So here we go.
Of all the pack predictions, id say i have won with 4 temperate animals, all of them being called either in the pack or as honorable mentions, even calling out the downside of the skunk before hand.
But now i wanna ask again, how do we change this pack around?
Well 2 got in, 2 honorable mentions got in, bur i also wanna change 2 other picks, those being the red deer and the tasmanian devil.
The reasons are simple.
The tassie pretty much begs to be included in an island pack, + we honestly got more then enough temperate small carnivores for now, so i want to put the attention to some other more needed and less popular groups that are less likly to make the cut for other packs.
The red deer has an even simpler reason.
After stepping away from the forum for a bit and the 3 small carnivores in the twillight pack both satisfied my need for animals for smaller low budget zoos to a degree, aswell as my some what petty desire to push for in my opinion unjustified unpopular animals, just because i can.
See trash panda rebellion.
So now the remaining members are just the bennetts wallaby and the wild boar, leaving a great white canvas for a new pack.
Starting of, we have the replacement for the red deer and one of nutrits favorites, the pierre david deer.
For those who dont know its a weird looking chinese deer, that sadly became extinct in the wild during the colonisation of china, but luckily a few where shipped away to the zoos of france and germany.
From there the duke of bredford began to aquirre some and breed up a herd to send back to china.
Today while still classified as extinct in the wild the pierres davids deer is recovering both in zoos and in controlled wild spaces in china.
A true hero of a conservation story.
View attachment 327017
The next one might be a surprise, an animal thats sadly only rarly talked about in these forums, for the simple reason that they dont appear in international collections, but frontier ignored that before and i hope they will do it aggain for this beautiful fellow.
Can you guess who he is?
A master of imitation, ornamented by a majestic split tail on its rather modest body, walking with wombats and koalas.
If your guess was the superb lyerbird, them congrats you guessed right.
A beautiful little bird that we could easily have without aviarys. Iconic to australia and its fauna, i doubt anybody would complain and our australian friends for sure will have a blast with this new and unique take on their fauna in a zoo game.
Im honest, i really hope they make it in someday.
View attachment 327019
The third member from our squad of newcomers is the north american porcupine. Taking the slot of the now ingame racoon they would be our second arboreal animal from north america and our third rodent in the game, forming the trifecta of water, ground and tree rodent.
They also are just really cute looking and add something completly new to the game, so they also have my full support.
Beautiful potato shapped durians
View attachment 327020
While i said that the twillight pack mostly satisfied my need for more lowkey smaller zoo animals, theres one that has to many great propertys for me to ignore.
This animal has a range that spans acroos 3 contienents, thrives not only in european farm land and forests, profiting greatly from the mosaic like system of woodlands, wetlands and farmlands, but also in the tropical wetlands of africa and asia.
Im talking ofcourse about the white stork, one of the most common animals in EAZA zoos.
These majestic large wading birds would add a ton to the game and fill a very open niche of bird for 3 continents at a time. Quite the steal
View attachment 327024
So now before i reveal the final new comer, lets first revisit our returning champions.
One of them small and nimble, the other strong and big.
One from a world down under, the other the conqueror of eurasia, north africa and with the help of us humans every place we brought them.
One very smart and cunning, the other as bright as a loaf of bread.
But both have pne thing in common, they are among the most common animals in the EAZA, especally in the smaller zoos.
These two heroes are the wild boar and red necked wallaby, 2 of the last missing core animals for their respective regions.
You cannot build a wildpark without the wild boar and no international australian section without a wallaby, so lets welcome them with a sweet embrace.
View attachment 327025
View attachment 327026
Now for the last animal, lets reflect on what we have in the pack and what we got in the game.
We have a deer from asia, a suid from eurasia and north africa, a large bird from africa, europe and asia, an arboreal rodent from north america and a small bird and small macropod from australia.
We do not have a carnivore in the pack, aswell as 1 animal from north america, 2 animals from oceania, 2 from europe, 2 from africa and 3 from asia, which in my humble opinion is allready quite the good mix.
So statistics say, that a carnivore from north america would be the best choice, right?
Well if we expand our scope, id say no.
The twillight pack just gave us 3 north american carnivorans, we dont really need another one.
The only 2 worthy candidates for this theme would be the wolverine and the american black bear, but of them feel like they are better of elsewhere, eventhough i totally understand if someone chooses them as the 7. Animal.
So if we look at this pack and the game again, somebody here will be lonely.
Eventhough we got a lot of animals from asia, china is quite empty. Also we got only quite the few of non tropical arboreal animals in the game.
Another weird blind spot is that we have only a very little amount of arboreal animals from mainland asia.
Lets just say ive got an animal that can cover all of these, while also adding something new to the allready great south east asia!
Can you guess who it us by looking at its range and the hints above?
View attachment 327028
If your guess was yellow throated marten, your correct!
A beautiful splash of color that will enhance every region of eastern asia for everyone to enjoy!
View attachment 327030
And thats it for my update, hope you like it!
And yes, that's a baby pudu.
