My personal list would be:
Dhole: My personal favourite animal of the SEA pack. I understand why people dont like them and wasnt very hyped for them before i actually used them in game, but god damn they are a blessing. Their versatility and flexabilty is immens, being both suitable to be a highlight, a filler exhibit, part of tropical houses, part of coulder sections, just some random exhibit etc.
I personally prefer building boreal and temperd forest enclousures for them, but they are amongst the animals where i feel the possibility are limitless. Also they are pretty red good boys and girls, so whats to dislike about them? Only criticism after the texture update would be, that their habitat requirements are a bit to large, but thats still in an okay area.
Reindeer: So far one of the few northern hemisphere ungulents and my personal favourite. Another very flexible animal and a nice addition to both the Northamerican and european animal raster. I dont really have a gripe with them, they are just a fun animal that i like using and also very cute. Extra + for being of good use in more "budget" zoos.
Hippo: I might like my "filler" animals, but from all of the star animals this must be my favourite. Big, chonky and full of personality. I havent build anything with them yet, but i cant wait to get to my african section with all my new experience and build a great hippo house. If i had to guess why i like them more over the still very cool and great elephants and rhinos im quite certain it is because of their aquatic nature, enabling to build beautifull waterviewing galleries, tropical houses around a big body of water and them being an overall very impressive and imposing animal. They demand your attention and to build around them like no animal in this game does for me.
Anteater: Anteaters are cute. Anteaters also look funny. Most importantly Anteaters can both be the star of your show without being too demanding of the spotlight. They are a very fun animal for cool inbetween exhibits, while still holding strong when they have the spotlight. I like using them in a sort of "preband" way, where they catch attention and intrest before letting people in the area they are guarding, hyping the visitors up for whats to come and see, while style being open to be blow away even more by a brighter star.
Giraffe: Another costar animal, absolutely able the lime light on its own, but also sharing it with its roommates. The cool thing about Giraffes is, that they can be the "coolest" animal in your africa section and it will feel right and satisfiet, but they still leave up room for more after them, mostly reserved for hippos, rhinos, elephants or primates. They feel like one of the animals than can be in any zoo and you will never feel tired of them.
Meerkats: I doubt i have to explain, but they are the smallest and still one of the most iconic zoo animals in the game. They will be used in dozens of diffrent cool ways and bring us all a ton of joy.
Gray seal: They are cute, derpy and i love them. Nuff said
This is for me where the very strong feelings for animals end, but as three more animals to make the list complete i think i choose the Binturong, Nyala and Red pand.
Binurong and red panda are fun to build for, coming up with clever climbing frames and great as roommates for other animals while the Nyala where one of the first animals i build an exhibit for in the game and it was a toss up between them and the spotted hyaena for that reason.
. Also here, I hope the size gets adjusted one time. 
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