I know it's unpopular, but I'd actually be super into a petting zoo pack. Petting zoos are more essential to the "whole zoo package" to me than even some of your super iconic animals like elephants or hippos or tigers. I've been to zoos without them. But to my knowledge, I've never been to a zoo without a petting zoo area. It wouldn't take much in the way of animals to get them to feel relatively fleshed out enough without even having to include literal domestic cattle, either. I think wild turkeys, yaks, and pygmy goats would be relatively well-accepted inclusions. I do think the next best animal for realism's sake would be some sort of pig, though, which I think would be a lot tougher of a sell to a lot of the community. Edit: the kunekune is probably the best bet here.
I also really hope we someday somehow end up with the means to include "ambient" animals, as in native wildlife that aren't part of the zoo proper. Ducks and squirrels, mainly. If they could also be kept in enclosures, ducks would be great in this area as well.
Between these and the existing camels and llamas and maybe peafowl, I don't think it's unfeasible to end up with a nice petting zoo aesthetic. I really do think it's an important and often forgotten part of most zoos. At the same time, I totally understand and mostly agree with prioritizing wild or exotic animals... So idk, this seems like a weird gray area where I could see Frontier possibly going for it near the end of development if the community at large seemed into the idea, but that's obviously not the case, so I certainly don't expect to see it happen.
I also really hope we someday somehow end up with the means to include "ambient" animals, as in native wildlife that aren't part of the zoo proper. Ducks and squirrels, mainly. If they could also be kept in enclosures, ducks would be great in this area as well.
Between these and the existing camels and llamas and maybe peafowl, I don't think it's unfeasible to end up with a nice petting zoo aesthetic. I really do think it's an important and often forgotten part of most zoos. At the same time, I totally understand and mostly agree with prioritizing wild or exotic animals... So idk, this seems like a weird gray area where I could see Frontier possibly going for it near the end of development if the community at large seemed into the idea, but that's obviously not the case, so I certainly don't expect to see it happen.
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