I remained very optimistic after Wednesday's stream, which strongly suggested an Islands pack. Fossa is a strong choice. I find all scenery packs disappointing, but I would have been okay with this as an islands pack. The theming is clearly Polynesian/ Papua New Guinea; we should have gotten an exotic endemic addition like a tree-kangaroo, or colorful terrestrial crowned pigeon, which is actually common in walk-through aviaries. Frankly I find Polynesia an odd-theme for a zoo game, especially PZ, because there is no megafauna from this region. The tropical pack we ended up with, a nightmare. As many have said limiting a tropical rainforest pack to just 4 roster slots is such as waste. Does this pack destroy any hope of ever seeing African or South American primates or tropical specimens from New Guinea or New Zealand?
Let's examine what we got. After an excruciating 4.5 month wait we got 4.5 animals, and three of them are just remakes (quick remodel) of previous additions, no new skeleton or animations.
1) Lar Gibbon. Nothing against the Lar gibbon, I prefer it to the Siamang, but we do NOT need two gibbons and three Southeast Asian primates in the game, when we have yet to have a single arboreal African primate or a single Amazonian monkey. Seriously, the Amazon in the largest TROPICAL rainforest in the world and teeming with biodiversity and we still can't even make anything remotely resembling an Amazon section. What are the two most quintessentially Amazonian animals: monkeys and parrots. We have neither. For the Amazon there are Howler monkeys, wooly monkeys, uakari, saki monkeys, titi monkeys, spider monkey, squirrel monkeys, and dozens of marmoset and tamarin species in captivity. For Africa the mantled guerza or any of the diverse Cercopithecus family are obvious choices.
2) Asian Water Monitor. Seriously? Stop with the giant monitor lizards already. And of all the monitors they could pick from a SECOND water monitor? Really. It is barely distinguishable from the Nile water monitor. You have to look at the position of the nostrils to reliably identify the two species! If it had to be a monitor couldn't they at least give us something unique like the arboreal crocodile monitor that it quite visually distinct, and actually from the region they are depicting. But really someone should inform Frontier there is rich world of reptilian diversity beyond crocodylia and Varanus. Sticking with the theme of large tropical aquatic lizards I would have been ecstatic to see the northern caiman lizard (just
look at this
gorgeous boy). Other aquatic choices include the green basilisk or the Philippine sailfin lizard. Any of the South American Tegus (Salvator sp.) would be great habitat species. Or how about a red-footed tortoise to mix in with the sloth, which is going to leave an amount of unutilized space in the WE. Or they could draw attention to the plight of numerous critically endangered Asian turtles, there are large (Asian forest tortoise) and colorful options (
Painted river terrapin).
3) Red River Hog. Another African suid. No conservation value. Meh. I don't personally need anymore suids in the game, but if they are added I would prefer a peccary for diversity.
4) Brown-throated sloth.
RUFKM. They had to choose a species that literally cannot be kept alive in captivity? Why not either of the two-toed sloths? I will never understand why a sloth is so popular with this community. There is a reason that sloths are almost never exhibited alone in zoos. They are incredibly boring, poor display animals. Sloths are most commonly exhibited in large tropical free-flight aviaries with lots of vibrant flying birds, or sometimes combined with a more active mammalian species. Had they given us a two-toed sloth plus a marmoset and/or tamarin species for the WE I would be perfectly happy.
