I would say tough one, if there wouldnt be so many good choices from all ober the world!
1. western capercaillie: a big ass european forest chicken with huge sexual dimorphism. The males are black with long tail feathers standing in a cone, red eyelids and the bulk to pack a punch, while the females are smaller, brownish and much more stealthy. Props the best european bird reps possible
2. White faced whistling duck: Propaply my most wanted animal for the game right now. Its a pretty, tropical duck that is tough enough for temperate weather and lives in south america, africa and madagascar.
Its range of continents alone makes it a top tier pick, but its also very visually distinct from the mandarine duck and the common european ducks to stand out if they ever should be added. + madagascar rep!
3. Marabu stork: Big, ugly, unique. We need a stork in the game and these guys arnt just big, they are massive, both in soze and captive numbers.
No matter what other stork would be added to the game, these guys would still stand out with their big ugly faces and crude apperance. + they can easily be mixed and mashed with african ungulates, so thats a plus aswell.
Overall loveable meatheads
4. Black swan: This people is one of the few animals i would call a 10/10 s tier addition to the game.
The answer for the question mark inside your head is simple, it covers so much whats needed and not present in the game right now. Its a swan, waterfowl, that likes to hang put in park like areas, but also can easily fit into themed sections of its native range, the australian wet lands. We need australian animals and the black swan would not only occupy a completly new niche for australia, but the game and europe aswell, because they actually arnt uncommon here either, as many once captive animals are now living in our parks and ponds. Overall majestic animal that checks all the Boxes.
5. Golden pheasent: There are so many kinds of pheasents that could easily be added to the game, but this one is without a doubt the most common and with good reason. Its striking gold appearance is unlike any other animal in the game, as bright yellow normally isnt a favourable color to be, so i would love to welcome our first truly yellow and proud animal into the game. And the fact that its the 15. Most common animal in european zoos just sweetens the deal
6. Bar-headed goose: Joining us from india and the himalaya is the bar-headee goose, the most common non domestic goose in european zoos.
I chose them over other common goose for three reasons:
1. Their range of india and north of the himalaya. These goose are known for migrating across it and would be a nice addition to not just the allready quite diverse india themed areas, which would love some waterfowl for its many ponds, but also the by now quite lacking himalaya, which only has two of its apex predators and the red panda, aswell as the asian steppes, where only the camel is home right now.
It only closely edged out its closest contender the barnacle goose here, which lives in the euroasian palearctic zone and just in general is less flexible in its use cases.
2. Their biomes would be very diverse, featuring tropical, grassland and alpine atleast.
3. I just think they are the prettiest wild goose. This might be highly sibjective, but in the end apperance will defenetly by a factor for the enjoyment of the animal
7. The Great white Pelican: last but not least we have the most common pelican in european zoos and the one with the largest habitat, spanning across africa, europe and asia. While i myself am not really attached to the pelican, i can agree on an objective level that this would be a great addition to the game. I simply choose the most common in zoos, but i dont really habe strong feeling one way or another, eventhough i do believe that the species with the largest range should rule supreme.
And thats it! 7 birds that i honestly believe would all be atleast an 8/10 addition to the game.
For some popular animals that i left out, i just dont feel like they are as needed for general use as these 7.
For example, the kiwi would be great, but theres also a really limited number of them outside of new zealand and when we are talking about a group thats in such dire need of fleshing out i prefered some general sweeping picks across some of the most well known bird groups not featured in the game yet that also are unlike any other bird in the game.
We got a duck, a goose, a swan, a stork, a pheasent, a pelican and a grouse, spanning across allmost all continents with many cross continental picks.
Same reasoning goes for the emu amd rhea, as i wanted to first focus on other, less represented groups.
NA got the short end of the stick, because while i would love a domestic turkey in the game i think all these other birds have priority. The animal it contended the closest with, the capercaillie, also only made the cut because we finally got a crane this pack.
So sorry darthquell, no murrica for you
But i hope you still like the pack
