Before andthing else, i like every single animal in the game and im thankfull that South America got some new Animals which is allways good, but...
I do believe we got the worst possible contenders for South america rn in a pack that could have easily featured much better ones.
What do i mean with that?
Well lets take a look
Rn our south american representation can be roughly grouped up like this:
Lama, Tapir, Giant Anteater and Capybara as "filler ungulates", with the lama also for petting zoos
The two caimans and the giant otter for Aquatic displays
The Capuchin as our only arboreal Animal somehow
The Jaguar and cougar as big predators
Also all of these animals besides the lama and the cougar are tropical species.
So when we look at it, what are clearly needed?
Non tropical animals, smaller animals and arboreal animals are our biggest concern, aswell as the massivly underepreseted sub tropical south america below the amazon baisin.
And well frontier seems to agree as we got one animal thats a small grounded one and an animal that lives below the amazon baisin.
There are two very common zoo animals that fit into that describtion and really are both the fundamentals for south american grasslands and a general back bone of south america sections in rl zoos.
Sadly, none of them made it.
The rhea got outcompeted by the emu, which is fair as its imo by far the most exciting addition alongside the wallaby, but also a bit tragic as the emu could have easily come with a desert pack while the rhea cant come with another biome pack without stretching.
The maras absence meanwhile can propaply be traced back to not just the armadillo but the fact that we got 3 carnivorans and while i like all 3 individually one of them should have been something else, in my opinion the patagonian Mara.
Because if we look at the actual south american additions, one thing is clear:
The non tropical grasslands in the southern half are still practically empty.
That region really needed something and while for example the yellow armadillo could have been that something, we got the nine banded instead.
Not a bad animal, i get how its range throught central america and the southern parts of north america benefit another area, but if we only have 2 non exhibit SA animals they should imo actually tackle those South American grasslands.
And while the maned wolf adds a larger omnivore to the savanahs, it also doesnt add to the southern parts, eventhough central south american representation is nice.
So in conclusion, while the pack in general was really nice, but through the mass of carnivorans and desert animals (really 4 out of 7 where species typically presemted for desert pack idears), grassland only animal representation sufferd, with no where as disappointing as the southern non tropical southamerican grasslands.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk
I do believe we got the worst possible contenders for South america rn in a pack that could have easily featured much better ones.
What do i mean with that?
Well lets take a look
Rn our south american representation can be roughly grouped up like this:
Lama, Tapir, Giant Anteater and Capybara as "filler ungulates", with the lama also for petting zoos
The two caimans and the giant otter for Aquatic displays
The Capuchin as our only arboreal Animal somehow
The Jaguar and cougar as big predators
Also all of these animals besides the lama and the cougar are tropical species.
So when we look at it, what are clearly needed?
Non tropical animals, smaller animals and arboreal animals are our biggest concern, aswell as the massivly underepreseted sub tropical south america below the amazon baisin.
And well frontier seems to agree as we got one animal thats a small grounded one and an animal that lives below the amazon baisin.
There are two very common zoo animals that fit into that describtion and really are both the fundamentals for south american grasslands and a general back bone of south america sections in rl zoos.
Sadly, none of them made it.
The rhea got outcompeted by the emu, which is fair as its imo by far the most exciting addition alongside the wallaby, but also a bit tragic as the emu could have easily come with a desert pack while the rhea cant come with another biome pack without stretching.
The maras absence meanwhile can propaply be traced back to not just the armadillo but the fact that we got 3 carnivorans and while i like all 3 individually one of them should have been something else, in my opinion the patagonian Mara.
Because if we look at the actual south american additions, one thing is clear:
The non tropical grasslands in the southern half are still practically empty.
That region really needed something and while for example the yellow armadillo could have been that something, we got the nine banded instead.
Not a bad animal, i get how its range throught central america and the southern parts of north america benefit another area, but if we only have 2 non exhibit SA animals they should imo actually tackle those South American grasslands.
And while the maned wolf adds a larger omnivore to the savanahs, it also doesnt add to the southern parts, eventhough central south american representation is nice.
So in conclusion, while the pack in general was really nice, but through the mass of carnivorans and desert animals (really 4 out of 7 where species typically presemted for desert pack idears), grassland only animal representation sufferd, with no where as disappointing as the southern non tropical southamerican grasslands.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk
