Extinct Animals Pack

[Tyrannohotep]

This is a more fanciful concept for a DLC, I admit, but I've seen people ask for extinct animals in Planet Zoo before. For this listing, I chose to stick with Cenozoic animals since a) they would probably be easier to bring back through cloning than pre-Cenozoic ones since any DNA left in their fossils would be degraded to a lesser degree, and b) we already have JWE and the upcoming JWE2 for dinosaurs.

Anyway, without further ado...

Animal	Continent(s)	Biome(s)
Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)	Europe, Asia, North America	Tundra, Taiga
American mastodon (Mammut americanum)	North America	Taiga, Temperate, Tropical
African deinothere (Deinotherium bozasi)	Africa	Grassland, Tropical
Woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis)	Europe, Asia	Tundra, Temperate
Giant indricothere (Paraceratherium transouralicum)	Asia	Desert, Grassland
American entelodont (Daeodon shoshonensis)	North America	Temperate, Grassland
Northern sabertooth (Smilodon fatalis)	North America	Tundra, Taiga, Temperate
Southern sabertooth (Smilodon populator)	South America	Grassland, Tropical
Steppe lion (Panthera spelaea)	Europe, Asia	Tundra, Temperate
Cave bear (Ursus speleaus)	Europe, Asia	Tundra, Taiga, Temperate
Dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus)	North America, South America, Asia	Temperate, Desert, Grassland
Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus)	Oceania	Temperate, Desert, Grassland
Giant ground sloth (Megatherium americanum)	South America	Temperate, Grassland
Afro-Asiatic sivathere (Sivatherium giganteum)	Africa, Asia	Grassland
Stellar's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas)	Asia	Tundra (Aquatic)
East African plains ape (Australopithecus afarensis)	Africa	Grassland, Tropical
Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)	Africa	Tropical
Great auk (Pinguinus impennis)	Europe, North America	Tundra, Taiga, Temperate (Aquatic)
Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)	North America	Temperate (Exhibit)
American terror bird (Titanis walleri)	North America	Grassland, Tropical
Giant goanna (Varanus priscus)	Oceania	Desert, Grassland, Tropical
Giant caiman (Purussaurus brasiliensis)	South America	Tropical (Aquatic)

These would be "adopted" through an Animal Market separate from the one for non-extinct animals, called the Extinct Animal Market, and would generally cost more than their non-extinct counterparts of comparable mass due to, y'know, being extinct and all.

In addition to these animals, there would be added...

• Tall electric habitat fencing (for that Jurassic Park aesthetic)
• Stone habitat fencing with a rough, cave-wall-like texture
• A Paleolithic/Neolithic architecture style based off the megalithic monuments of prehistoric Europe, such as Stonehenge. This would also include hunks of rock with painted illustrations on them similar to the cave paintings at Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira, among other sites.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

I Personaly dont want extinct animals in the game, but if they would announce this expansion i wouldnt mind.
Rallye great list of animals, Not just what you would expect but also some fun picks.

 

[Tyrannohotep]

I Personaly dont want extinct animals in the game, but if they would announce this expansion i wouldnt mind.
Rallye great list of animals, Not just what you would expect but also some fun picks.

Thank you. I may have gotten carried away with listing animals since the previous packs haven't given us nearly as many animals each time. But I suppose a mega-pack isn't something to be ruled out either.

 

[SotF]

I Personaly dont want extinct animals in the game, but if they would announce this expansion i wouldnt mind.
Rallye great list of animals, Not just what you would expect but also some fun picks.

I don't mind the concept of an extinct animals pack, but I'd prefer one that would be a setup of (relatively) recent extinctions rather than going far further back.

Something like the Quagga, Thylacine, Pyrean Ibex, Baji, and Dodo. Two extremely recent extinctions and 3 that were in the past century and are well known.

Perhaps also a "Bred Back" pack as well with things like the American Alsatian, Tauros Cattle, Heck Horse, Rau Quagga, and Passenger Pigeon

The Passenger Pigeon has a project to bring them back that is supposedly pretty far along and rather interesting to read about...

 

[markun]

I appreciate your efforts but I am completely against any kind of extinct animals DLC. Every extinct animal included means that a living animal would be excluded.

 

[jcp011c]

I wouldn't necessarily want a pack like this over existing animals, but if we did have something along this concept, I'd probably keep it to "modern" extinct animals. by that I mean animals that disappeared due to human activities of land consumption, hunting, or some human introduced disease or animals that wiped them out. Or some other evolutionaary reason, that they went extinct recently. Basically animals that were around 500 years ago but are not any longer. Much like @SotF mentioned. The Dodo, Stellar's Sea Cow (if they ever go fully marine), Great Auk, Carribean Monk Seal, Quagga and Thylacine definitely all come to mind. No prehistoric mammals and birds for me.

 

[NZFanatic]

I suspect a lot of this will eventually be covered by Prehistoric Kingdom. Like others extinct animals aren't something I would want to see in the game, not with such an inexhaustible list of extant species that could still be included.

 

[ElectricMonk]

Once they run out of living species i’m ok with extinct ones being added - I think there are something like 29,900 still to be added.

(edit: note, this is just the tetrapods)

 

[Aeternum]

I am very much in favor of an expansion pack with extinct animals from the Cenozoic era.

1. It will attract a new audience. Therefore it will boost sales for the original Planet Zoo (which is needed to play the expansion) and its downloadable content. It will also create the opportunity for many more animal packs in the years to come.

2. Some people are saying that present-day animals should remain the priority. We are getting to a point though in which the majority of modern-day megafauna and well-known animal families are represented by several species. Look, I have spend many hours breeding clouded leopards, snow leopards, cougars, cheetahs, tigers, jaguars, lions and their white, black and spotless counterparts. I am very much looking forward to the arrival of an actual leopard (my favorite animal). The addition of a lynx would be great. And being a big fan of wild cats in general, I would be thrilled to see a serval, caracal, ocelot or any other cat species added to the game. But I can imagine that regular players are not going to be as excited about a rusty-spotted cat as I would be.

3. Many people are saying that extinct animals are not realistic, despite the fact that these animals have evolved before, during or after many modern-day species appeared. The sounds, behavior and appearance may not be 100% accurately recreatable, but we are not talking about some extraterrestrial lifeforms here. We can presume that smilodon, homotherium, cave lion and other extinct cats are very similar to their modern-day relatives. Some animals have survived for millions of years, but because they died out 10.000 years too early we do not want hem in a videogame anymore? Come on, show some sympathy for these poor animals. Since we have no other way to bring them back, including them in Planet Zoo should be the least we can do.

4. I have played Sim Safari (1998), Zoo Tycoon (2001), Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (2003), Zoo Tycoon 2 (2004) and Wildlife Park 2 (2006). I never got to play Wildlife Park 3 (2011) and Zoo Tycoon (2013). So it kinda felt like a zoo simulator renaissance when Jurassic World: Evolution (2018) and Planet Zoo (2019) came out. I did not always use all content when playing Zoo Tycoon. I personally did not care too much for Marine Mania for instance. But I was still grateful that it was part of the game, especially for those who liked to build aquariums. I do not understand why anyone would be 'against' including extinct animals, when you can always stick to the present-day content.

5. Tyrannohotep, I think your list is great. I think that animals from the late pleistocene are the easiest species to add to the game. They are strongly related to present-day animals which basic models are already part of the game. We know a lot about them. They lived during a time in which all animals that exist today also existed. I do not think cloning or any other scientific explanation is necessary. They could just be adoptable in the market as if they never died out in the first place.

 

[Leaf Productions]

Literally based. We need more extinct love more than "realism"

 

[ElectricMonk]

I do not understand why anyone would be 'against' including extinct animals, when you can always stick to the present-day content.

I don’t think addeing extinct species would extend the game’s lifespan, so every extinct species added is one living species not added.

 

[markun]

I don’t think addeing extinct species would extend the game’s lifespan, so every extinct species added is one living species not added.

This.

There are already extinct animal games with more coming. Planet Zoo is all us zoo nerds have. Please don’t ruin it with extinct animals at the cost of living species.

 

[NZFanatic]

I do not understand why anyone would be 'against' including extinct animals, when you can always stick to the present-day content.

Have you not read any of the arguments against this idea? All of them are very reasonable - as ElectricMonk says, and as I said earlier in the thread, any extinct animal in the game is one less extant animal. There is an inexhaustible list of extant animals that could still be added. This game isn't and was never meant to be Zoo Tycoon.

 

[Aeternum]

Have you not read any of the arguments against this idea?

Yes, I have read the arguments against this idea and the one that keeps coming back is the potential lack of new present-day animals. But let me turn this argument against you: every living species added means an extinct animal will not get added. Now I rather see a leopard being added to the game than a homotherium, but I do not need an endless collection of small spotted cats like the ocelot, oncilla, margay, etc. At a certain point an extinct saber-toothed cat lineage is going to be a far more interesting addition, I'm sure. The graphics in Planet Zoo are stunning, so I expect these extinct animals are going to look remarkable as well.

I understand some people are even against adding a thylacine to the game. I mean, really? What message is that suppose to give? Once we killed off your species, you are no longer welcome? Now we do not have a leopard, lynx, serval, caracal and ocelot yet. So I am not campaigning for cats from the smilodontini, metailurini, machairodontini and homotherini lineages to be added to the game instead of them. But I am convinced that an extinct expansion pack will eventually be necessary to attract new players to the game and extent its popularity and lifespan.

 

[becks474]

I think most people (me included) just want to make a realistic zoo with as lot as possible species in the game. So every extinct species takes away a spot for a living animal. This is a Zoo game and I think there are other games around in which you can play woth extinct species. And I do not think that one pack with 5-8 extinct species will bring more people to the game. In contest to that I think that a lot of players will just not buy am extinct animal pack.

 

[ElectricMonk]

Yes, I have read the arguments against this idea and the one that keeps coming back is the potential lack of new present-day animals. But let me turn this argument against you: every living species added means an extinct animal will not get added. Now I rather see a leopard being added to the game than a homotherium, but I do not need an endless collection of small spotted cats like the ocelot, oncilla, margay, etc. At a certain point an extinct saber-toothed cat lineage is going to be a far more interesting addition, I'm sure. The graphics in Planet Zoo are stunning, so I expect these extinct animals are going to look remarkable as well.

I disagree - I’d much prefer all/any of those cats to the introduction of extinct species but you are, of course, welcome to put forward your POV.

I understand some people are even against adding a thylacine to the game. I mean, really? What message is that suppose to give?

That they’re extinct and (for now at least) can’t be resurrected.
That they’re not found in zoos
- if you want extinct species perhaps look at Prehistoric Kingdom, which looks very promising. I don’t want extinct species in PZ, I’ll probably get PK though….