The game looks beautiful and what people who are long time players and modders of Zoo Tycoon 2 have dreamed of. Back in the day I used to make mods for Zoo Tycoon 2 which was a blast but I stopped a few years ago. Anyway I have thought long and hard about zoo games, and filling in holes in animal rosters so here are my suggestions on animals (that if modding was available, I would certainly want to try making at least the ones that use very similar models), and also some implementation ideas.
Ok lets do mammals
Ok... this is what I want to talk about, Birds. There is always a severe lack of birds, especially raptors and Passeriformes in every zoo game. I made countless birds for zoo tycoon 2, and have had some ideas regarding habitat and how it should work. First Aviaries, I brought this up for bat containment, but I really think a reasonably sized aviary is needed, something that can contain eagles and the like, so maybe 2-3 times larger than the exhibits. Birds of prey really just sit around, so they can act like most exhibit animals, just animations of them sunning themselves or preening, or calling, would be nice if they went to eat out of a food dish though. Small birds are harder because they move around a lot, probably looped animations of them moving from branch to branch, perhaps able to change what they do when perched so it really isn't looped, like they choose to call or preen, then move on, again going to a feeder would also be fun... So I would like these birds actually use 2 exhibit types, the aviaries and then most critically walk-through aviaries. They are just such awesome exhibits, but really difficult to pull of convincingly. I would do it, by treating the aviary footprint like a regular fence, but birds can't fly out of it, then construct the roof and entrances. Birds would operate by flying to different nodes in the aviary, each woody plant should get at least 1 perching node, preferably more, then nodes on the path railings, new perches, and the feeders. The birds then perch on the nodes and fly between them, choosing to sleep, or call, or preen, or just sit when they land, on specific enrichment or feeders they do some interaction animation. perhaps some nodes can be right next to each other and if 2 birds land next to each other they can do some kind of social interaction animation, like call at each other or allopreen. These large walk through aviaries would allow other birds like peafowl or flamingo to cohabitate with smaller species.
Ok so just to finish up are reptiles/amphibians/inverts
Ok lets do mammals
Northern White-cheeked Gibbon
Siamang
any Spider Monkey
White-and-black Colobus
Diana Monkey
Southern Plains Gray Langur
Hamadryas Baboon
White-faced Capuchin
Golden Lion Tamarin
White-and-black Ruffed Lemur
Coquerel’s Sifaka (Need to hop around on their hind legs, because it makes them so cute)
Aye-aye
American Beaver
Capybara
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Naked Mole Rat (New Underground Habitat Exhibit)
Southern White Rhinoceros
Eastern Black Rhinoceros
Sumatran Rhinoceros
Malayan Tapir
Rothschild Giraffe
Masai Giraffe
Blue Wildebeest
Dama Gazelle
Addax
Scimitar-horned Addax
Takin
Markhor
Spanish Ibex
Bighorn Sheep
Gaur
Grevy’s Zebra
Przewalski’s Wild Horse
Onager
Dromedary Camel
Guanaco
North Sulawesi Babirusa
Red River Hog
Chital
Pere David’s Deer
Common Vampire Bat (works in an exhibit)
Straw-colored Bat (these mega bats need a new aviary exhibit, which I will get into with birds)
Large Flying Fox
Meerkat
Banded Mongoose
Fossa
North American River Otter
Giant Otter
Asian Small Clawed Otter
Southern Sea Otter (Though should probably wait for a marine addition)
American Black Bear
Sun Bear
Aardwolf
Red Fox
Fennec Fox
Jaguar
Mountain Lion
Bobcat
Eurasian Lynx
Pallas Cat
Sand Cat
Ocelot
Serval
Lowland Streaked Tenrec (Exhibit)
Brown-Throated Three-toed Sloth (Exhibit)
Nine-banded Armadillo
Giant Anteater
Red Kangaroo
Red-necked Wallaby
Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby
Koala
Short-beaked Echidna
Siamang
any Spider Monkey
White-and-black Colobus
Diana Monkey
Southern Plains Gray Langur
Hamadryas Baboon
White-faced Capuchin
Golden Lion Tamarin
White-and-black Ruffed Lemur
Coquerel’s Sifaka (Need to hop around on their hind legs, because it makes them so cute)
Aye-aye
American Beaver
Capybara
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Naked Mole Rat (New Underground Habitat Exhibit)
Southern White Rhinoceros
Eastern Black Rhinoceros
Sumatran Rhinoceros
Malayan Tapir
Rothschild Giraffe
Masai Giraffe
Blue Wildebeest
Dama Gazelle
Addax
Scimitar-horned Addax
Takin
Markhor
Spanish Ibex
Bighorn Sheep
Gaur
Grevy’s Zebra
Przewalski’s Wild Horse
Onager
Dromedary Camel
Guanaco
North Sulawesi Babirusa
Red River Hog
Chital
Pere David’s Deer
Common Vampire Bat (works in an exhibit)
Straw-colored Bat (these mega bats need a new aviary exhibit, which I will get into with birds)
Large Flying Fox
Meerkat
Banded Mongoose
Fossa
North American River Otter
Giant Otter
Asian Small Clawed Otter
Southern Sea Otter (Though should probably wait for a marine addition)
American Black Bear
Sun Bear
Aardwolf
Red Fox
Fennec Fox
Jaguar
Mountain Lion
Bobcat
Eurasian Lynx
Pallas Cat
Sand Cat
Ocelot
Serval
Lowland Streaked Tenrec (Exhibit)
Brown-Throated Three-toed Sloth (Exhibit)
Nine-banded Armadillo
Giant Anteater
Red Kangaroo
Red-necked Wallaby
Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby
Koala
Short-beaked Echidna
Ok... this is what I want to talk about, Birds. There is always a severe lack of birds, especially raptors and Passeriformes in every zoo game. I made countless birds for zoo tycoon 2, and have had some ideas regarding habitat and how it should work. First Aviaries, I brought this up for bat containment, but I really think a reasonably sized aviary is needed, something that can contain eagles and the like, so maybe 2-3 times larger than the exhibits. Birds of prey really just sit around, so they can act like most exhibit animals, just animations of them sunning themselves or preening, or calling, would be nice if they went to eat out of a food dish though. Small birds are harder because they move around a lot, probably looped animations of them moving from branch to branch, perhaps able to change what they do when perched so it really isn't looped, like they choose to call or preen, then move on, again going to a feeder would also be fun... So I would like these birds actually use 2 exhibit types, the aviaries and then most critically walk-through aviaries. They are just such awesome exhibits, but really difficult to pull of convincingly. I would do it, by treating the aviary footprint like a regular fence, but birds can't fly out of it, then construct the roof and entrances. Birds would operate by flying to different nodes in the aviary, each woody plant should get at least 1 perching node, preferably more, then nodes on the path railings, new perches, and the feeders. The birds then perch on the nodes and fly between them, choosing to sleep, or call, or preen, or just sit when they land, on specific enrichment or feeders they do some interaction animation. perhaps some nodes can be right next to each other and if 2 birds land next to each other they can do some kind of social interaction animation, like call at each other or allopreen. These large walk through aviaries would allow other birds like peafowl or flamingo to cohabitate with smaller species.
Ok so birds that operate the same as current ones being large enough or regularly kept in open air exhibits
Emu
North Island Brown Kiwi
Southern Cassowary
Black Swan
Mute Swan
Magpie Goose
Nene
White-faced Whistling Duck
Egyptian Goose
Shoebill
Saddle-billed Stork
Grey Crowned Crane
Sarus Crane
Japanese Crane
Kori Bustard
Helmeted Guineafowl
Red Junglefowl
Great Argus
Golden Pheasant
Himalayan Monal
Victoria-crowned Pigeon
Southern Ground Hornbill
Secretary bird
Ok so here is where the new system would matter. Raptors in theory could be open exhibits, due to clipped wings, but if not they would just be in the smaller aviaries
Bald Eagle
Andean Condor
Lappet-faced Vulture
Eurasian Eagle-Owl
and finally my large list of small birds that would use the node system for walk through aviaries as well as working in the smaller aviaries
Kea
Sulfur-crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet (new lorikeet feeding thing?)
Scarlet Macaw
Blue-and-Gold Macaw
African Grey Parrot
Bali Myna
Toco Toucan
Great Indian Hornbill
Guianan -of-the-Rock
Hawaiian Crow
Common Green Magpie
Black-Throated Magpie Jay
Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise
Nicobar Pigeon (though these really like to walk on the ground too)
Pied Imperial Pigeon
Crested Pigeon
Emu
North Island Brown Kiwi
Southern Cassowary
Black Swan
Mute Swan
Magpie Goose
Nene
White-faced Whistling Duck
Egyptian Goose
Shoebill
Saddle-billed Stork
Grey Crowned Crane
Sarus Crane
Japanese Crane
Kori Bustard
Helmeted Guineafowl
Red Junglefowl
Great Argus
Golden Pheasant
Himalayan Monal
Victoria-crowned Pigeon
Southern Ground Hornbill
Secretary bird
Ok so here is where the new system would matter. Raptors in theory could be open exhibits, due to clipped wings, but if not they would just be in the smaller aviaries
Bald Eagle
Andean Condor
Lappet-faced Vulture
Eurasian Eagle-Owl
and finally my large list of small birds that would use the node system for walk through aviaries as well as working in the smaller aviaries
Kea
Sulfur-crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet (new lorikeet feeding thing?)
Scarlet Macaw
Blue-and-Gold Macaw
African Grey Parrot
Bali Myna
Toco Toucan
Great Indian Hornbill
Guianan -of-the-Rock
Hawaiian Crow
Common Green Magpie
Black-Throated Magpie Jay
Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise
Nicobar Pigeon (though these really like to walk on the ground too)
Pied Imperial Pigeon
Crested Pigeon
So here are the big reptiles I would want
American Alligator
Leopard Tortoise
Radiated Tortoise
Argentine black-and-white Tegu
...and finally my master list of exhibit animals
Madagascar Tree Boa
Emerald tree Python
Black Mamba
Inland Taipan
King Cobra
Rhinoceros Iguana
Frilled Dragon
Giant Leaf Tailed Gecko
Tuatara
Red-eyed Tree Frog
Blue Poison Dart Frog
Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog
Emperor Scorpion
Giant Desert Centipede
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
Leaf-cutter Ant (either in the underground naked mole rat exhibit and you just add one colony, or you can add just one colony to an exhibit)
American Alligator
Leopard Tortoise
Radiated Tortoise
Argentine black-and-white Tegu
...and finally my master list of exhibit animals
Madagascar Tree Boa
Emerald tree Python
Black Mamba
Inland Taipan
King Cobra
Rhinoceros Iguana
Frilled Dragon
Giant Leaf Tailed Gecko
Tuatara
Red-eyed Tree Frog
Blue Poison Dart Frog
Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog
Emperor Scorpion
Giant Desert Centipede
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
Leaf-cutter Ant (either in the underground naked mole rat exhibit and you just add one colony, or you can add just one colony to an exhibit)
The marine mania expansion pack of Zoo Tycoon 2 was incredible.