Nile Monitor Realism Issues

[Genevieve Irene Garcia de Muelle]

How come the nile monitors don't climb? I'm not saying they should be enriched by climbing, I'm just saying they should be able to. In the wild, nile monitors are avid climbers, and often climb in the wild. Sorry about the slightly harsh tone of this thread, just trying to give some constructive criticism.

Adult nile monitor climbing in tree canopy

Juvenile nile monitor hanging from branch

Nile monitor climbing riverside tree

 

[NZFanatic]

The Nile monitor, Chinese pangolin, and meerkat should all be able to climb to some extent, as all three utilise climbing in their day-to-day behaviours.

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

Young Komodo dragons are also very good climbers and spend a lot of time off the ground - my local zoo bred them a few years back and the young seemed to spend most of their time in the branches and were kept in basically arboreal exhibits. It's a very natural behaviour that I think may be instinctive, as in the wild the young are very vulnerable to cannibalism by the adults.

I'm not entirely sure how simple or complicated it would be to have climbing behaviour available only for the younger stage of an animal's growth cycle though.

 

[NZFanatic]

I'm not entirely sure how simple or complicated it would be to have climbing behaviour available only for the younger stage of an animal's growth cycle though.

Well, use of the water pool enrichment item is restricted to juvenile elephants and not adults, so we at least know it's possible to restrict certain behaviours to juveniles.

 

[ReptoMin]

I believe this might be a bit hard to implement. Lizard rigs work differently to any other climbing animal in the game, so they probably decided that the current climbing system isn't compatible with the elongated lizard rigs. However I would love to see climbing Nile monitors and juvenile Komodos of course.

 

[-LUCA-]

Well, use of the water pool enrichment item is restricted to juvenile elephants and not adults, so we at least know it's possible to restrict certain behaviours to juveniles.

I wish the adults could use it too. The pool is obviously too small for them to get inside, but they could at least come to the side and spray water on themselves. Would be a treat to watch.

 

[Firestar97]

How come the nile monitors don't climb? I'm not saying they should be enriched by climbing, I'm just saying they should be able to. In the wild, nile monitors are avid climbers, and often climb in the wild. Sorry about the slightly harsh tone of this thread, just trying to give some constructive criticism.
View attachment 248965
Adult nile monitor climbing in tree canopy
View attachment 248966
Juvenile nile monitor hanging from branch
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Nile monitor climbing riverside tree

Didn't know they do climb too. Would be great to see in the Game. Another Thing that bothers me about Nile Monitors in the Game is that every single Individual is so extremely colorful. There should be some less bright Variations.

Young Komodo dragons are also very good climbers and spend a lot of time off the ground - my local zoo bred them a few years back and the young seemed to spend most of their time in the branches and were kept in basically arboreal exhibits. It's a very natural behaviour that I think may be instinctive, as in the wild the young are very vulnerable to cannibalism by the adults.

I'm not entirely sure how simple or complicated it would be to have climbing behaviour available only for the younger stage of an animal's growth cycle though.

This is definitely needed in the Game. Would be cool if they would also implement a Cannibalism System for some Species like Komodo Dragons, so the Juveniles would either need to be kept in a separate Enclosure or with enough Trees or Climbing Structures.

I wish the adults could use it too. The pool is obviously too small for them to get inside, but they could at least come to the side and spray water on themselves. Would be a treat to watch.

It's a Shame. When I've used it for Elephants that was my first Thought what would happen. I would absolutely love to see it

 

[DrBurrito]

This is definitely needed in the Game. Would be cool if they would also implement a Cannibalism System for some Species like Komodo Dragons, so the Juveniles would either need to be kept in a separate Enclosure or with enough Trees or Climbing Structures.

I believe this would only be possible if there was an egg laying and incubation mechanic in the game, which they intentionally avoided. Otherwise we would have the added stress of collecting young the moment they are born, similar to instantaneous fighting during maturation - actually even worse with guaranteed instant death compared to fights.

 

[Firestar97]

I believe this would only be possible if there was an egg laying and incubation mechanic in the game, which they intentionally avoided. Otherwise we would have the added stress of collecting young the moment they are born, similar to instantaneous fighting during maturation - actually even worse with guaranteed instant death compared to fights.

You're right. Might be a similar Catastrophe to the Animals getting hurt without fighting. But due to them getting multiple Offspring, maybe only 1 or 2 will get eaten while the Rest of them savely makes it to the Trees or gets collected fast enough. But it would definitely be better if they would lay Eggs. Then we could just let a Keeper collect and incubate them

 

[NZFanatic]

I believe this would only be possible if there was an egg laying and incubation mechanic in the game, which they intentionally avoided. Otherwise we would have the added stress of collecting young the moment they are born, similar to instantaneous fighting during maturation - actually even worse with guaranteed instant death compared to fights.

A long time ago I had the idea of a new staff facility - the "incubation centre" - where your habitat reptile and exhibit animal offspring would automatically be sent to for organisation, like a separate trade centre. My thought process was that you could go through the list and decide which animals to keep and which animals to move on without taking up space in the trade centre, and at your leisure.

I still think eggs themselves are pointless and add nothing to the game except for an extra step between birth and newborn, though.

 

[XT]

I think an egg 'nest' for several of the animals would be great. I'd be a habitat item (different ones for different species) and add to the look of the habitat. And, instead of newborns appearing around their mother, they'd appear around the nest. I'm ... less enthused about the cannibalism idea - Frontier seems to have generally avoided some of the 'circle of life' aspects of zoo keeping.

Heck, even as just a decoration, various types of nests with fake eggs would be great:

• Alligator/crocodile piles of detritus
• Flamingo mud nests
• Ostrich scrapes
• ... whatever komodo dragons and nile monitors use as nests.