Red howler monkey
3. Bush dog
4. Coati
WTE humingbirds
EU
1. Golden jackal
2. Capercaille
3. Barbary’s macaque
4. European hare
E. Legless lizard
AF
1. Honey badger
2. Secretary bird
3. Shoebill
4. Gelada
E. Black mamba
AS
1. Tanuki
2. Tree kangaroo
3. Japanese serro
4. Gray langur
WTE. Koi pond
AU
1. Tree kangaroo
2. Southern fur seal
3. Perentie
4. Quoll
WTE. Lorikeets
Snakes of the world
1. Cottonmouth
2. Cooperhead
3. Sidewinder
4. California mountain snake
5. Black mamba
6. King cobra
Reptiles
1. Jackson chameleon
2. Leopard gecko
3. Frilled lizard
4. New Mexico whiptail
5. Asian water dragon
6. Legless lizard
Amphibians
1. Hellbender
2. Tiger salamander
3. Blue dart frog
4. Wood toad
5. An Asian amphibean
6. ?
WTE
1. Humingbirds
2. Parakeets/lorikeets
3. Moths
4. Turtle pond
5. Koi fish
6. One more bat type
Can't wait to see that one, the more the merrier
I wanted a monkey species in a pack, but I am very uneducated on that front, and Spider Monkey felt like cop out. This one would be a perfect choice
I know you know me, I know everyone on here knows me, I’m one of the crazy and annoying bird people.
But that phrase is the exact story of my life being a Planet Zoo player.
Since my beloved Roosevelt Elk never made it in, I thought I'd make a hypothetical pack to include it that I've shared at least once before on these forums.
Pacific Northwest Pack
Pacific Northwest Pack
- Roosevelt Elk
- American Black Bear
- North American Porcupine
- Mountain Goat
- Anna's Hummingbird, Black-Chinned Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird (WE)
- Native American building theme, with horizontal log walls, plank roofs, modular totem poles, etc.
- New foliage including the Broadleaf Lupine, White Yarrow, Western Sword Fern, and Western Red Cedar
PNW pack is something I need, I love the whole aesthetic the scenery would bring, and I love the animal picks. I don't know which animal I would sacrifice for it, but I would love to see Canada Goose in such pack.
We have a lot of NA animals in game, but not enough for dedicated PNW sections.
Also I didn't know Hummingbirds live in such environments, they are excellent choices. When I crafted my ideas of PNW pack I did kind of struggle with Exhibit choices. Animals I thought about were either Coastal Giant Salamander, Rubber Boa or Humboldt Flying Squirrel for WE.
I would pay more for this pack than literally any other pack they could possibly put out for me
Ok everyone, it’s time for my own Version of an Education Pack, with each animal trying to help teach something about the natural world. This pack is a mix of a standard animal pack (with exhibit animals) and a scenery pack. Namely, the scenery pieces are all props. As you can imagine, those props are for education purposes, and expect a lot of museum like pieces amongst other things.
This pack will be based on mechanics for PZ1, so unfortunately no “flying birds”. With that being said, here are our animals!
This pack will be based on mechanics for PZ1, so unfortunately no “flying birds”. With that being said, here are our animals!
- First off is the Peere David’s Deer, and it fulfills two different important educational purposes. First being a good tool for conservation, the second being an educational tool for rutting, mating, social displays, and Antlers.
- The Golden Lion Tamarin is the second animal. Like the deer above it fulfills two roles, one being education on conservation again. The second being about the differences between humans and our primate cousins!
- The Nile Crocodile is all about parenthood, and also an example of an animal who has remained “unchanged” since prehistory. Plus bonus information about migration and predation.
- The final habitat animal is the Bar Headed Goose, which is all about migration. This species even flies above Mount Everest! So I think it would be a cool example for that!
- Now while this may be a shock, but this pack has four exhibit animals! Those being the Leaf Cutter Ant, Wood Frog, West African Lungfish, and the Caribbean Hermit Crab! The leaf cutter ant will teach all about social insects and how they cooperate to survive, the wood frog is all about the amphibian life cycle and also being able to freeze solid! The lungfish is all about it’s crazy adaptations to breath air and water, while the hermit crab is about living close to the ocean and surviving by finding homes for itself.
- Antlers and mating.
- Humanity and primate relatives, plus a special conservation sign.
- Nest creating and the great migration
- Migration.
- Social insects and health of a rainforest.
- Amphibian life cycles and extreme adaptations.
- Breathing water and air.
- Finding homes and living by the ocean.
- Skulls of the gorilla, elephant, crocodile, lion, bear, snake, and flamingo.
- Wings of the goose, swan, flamingo, and crane.
- Heights of the flightless birds.
- Bear claws, and big cat paws.
- Ivory horns of the elephants and rhinos.
- Antlers of the deer species.
- Antelope horns.
- Pelts of the tiger, crocodile, and other animals.
- New signs for some basic food webs and biomes.
- New animal nests to place, and some new fake eggs.
Love the exhibit choices and new signs ideas !
New signs have been at the top of my list for a long time. I know using pieces in game I can make new signs, but that is very tedious. I also know I can upload images into PZ, but making custom signs and uploading them is also tedious, I wish I had more to use in game.
Honestly the exhibit choices were also my favorite part, though I do love the habitat animals I chose as well! I wanted the pack as a whole to be as diverse as possible, I just couldn’t find a way to justify sneaking in another bird lol.
Are you getting tired of me yet, no, well then let's continue. I just looked at the thread about Madagascar and it made me want the Malagasy Giant Rat, so I am creating the dlc just for it, I got 2 concepts.
Malagasy Animal Pack
Aye-Aye
Radiated Tortoise
Nile Crocodile
Ring-Tailed Vontsira
Malagasy Giant Rat
Collared Lemur
White-Faced Duck
(Exhibit Animal) Panther Chameleon
Or my other idea
Rodent Animal Pack
Red-Rumped Agouti
Long-Tailed Chinchilla
Prehensile-Tailed Porcupine
Pacarana
Malagasy Giant Rat
Patagonian Mara
Giant Clouded Rat
(Exhibit Animal) Doormouse
Malagasy Animal Pack
Aye-AyeRadiated Tortoise
Nile Crocodile
Ring-Tailed Vontsira
Malagasy Giant Rat
Collared Lemur
White-Faced Duck
(Exhibit Animal) Panther Chameleon
Or my other idea
Rodent Animal Pack
Red-Rumped AgoutiLong-Tailed Chinchilla
Prehensile-Tailed Porcupine
Pacarana
Malagasy Giant Rat
Patagonian Mara
Giant Clouded Rat
(Exhibit Animal) Doormouse
Now this is peak fiction
Here me out:
Hyrax animal pack:
Rock Hyrax
Yellow Spotted Rock Hyrax
African Elephant
Aardvark
Asian Elephant
Florida Manatee
Elephant Shrew: EX
Hyrax themed scenery
Hyrax animal pack:
Rock Hyrax
Yellow Spotted Rock Hyrax
African Elephant
Aardvark
Asian Elephant
Florida Manatee
Elephant Shrew: EX
Hyrax themed scenery
You sold me on on hyrax, this is peak fiction even if I have to pay for the elephants twice (I am assuming this is ment for PZ2)