I propaply got the hottest take after thinking about this pack
In a weird way, i like the uk focus.
Hear me out, i know i sound crazy, but so far we have allways talked about petting zoos and domestic as like one thing with the only thing keeping it together as a theme being that the animals are domestics, but that isnt actually acurate from my experience.
First of, domestics can be more then a petting zoo.
Zoom zoo gelsenkirchen is one of if not the most modern and best zoos in germany, both in animal husbandry and theming and guess how their african area starts of?
With an african village area and a habitat with african dwarf goats, watussi cattle and somali sheep, which is played completly straight as a normal exhibit and its easily the strongest starter exhibit for their 4 themeactic areas. Its the most educational, thematic and gentle introduction while not feeling out of place at all.
Something like this could be done for a multitude of areas and would offer a fun new angle for habitat theming.
A himalayan village with domestic yak, an andean settlement with lamas and guinea pigs, a polonesyan one with kunekune or now a traditional british countrysted with our four british breeds.
And thats where the really spicy stuff comes in.
Id like to have a small roster of domestics for every continent, boosting not only the ability to mix and match but also adding iconic animals for many areas that bring a new spin.
Africa is the easiest and most obvious, but watussi cattle, african dwarf goat, guinea fowl and maybe either somali or the much more common kamerun sheep could bring a fun spin to our african areas, especally combined with the allready existing dromedary. South america has lamas and alpacas but guinea pigs would also add a ton and especally something non ungulate, just like muscovy ducks. Domestic Yak, Miniature Zebu, Vitnamese Pot Belly, Koi and japanese quail would be a very varried roster from all over asia, all of them being either very iconic and usefull for their area or in general or both. Continental europe also could expand a little with the hinterwald cattle, the smallest european cattle breed and a nice alpine additon to the goats and with a bunny, with both lop rabbits and flemish giant rabbits being not only common but also on both ends of the cute and small to bigger then a cat pipeline, while shetland ponys and moufflon would be great additions from the uk and the mediteranean isles. Another intersting option could be the kronik and heck cattle, two attempts to breed back the extinct tarpan aka european wild horse and aurox.
Oceania also got an iconic one with the kunekune pig but also budgies, the third most common pet on the planet.
Even north america has some cool heritage breeds for sure even if i would only know the texas long horn and domestic turkey without looking them up.
Id argue all of these animals but especally the african, oceanian and asian ones would still be good additions to the game that could easily be sprinkled in as filler ungulates in the future. For example the yak is perfect for a mountain pack, an island pack could choose between shetland pony, kunekune and mouflon and i see no reason why the very requested african safari animal pack cant give 2 slots to the watussi cattle and dwarf goat and/or guinea fowl.
Lets face it, frontier loves their ungulate clones and with packs where the wild ones are either oversaturated or non existant domestics could fill that spot.
Would most people love that? Propaply not but with the new animal encounters these animals are allready deeper then most other animals in the game so when frontier is choosing for their island pack filler pig id wholeheartedly would rather get the kunekune over the visayan warty pig for example.
In a perfect world every region would have a perfect aka blue animal count and we wouldnt be flooded with ungulates, but in the world we are in rn with the state the game is currently in, if support continues i see no reason why they shouldnt start adding some more domestics here and there to the rather nice even if in parts niche base we have rn to elevate domestics from just domestics to actual regional variation and thematic areas representing different cultures and heritages.
