Potential for more: Large birds/tall birds

[Spiderhawk]

Hey everybody.
I wanted to discuss potential for other members of animal families we currently have in game.
I thought about what continents, biomes, themes we do not have for a certain animal family.
I want to hear what other_____ can be added that differ from our current_____ of continent/biomes combination that would be a great future addition
Today I want to discuss Big birds that would be suitable for a proper habitat. Please note I strongly support aviaries and wish for a lot of birds, I want to focus this thread on birds that don’t need to be contained in an aviary.
First off let’s review what we have.
Africa: Ostrich. Grassland
Africa and India: Flamingos.
India: Peafowls, temperate grassland
Australia: cassowaries. Tropical.
Let’s get some other birds from the continents not covered from above or try and match from different biomes of continents covered.
I kinda wish they had a marsh/wetland biome/terrain but w/e
I suggest
For North America. Sand hill Crane
South America: Rhea
Europe: idk any honestly
Africa: Shoebill
Asia: Grey crowned crane (or any of the beautiful cranes of Asia)
Australia: Emu (I’m personally glad the cassowaries got picked first as I find them fascinating)
Thoughts suggestions comments go for it

 

[DragonNTiger]

Ah birds... that'll be tough. Without a proper aviary system they'll be limited to flightless and semi-flightless options... not that there aren't a fair few of those...

North America has the Roadrunner... although it may be a bit on the small side.

South America has the Rhea of course... but there's also the Seriemas; thought to be the closest living relatives of the extinct terror birds. Of the two breeds, the Red-Legged Seriema is the largest.

Africa has a few options that I know of; the ever-popular Secretary Bird for one... but also the Ground Hornbill; the Southern Ground Hornbill being the biggest I hear. The Shoebill would be awesome too... and sounds like a fairly terrestrial bird.

Australia has the Emu of course... although a Kiwi would be cute too. It also has the Kakapo--the endangered flightless parrot--although people would no doubt whine about it being unrealistic...

Asia has the Green Peafowl... if they ever wanted to clone the Indian Peafowl I suppose...

I... also have nothing for Europe...

I suppose I should bring up penguins; Emperor, Rockhopper, Chinstrap, Little Blue, Galapagos, Humboldt, African... lots of good options... if they can make swimming work...

 

[NZFanatic]

I'd love some pheasants (Himlayan monal especially) and cranes (the grey crowned crane - which is from Africa by the way, not Asia - and the red-crowned crane), and above all else the brown kiwi.

Also the emu.

 

[markun]

Europe: idk any honestly

You could have the white stork or Eurasian crane.

 

[random goat]

You could have the white stork or Eurasian crane.

These and the great bustard or even the Western capercaiillie.

 

[markun]

These and the great bustard or even the Western capercaiillie.

Although the capercaillie would really need an aviary.

 

[SotF]

If they'd throw in some of the grounded birds rather than just ground birds, there are several parrots and even birds of prey that would work. Simply adding a secondary exhibit type for them where they have a perch that's expanded like the current ones, list them as exhibit animals and just have a different type of exhibit.

A lot of them are rescues and injured/crippled birds when they get them, and could be an interesting way to add them in without bringing in more tech there.

 

[NL_Mutso]

Europe: Griffon Vulture or Bearded Vulture , White Swan

For Asia they could add: Himalayan monal

Or some Crane species, Turkey species (NA or Australian one), Great White pelican covers some areas.

Edit: didn't read the part about no aviary but still if they would add extra mesh options to the game:
In Dierenpark Amersfoort they got a really big walk-through aviary, to me that would be the best option for some big birds.

Starting from 0:54 - you get a general impression on how it looks

Source: https://youtu.be/o782_AC5shE?t=54

 

[jcp011c]

If we limit it to mainly ground based birds, or birds that while can fly don't "have" to fly - for game mechanics reasons, I would go with Shoebill Stork, Scarlet Ibis, Marabou Stork, Secretary Bird, Pelicans of some type, and Roadrunner. I'd love to somehow get Bald Eagles, parrots of various species, kingfisher, Hornbill, Harpy Eagles, osprey, owls of various species, and Toucans in, but I think they would absolutely require flying for those.

 

[CLADIN93]

I think you ignore some really obvious ones--most of the large water birds are not being displayed in aviaries in zoos. Birds like pelicans, storks, and more. My favorite zoo in the world has an aquatic birds habitat,with kind of ducks, pelicans,storks,and more and I would love to recreate it in the game

 

[NZFanatic]

Flying isn't really the issue. They can make flying birds no problem, of a sort - they did it in JWE. It's more that this community would probably set the board on fire if they didn't get the exact type of flying bird they wanted (i.e. birds as full habitat animals in comprehensive customisable aviaries, no matter how difficult it is to fulfil that enduring wish).

Personally I'd be happy with any additional birds at this point. The cassowary was nice (I'd prefer the emu, but whatever), and there are loads of pheasants, cranes, and waterfowl that could conceivably be included without intensive flight mechanics. And if we do end up with limited flying birds (in the sense that they are on looped animations or something), I'll still be happy, because at least we have them at all even if they aren't as mind-blowing as everyone wants them to be.

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

I think there are a lot of really good options for ground-dwelling birds in Planet Zoo. There are plenty of options for each continent:
North America: Great blue heron (Aquatic, Temperate, Grassland, Taiga, Tropical). Second choice: Trumpeter swan (Aquatic, Grassland, Temperate, Taiga, Tundra)
South and Central America: Ocellated turkey (Tropical, Temperate). Second choice: Grey-winged trumpeter (Tropical).
Asia: Lesser adjutant stork (Aquatic, Tropical, Grassland). Second choice: Temminck's tragopan (Temperate).
Europe: Great bustard (Grassland). Second choice: Black stork (Aquatic, Taiga, Temperate, Grassland) - winters in Africa.
Africa: Plenty of options here; Grey crowned crane (Aquatic, Grassland). Secretary bird (Grassland). Kenya crested guineafowl (Tropical, Grassland). Southern ground hornbill (Grassland). Egyptian goose (Aquatic, Grassland, Desert, Temperate). To choose just a few - cannot pick a first choice from that list.
Australasia: Victoria crowned pigeon (Tropical). Second choice: Kagu (Tropical).
Multiple continents: Great white pelican (Aquatic, Tropical, Grassland, Temperate) - Africa, Asia, Europe. Second choice: Red-breasted goose (Aquatic, Tundra, Grassland, Temperate) - Asia, Europe.

And there are plenty of possible species left off this list - emus, kiwis, tinamous, screamers, other swans and geese, pheasants, cormorants and other species of pelican, stork, heron, crane and flamingo all spring to mind.

If a roofed aviary feature was added to Planet Zoo, I would love to see it come with some smaller birds that are still ground-based. When you think about it, there is a big diversity of birds that are not particularly flight-orientated that are still kept in aviaries. They would require the same kind of animations as the other ground-dwelling birds. An example for each continent could include:
North America: Greater roadrunner (Desert).
South and Central America: Chaco chachalaca (Tropical, Grassland).
Asia: Mindanao bleeding-heart dove (Tropical).
Europe: Western swamphen (Aquatic, Grassland, Temperate).
Africa: White-necked rockfowl (Tropical).
Australasia: Masked lapwing (Aquatic, Grassland, Tropical, Temperate).

 

[kerry144]

I would love to see the birds/reptiles already in the game and future ones being able to build nests and laying eggs.

 

[NZFanatic]

I would love to see the birds/reptiles already in the game and future ones being able to build nests and laying eggs.

I've said this before but there's really no point. It's the same as saying you'd like to see the other animals giving birth. There isn't even consistency in real-life zoos on whether eggs are laid/hatched naturally or incubated artificially before being returned to the parents. I don't think such a feature would add anything to the game beyond an extra step between pregnancy and birth (and before anyone says it, I am aware it was a feature in Zoo Tycoon 2, and I didn't really agree with it then, either).