Planet Zoo | Americas Animal Pack | Available Now
- Thread starter Phil W
- Start date
Now the pack is out, these are my final thoughts about the animals:
Coyote: Not a very inspiring pick imo. We already had FOUR canids from North America. For me, the coyote doesn't really offer anything new. It is really well made though, and quite common in captivity in North America (even though as an European, I've seen the species just two times). Even though this is by far my least favorite species in the pack I will still rank it 6/10 because of the quality of the model and fur.
Bush dog: Two canids in one pack? At least the bush dog is a very unique one, and it also happens to be one of my personal favorite species IRL. They're cute, kinda weird, they can dive.... what's not to love? I do think the model could have been a tiny bit better, but the bush dog is still a winner for me. 9/10
Rhea: The coyote in reverse. I absolutely love it's inclusion, but not how it looks ingame. I've been wanting a rhea in PZ since forever, since it's so extremely common in zoos and it's a must-have for any South American mixed enclosure. Making a 'pampa enclosure with tapirs, capibaras, antears, llamas and rheas is gonna be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Frontier kinda messed up the model, which is really disappointing. It's not a Malayan tapir situation as Frontier actually put some effort into the rhea, but it does seem they didn't to all of their research. The rhea could have been a 9/10, but the design flaws takes it down to a 6/10.
American flamingo: Another bird! Yes, storks and pelicans are still lacking, but I welcome any bird from the New World as we really needed them. American flamingos are another very common and iconic zoo animal. It's very much a reskin (but an improvement over the greater flamingo) so I can not give it the full score. I do still like the addition and I think it has been really well executed. 8/10.
Bighorn sheep: Wild caprid number 5, but I don't really mind that. The bighorn is iconic and deserving of a place in the roster. It also has ZT1 nostalgia. I think the design is excellent and a huge improvement over the Dall sheep. My main 'issue' with the bighorn is that it makes the Dall sheep even more of an afterthought and kinda useless now. If we didn't already had another wild sheep from the Americas, the bighorn would be a 9/10 for me. But since the Dall sheep exists, I will rate it 7.5/10.
Ocelot: I love small cats, and I will never get tired of seeing new species in the game. I've been wanting a South American small feline for a long time, either Margay, jaguarundi, Geoffroys cat or ocelot. We have one now! The ocelot will be useful in South-American themed areas, but is also perfect for cat houses. I think the design of the ocelot is really good! 9/10
White-faced saki. Another New World monkey, finally. That already makes it one of the best animals in this pack. Do I like that Frontier chose this species specifically? Yes and no. Yes, because sakis are extremely common zoo animals. Yes because I love their sexual demorphism. No because sakis are extremely arboreal, which doesn't translate well to the game. Capuchins, Squirrel monkeys, even howlers and spider monkeys will occassionaly come to the ground (at least, in zoos) but I don't think I've ever seen a saki walk on the ground like they do in PZ.
Even though I would have personally picked the squirrel monkey, I still love the saki. 9/0
The building pieces don't do much for me this time around. 2/10
Coyote: Not a very inspiring pick imo. We already had FOUR canids from North America. For me, the coyote doesn't really offer anything new. It is really well made though, and quite common in captivity in North America (even though as an European, I've seen the species just two times). Even though this is by far my least favorite species in the pack I will still rank it 6/10 because of the quality of the model and fur.
Bush dog: Two canids in one pack? At least the bush dog is a very unique one, and it also happens to be one of my personal favorite species IRL. They're cute, kinda weird, they can dive.... what's not to love? I do think the model could have been a tiny bit better, but the bush dog is still a winner for me. 9/10
Rhea: The coyote in reverse. I absolutely love it's inclusion, but not how it looks ingame. I've been wanting a rhea in PZ since forever, since it's so extremely common in zoos and it's a must-have for any South American mixed enclosure. Making a 'pampa enclosure with tapirs, capibaras, antears, llamas and rheas is gonna be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Frontier kinda messed up the model, which is really disappointing. It's not a Malayan tapir situation as Frontier actually put some effort into the rhea, but it does seem they didn't to all of their research. The rhea could have been a 9/10, but the design flaws takes it down to a 6/10.
American flamingo: Another bird! Yes, storks and pelicans are still lacking, but I welcome any bird from the New World as we really needed them. American flamingos are another very common and iconic zoo animal. It's very much a reskin (but an improvement over the greater flamingo) so I can not give it the full score. I do still like the addition and I think it has been really well executed. 8/10.
Bighorn sheep: Wild caprid number 5, but I don't really mind that. The bighorn is iconic and deserving of a place in the roster. It also has ZT1 nostalgia. I think the design is excellent and a huge improvement over the Dall sheep. My main 'issue' with the bighorn is that it makes the Dall sheep even more of an afterthought and kinda useless now. If we didn't already had another wild sheep from the Americas, the bighorn would be a 9/10 for me. But since the Dall sheep exists, I will rate it 7.5/10.
Ocelot: I love small cats, and I will never get tired of seeing new species in the game. I've been wanting a South American small feline for a long time, either Margay, jaguarundi, Geoffroys cat or ocelot. We have one now! The ocelot will be useful in South-American themed areas, but is also perfect for cat houses. I think the design of the ocelot is really good! 9/10
White-faced saki. Another New World monkey, finally. That already makes it one of the best animals in this pack. Do I like that Frontier chose this species specifically? Yes and no. Yes, because sakis are extremely common zoo animals. Yes because I love their sexual demorphism. No because sakis are extremely arboreal, which doesn't translate well to the game. Capuchins, Squirrel monkeys, even howlers and spider monkeys will occassionaly come to the ground (at least, in zoos) but I don't think I've ever seen a saki walk on the ground like they do in PZ.
Even though I would have personally picked the squirrel monkey, I still love the saki. 9/0
The building pieces don't do much for me this time around. 2/10
I very much appreciate that propper soundwork was made for the Coyote. Their high frequent howls are already driving me up a wall and that is exactly as it should be. Believeable sounds! 
Now if we could get rid of neighing donkeys, please. Because I actually paid for the ass model twice, I'm sure soundwork is within the budget here. Thank you.
Now if we could get rid of neighing donkeys, please. Because I actually paid for the ass model twice, I'm sure soundwork is within the budget here. Thank you.
Ever since North America Animal Pack, every new "clone" animal has received at least one new animation or enrichment item to make it stand out from its predecessor.
Another example in this pack is the rhea being able to use the disco ball (which the ostrich can't use), or the coyote with the cardboard box (the dingo, which was probably the base, can't use the disco ball). The bighorn doesn't have any "new" enrichment items that make it stand out from the Dall Sheep (other than the scarecrow) but maybe it has a new social animation...?
For what it’s worth (given this is a forum about animals), I should point out that koalas being stupid is a myth. They have a pretty average-sized brain for a mammal of their size and smooth brains aren’t really an indicator of low intelligence - even some primates like squirrel monkeys and marmosets have smooth brains. I’d recommend this article to anyone who wants to read more.
That's a interesting article, thanks for sharing. But what about the fact they can't recognize leaves unless on trees, I guess on dumb thing doesn't make them complete idiot.
That's also a myth. I'm not sure where that idea came from but it's just been repeated ad nauseum without anyone checking:
Poor koalas getting constantly slandered thanks to misinformation lol
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Oh okay then, thanksThat's also a myth. I'm not sure where that idea came from but it's just been repeated ad nauseum without anyone checking:
Poor koalas getting constantly slandered thanks to misinformation lol
I guess Giraffe brained is the better insult then (though that could also be a misconception, to bad I am to lazy to check)
If it's not within the rules to post mods (though lately no one seems to care about it anymore, it definately is not allowed to post AI generated and slap the official logo on it.
Funnily enough my first thought was: "Wait, when has the mod improved so massively?", but I'd still want better for official.
Anyway. I hate how so many people use AI image generating without thinking these days and in case of generating Planet Zoo animals from AI it is even clearer that AI steals art.
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Lol I never knew there was this koala slander going onThat's also a myth. I'm not sure where that idea came from but it's just been repeated ad nauseum without anyone checking:
Poor koalas getting constantly slandered thanks to misinformation lol
Glad that you enlightened us!What about kangaroos? I heard that they have comparable intelligence to rabbits but not from any reliable source. I also don't know if rabbits are meant to be dum-dums? Seems like any animal with social skills and a wariness about them has something going on.
Unfortunately, as the koala article I linked touches on, there's generally been little study into the cognitive abilities of most marsupials and so we don't really have a good grasp of how intelligent they are. This means it's a bit difficult to say how "smart" kangaroos are, though recent findings show they are capable of more sophisticated behaviours than previously assumed - for example, kangaroos in captive settings learn to ask humans for help with difficult problems (which is a form of problem-solving), and their social lives are more complex than previously thought, including long-term friendships. Overall I'd say the best assumption would be that they're comparable to other mid-sized herbivores like antelope and deer given they share pretty similar lifestyles.
Can't say I know much on rabbit intelligence unfortunately so can't make too much of a comparison to kangaroos haha.
Also just a fun tidbit while we're on the subject of the intelligence of non-placental mammals - echidnas, for whatever reason, have very big brains, including the largest prefrontal cortex of any mammal compared to their body size (even outdoing humans). This is the part of the brain that, in humans, is associated with planning, decision-making, memory, the development of speech and other high functions. Why a dumpy egg-laying mammal that spends its life shoving its face in the dirt needs such a massive and complex brain is still something that hasn't really been studied - their goals are beyond our understanding lol.
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
There is an Off Topic section to these forums if you want to discuss whether AI art is a good thing or not 
For what it's worth there's nothing against posting AI images on these forums, in the same way that there's nothing against posting human created images. But trying to make it look official is a big no.
For what it's worth there's nothing against posting AI images on these forums, in the same way that there's nothing against posting human created images. But trying to make it look official is a big no.