European DLC(s) + Plants DLCs + Water animals DLCs

[Celestiale]

After watching several Youtube videos in the last months or so, my partner and me finally took the plunge yesterday and bought the game.
There is a lot missing we'd very much like to include in our Zoo, but that's probably DLC material for the next 3 years. For now we see 3 areas (in case of 2 massively) lacking.

1. European animals - we are starting a Geozoo divided in continents (just like the great Budapest Zoo) and wanted to start with a European part - before we realized that there are exactly 2 (4 with DLC) European animals in so far - Flamingos and Wolves (+ Polar Bear and Reindeer from first DLC). While i concede, that Europe might not be the continent with the most extravagant animals, i think there are still at least 10, if not 20 very interesting animals from the continent you could easily include: Lynx, Moose, Brown Bear, Red Deer, Red Fox, Wild Boar, European Bison (Wisent), Steinbock, Fishotter + petting zoo animals (very popular in many zoos i have been) + smaller Vivarium-like stuff + European sea mammals (i come to that in point 3).

2. So we started our Geozoo with Africa, since this is currently the clear focus of the content. While there are many many plants in total (and we really welcome this), if you dial that down to a certain continent and biome (e.g. Africa jungle), there are only a few. So if you create a Geozoo the plants repeat and repeat for each and every habitat. We hope that more and more plants will be added in the future (i mean, there are more then enough out there really ;-) )

3. This is probably what is lacking the most compared to real zoo's currently. Water animals. I'd say they divide into two groups:

• Sea mammals / birds with their own habitats: Several types of seals, Several types of penguins, Sea lion, Sea leopard, Sea elephant, Walrus, Manati, Sea Cow
• Aquariums with several different kinds of animals (Jelllyfish, Squid, Fish, Crabs etc.)

Would be happy for any additions

Prio B for us is: Birds DLCs, Americas DLC, Australia/Oceania DLC, Retro DLC (build your Zoo in the year 1900 and modernize it through the years)

 

[Merit Selket]

I absolutly agree with you, it is very dissapointing that there are so few European animals and i do not care that some species from North America are similar to Europe, for me it is not the same.
plus we have the Siberian Tiger and the Bengal Tiger and the 2 elephants, they do look a like, with some differnces, but it is these differences that matters to me.

also very dissapointing the lack of Australien animals, while I do understand that publishers want to sell DLC´s it is not nice to almost exclude a whole continent in a basegame.

I like your list of marine animals, since I do not like the realy big once in zoos, like orcas or dolphins, but sea lions and small small fish for aquariums would be a nice addition to our zoos.

about the african plants for tropical biome, yes, yes and yes, why do we have so few? how am I supposed to create a proper rainforest for my gorillas?

the Retro DLC is an awesome idea, I wish we would get that in the future, I do not know what animals would be in such a DLC, maybe make it a building one only, but getting some 50´s/ 60 s style diners in my zoo or probably a complete Hippie/boho styled zoo, the Classic building design could use a steampunk extention and of course antique/ ruins themed building pieces........

but first lets get some more animals in

 

[Grayyy]

Adding to the European Animal List: Alpine Ibex, Roe Deer, European Badger, Arctic Fox ( since it wasn't in the Arctic Pack ), Fallow Deer, Svalbard Reindeer, Alpine Marmot and Chamois.

 

[eechauch]

I completely agree with your two priorities.

When I started my Zoo supposedly positioned in Germany, I realized I had a single local animal I could put in (I guess the timber wolf would work as a grey wolf). But since they are all missing entirely, I suspect that DLC has to be already planned.

And without aquatic animals, the zoo looks really dry. Hippos need a pool, but they also needs a big land part and having a giant pool for crocodiles just doesn’t feel right, since they usually don’t move a lot. So they don’t really use it.

 

[Celestiale]

After watching some youtubers "potential future DLCs" I'd like to raise America's and Australia/Oceania DLCs to the same heights as the European one. They have just as many important animals missing. Right now really only Africa and Asia are worthwhile in regards of a Geozoo.

One potential small DLC (comparable to the arctic one) I'd also love would be a Madagaskar DLC. I know we already have Kattas, but a second big Lemur (Vari, Indri) would be nice, alongside one or two types of Maki and the Fossa (a truly unique animal!).

 

[NZFanatic]

One potential small DLC (comparable to the arctic one)

I think all the DLC's will be comparable to the Arctic Pack in terms of content, but we'll see.

As for a European DLC, while I agree that more European animals would be nice, not many zoos keep European animals as exotic livestock. I mean, the only ones I've really seen (aside from those that inhabit broader regions) are deer, and deer are domesticated in most places. Even Edinburgh Zoo, located in Europe, only really had the Scottish wildcat to represent Europe.

If I had to pick four European animals, they would probably be:
- Iberian lynx.
- Alpine ibex.
- Fallow deer.
- Red fox.

The Iberian lynx is critically endangered, so fits Planet Zoo's theme really well, the ibex is a fairly classic zoo animal and the Alpine ibex is the most recognisable species, the fallow deer would make a really nice walkthrough animal, and people have been clamouring for some kind of fox since before the game launched, so the red fox seems like an obvious choice as The Fox.

I'd really like a German-themed building set with the classic timber-framed architecture, which I saw a bit of in the Berlin Zoo, to really round out the pack, and maybe a Spanish architecture set, too, which could translate over to Latin America fairly easily.

Just as an aside, the timber wolf in-game is a European animal. Regardless of the misnomer (that is to say, they used the wrong name for it), it is intended to be the generic grey wolf (hence the binomial Canis lupus). This includes the Eurasian subspecies (Canis lupus lupus) along with all other subspecies (ironically, also the Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos), so technically we have two of the same animal in the game). This is exactly why I start all my European zoos with the wolf as a representative species.

I have petitioned previously for the timber wolf to be retooled as the Eurasian wolf to mixed responses. Personally I don't think it needs a major overhaul - literally a change of name, location, and general Zoopedia information would be enough for it. Some pointed out that there are morphological peculiarities to the Eurasian wolf but I don't think they're significant enough to warrant changes the animal's rig at all. My main consternation with it is that by adding the Arctic wolf, they immediately ruined the consistency in place with how they're representing animals. Usually they either have a specific subspecies (like the West African lion) or a general species (like the bongo or sable antelope), but with the wolves they have both, and it just doesn't work.