Moulting and Shedding for Animals and Seasonal Coats

[RedPandaReggie]

Something that could be added nowadays into the game, considering so many new behaviours have been added of late, moulting is another that can be added for many animals.

What is Moulting and Shedding: Moulting and Shedding are processes that an animal would seasonally lose scales, fur or feathers. From moulting an animal would have a summer variation, and then when the time comes, it would gain a winter variation. Shedding would particularly be exhibited in exhibit animals like invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians. Some animals shed their antlers, and that could be included in the mechanic too.

Seasonal Coats: Animals can have different coats based on the seasons which can look different to their previous coat.

What animals could have the moulting and shedding mechanics:

Base Game:

1. Amazonian Giant Centipede
2. American Bison (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
3. Bactrian Camel (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
4. Boa Constrictor
5. Brazilian Salmon-Pink Tarantula
6. Brazilian Wandering Spider
7. Chinese Pangolin
8. Common Death Adder
9. Common Ostrich
10. Eastern Brown Snake
11. Formosan Black Bear (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
12. Gharial
13. Giant Burrowing Cockroach
14. Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion
15. Giant Forest Scorpion
16. Giant Panda (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
17. Gila Monster
18. Golden Poison Frog
19. Goliath Beetle
20. Goliath Birdeater
21. Goliath Frog
22. Greater Flamingo
23. Green Iguana
24. Grizzly Bear (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
25. Himalayan Brown Bear (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
26. Indian Peafowl
27. Japanese Macaque (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
28. Lehmann's Poison Frog
29. Mexican Red Knee Tarantula
30. Nile Monitor
31. Puff Adder
32. Red Deer
33. Red Panda (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
34. Saltwater Crocodile
35. Siberian Tiger (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
36. Snow Leopard (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
37. Timber Wolf (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
38. Titan Beetle
39. Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
40. Yellow Anaconda

DLC Animals:

1. African Penguin
2. Alpine Ibex (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
3. American Alligator
4. American Bullfrog
5. Amur Leopard (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
6. Arctic Fox (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
7. Arctic Wolf (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
8. Black Tailed Prairie Dog (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
9. California Sea Lion
10. Cougar (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
11. Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
12. Dall Sheep (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
13. Dhole (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
14. Dingo (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
15. Diamondback Terrapin
16. Eastern Blue Tongued Lizard
17. Emu
18. Eurasian Lynx (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
19. European Badger (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
20. European Fallow Deer (Winter Coat and Summer Coat and sheds antlers)
21. Grey Seal
22. King Penguin (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
23. Komodo Dragon
24. Llama (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
25. Moose (Winter Coat and Summer Coat and sheds antlers)
26. North American Beaver (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
27. Polar Bear (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
28. Przewalski's Horse (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
29. Raccoon (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
30. Red Fox (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
31. Red Crowned Crane
32. Red Necked Wallaby (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)
33. Red-Eyed Tree Frog
34. Reindeer (Winter Coat and Summer Coat and sheds antlers)
35. Southern Cassowary
36. Spectacled Caiman
37. Striped Skunk (Winter Coat and Summer Coat)

This would be a fantastic feature, and it would give players some variations of animals, particularly in the canids, that we have wanted to see for a long time.

 

[VetGirl330]

Some visual variation would be great, but it's never going to happen. First, PZ doesn't have any seasons, which precludes seasonal variation. I always thought it was a complete waste for Frontier to spend so much time on the beautiful weather effects in PZ and then fail to program seasons to present the weather in an impactful way. It has been stated that this is due to the ridiculous game speed we are stuck with in PZ. Seasons would pass so quickly it could actually be detrimental to the game. So we are never going to see any animal variation or behavior dependent on seasonal changes.
Second all the changes you are asking for would require new skins, and most of them new models too. Asking Frontier to add one or more new models for every animal is a huge amount of work and completely unrealistic. They already struggle to provide a few new models for their DLCs a few times a year.
There was a group of very talented modders who did manage to add the features you have requested to ZT2, so perhaps there is hope? Your list is overly ambitious. I would focus on a few animals where there is actually a significant difference in fur length or color between seasons first, e.g. arctic fox, red fox, reindeer, Przewalski's horse, bison, Bactrian camel, amur leopard. Antlers are another obvious seasonal variation that would be impactful in the game.

I don't understand what you are even suggesting for all the reptilian and exhibit animal species. How do expect their sheds to be represented in the game? Cloudy eyes, decreased movement, and decreased appetite are too subtle to even be detected in exhibit animals. While some of the snakes shed large intact skins, the rest of the reptiles shed individual scales with visible evidence left behind. So maybe they could have the new keeper exhibit talk hold up a snake skin? What ideas did you have?