Expanded Colourmorph discussion

The Aardvark

The Aardvark
I've always personally loved collecting "shiny" [albino, leucistic, Melanistic...] animals in Planet Zoo, it's one of the best parts of the entire game and I love seeing these amazing colour morphs being represented in the game. Now, with Update 1.8, we got an extraordinary change in the Colourmorph system: animals can now have MORE than one morph, and a good example of this is the Fallow Deer, which has 3 variants: menil, leucistic and Melanistic; the Badger has both an albino and an Erythristic morph; even the Llama got the old pure white variant back, now marked as the "leucistic" version.
Following this change, I want to discuss what this could mean for colour variants in the game and what other "shinies" we could get:
1) BENGAL TIGER
The Bengal Tiger already has a leucistic variant (with white fur and black stripes), but this is not the only morph of this animal: in zoos you may see fully white tigers with no stripes, or even "melanistic" tigers with wider stripes covering almost the entire body
2) CHEETAH
Another animal that could get a second coat variant is the Cheetah: other than the spotless version, we could get the King Cheetah variant with large black stripes/spots
3) SIBERIAN TIGER
When the Siberian Tiger was added to Planet Zoo I was kind of disappointed that the "shiny" version we got was just a regular white tiger, as I expected to get the Tabby/Golden variant which has a lighter orange fur with brownish stripes. Hopefully, with the expanded Colourmorph system, we may get this amazing color variant together with the regular leucistic coat!
4) SPRINGBOK
Springboks are kind of another Fallow Deer situation, having four main morphs: Normal and White (the one we have in game), but also Black and Copper (with the Copper variant having a light brown coat). I hope we'll see these morphs in game someday!
5) KING PENGUIN
This may be kind of a weird one, as Penguin colour morphs are not nearly as common as the ones seen in ungulates or Big Cats, but still: King Penguins have a surprising number of morphs, including albino (with white/cream feathers), Melanistic (darker feathers), piebald (with white spots or blotches)... It would be really interesting to see them in Planet Zoo, as we don't have any variations for the King Penguin...
6) INDIAN PEAFOWL
Being a semi-domestic species, the Indian Peafowl has a lot of different colour morph, but one that immediately comes to my mind is the Piebald Peafowl: also known as the pied Peafowl, it has the same color of a normal one but with white blotches all over its body. It would look really cool in game, together with the white Peafowl we already have
7) TIMBER WOLF
Not even gonna explain this one, we just need Black wolves, they've been incredibly highly requested since 1.3, so it's something we really need

Other animals that could get some kind of albino variations include Meerkat, Binturong, Bactrian Camel...
 

Anthracite_Impreza

Anthracite_Impreza
Having recently watched a David Attenborough with wild dingos I was amazed at just how many patterns we associate with domestic dogs there were in even a single pack, which really does indicate pursuit running canids face little selective pressure on camouflage and that's the same with wolves. I really hope the "timber" wolves get a significant uptick in variation with the next update, along with the dingos. Hell, I'm a dog coat colour genetics nerd, I'll even sort it out for you frontier.
 

Firestar97

Firestar97
Anthracite_Impreza said:
Having recently watched a David Attenborough with wild dingos I was amazed at just how many patterns we associate with domestic dogs there were in even a single pack, which really does indicate pursuit running canids face little selective pressure on camouflage and that's the same with wolves. I really hope the "timber" wolves get a significant uptick in variation with the next update, along with the dingos. Hell, I'm a dog coat colour genetics nerd, I'll even sort it out for you frontier.
Click to expand...
As someone who has built a whole Dingo Breeding Center (purebred Dingos are at Risk of Extinction after all), I absolutely agree with this. Also hope they will maybe put a bit more Work in future Variations because even though some Wolves do have such a bright Snout as the ones in the Game, most of them don't
 

jqrlvalkqrie

J
I don't know whether or not this is necro, but I really wanted to show my support for this instead of creating a new thread.

Golden tabby/strawberry tigers and king cheetahs not being in the game is so bizarre. They're probably one of the most popular colour morphs seen in actual zoos, aside from white tigers and melanistic jaguars/leopards.
Truly black wolves and white wolves (not arctic wolves, I literally saw a pack containing both black and white wolves on a field trip to Grouse Mountain. If you're familiar with Grouse Mountain, it's nowhere even close to the range of the arctic wolf subspecies, so what I saw were 100% not arctics) not being in the game is weird too. We do have colour variation for the wolves already, but it's just shades of brown and grey at the end of the day, with some lighter and some darker.
I also recently found out about the "black" bengal tigers (pseudomelanistic, not truely melanistic since as you mentioned it's caused by a gene relating to the tiger's stripes) from a viral post on Reddit, and agree they could be an excellent addition. Very few erythic (erythism) animals are in the game too, at least when compared to albinism, melanism and leucism.
I made a post about darker dall sheep existing in both subspecies (genetic studies have changed the definition of the two subspecies in recent years, and it's not based on fur colour anymore) that became extremely controversial on reddit, so I'm not getting into that here. Would be cool to see the darker variants covered by Planet Zoo, but it seems that Bighorn sheep as a new animal are way more popular, so I'll just leave that alone.
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
Considering zoos outright avoid force-breeding colour mutations (which are most commonly the result of inbreeding) I'd rather not include more.

The only one I particularly miss is the king cheetah, but that's because I cannot for the life of me understand why Frontier went with the 'spotless' variant instead of the much better known 'king' variant. Seems like a stupid decision really.

One animal I'd like to see more mutations of is the peafowl, though. Nearly all zoo peafowl come from domestic stock, so it's more common to see myriad different colour variations. Frontier has already stated a position on this in the past, though (they're supposed to be "wild" peafowl even though no zoo outside of probably South Asia would bother importing wild blood peafowl for what is pretty much a worthless breeding programme).
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
NZ, I see your point. I'm for the color variants, but for different reasons. See, when a zoo gets a colormorphed animal (white lions, for example), the public goes crazy. Ticket sales rise, more money is made, and the zoo/organization can use it in improving the zoo and conservation projects. The only thing that annoys me is that we can release colormorphed animals into the wild, something zoos wouldn't do.

I started a thread once about this, and how, instead of releasing an animal into the wild that shouldn't AND getting rewarded, we should instead get the rehoming option; if you don't want Tubby the white tiger for some reason, pay a fee to rehome them, like the option we have with elderly animals. But I think that "shiny" animals shouldn't be just a burden; they should give some bonuses, like increased popularity due to the color (rarer the color, more popular). Make these animals a challenge to keep, with some pros and some cons. Don't make them basic animals that are another color
 

ralphthestick

ralphthestick
I wonder if the expanded system could add some extra variation to African Wild Dogs. I remember being somewhat disappointed when the colour variation came out that they still all displayed more or less the same amount of patterning, just in different shades of brown. Randomised pattern and colour, overlaid by a random blotch system like llamas have might do a better job of recreating their real life counterparts, where you see big patches of colour alongside the more mottled pattern you see in game.
Other than that, definitely one more vote for very differently coloured wolves, and golden tigers
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
I hope y'all don't mind me reviving this thread. Just wanna point out that we now have king cheetahs and black wolves (yeah, I'm late reporting this, but still)

I noticed that lately the major updates have added coat variations to vase game species, now. Why not past DLC animals, though? Just a question...

Also, I've heard of white gray wolves (not Arctic wolves, but white wolves that look like the northwest wolf subspecies). How would y'all feel if our existing gray wolf got a white wolf color variant? I guess technically we can use the Arctic wolf, but that would only work in sandbox with welfare off...
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
Aramar said:
Last update brought a new variation for reindeer which is a dlc animal. I imagine that maybe because the animals from the newer DLC already came with the variations.
Click to expand...
Oh, I missed the reindeer. But what I was actually referring to is past animals receiving newer variants, such as, for example, piebald reindeer
 

YesIndeed

YesIndeed
DarthQuell said:
Oh, I missed the reindeer. But what I was actually referring to is past animals receiving newer variants, such as, for example, piebald reindeer
Click to expand...
I would like piebald of most ungulates. That would be really cool. Another good one would be the British Columbia wolf which is black mixed with light grey variant. At least I think it's that one.
 

Angeł

Angeł
I’d love to see the Common Hippopotamus given some more variants when it comes to birthmarks and pigmentation.
I’ve seen a LOT of hippos who have pink spots or marks on them in various places, making them easier to pick out of the pod. I’d love to have individualised hippos like this in game.
Some examples are Tucker at Cincinatti (pink spotted nose and feet) and Lola and Hodor at Whipsnade (pink stockings):
 

Attachments

  • 3F80BA21-418B-490B-9D94-3AC246D5DBBE.jpeg
    3F80BA21-418B-490B-9D94-3AC246D5DBBE.jpeg
    620.3 KB · Views: 98
  • 35A08E63-288E-49D9-ACEE-0C31995FB3FB.jpeg
    35A08E63-288E-49D9-ACEE-0C31995FB3FB.jpeg
    102.2 KB · Views: 102
Last edited:

Vertebr4te

Vertebr4te
DarthQuell said:
I hope y'all don't mind me reviving this thread. Just wanna point out that we now have king cheetahs and black wolves (yeah, I'm late reporting this, but still)

I noticed that lately the major updates have added coat variations to vase game species, now. Why not past DLC animals, though? Just a question...

Also, I've heard of white gray wolves (not Arctic wolves, but white wolves that look like the northwest wolf subspecies). How would y'all feel if our existing gray wolf got a white wolf color variant? I guess technically we can use the Arctic wolf, but that would only work in sandbox with welfare off...
Click to expand...
Since I haven't played in a hot minute I had no clue that they were adding more variants! Is there some sort of image masterlist of each variant for each species somewhere already?
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
Vertebr4te said:
Since I haven't played in a hot minute I had no clue that they were adding more variants! Is there some sort of image masterlist of each variant for each species somewhere already?
Click to expand...
steamcommunity.com

Steam Community :: Guide :: The shiny coats of Planet Zoo

A comprehensive list of all the different special animal color variants (aka "albinos") you can find in Planet Zoo, with gender dimorphism and text detailing all of them. DLC animals are inc
steamcommunity.com steamcommunity.com
steamcommunity.com

Steam Community :: Guide :: The "Albinos" of Planet Zoo - DLC Edition!

Just a list of most special and rare coats of Planet Zoos DLC animals! ...
steamcommunity.com steamcommunity.com
 

Vertebr4te

Vertebr4te
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom