Love this, however, my number 1 animal from Madagascar would have to be the narrow-striped mongoose or Bokiboky. We need another mongoose in the game and this one of the best examples from Madagascar spiny forest, which is an extremely unique habitat. Plus, they’re adorable
Ranking the areas still requiring animals
- Thread starter yoav_r
- Start date
I think from a taxonomic perspective it should be a good cross-section of what zoos irl have to choose from... but at the same time the more biodiverse areas should have more animals...
So both, I guess!
I also think is a bit of both, considering we have in the map legend a category of "regions that have very few zoo relevant species" but also a category of "regions which are still lacking compared to their biodiversity".
Im gonna be that guy, but the phillipemes as one of the most biodiverse areas in the world shouldnt be grayed out, as there are enough zoo animals from there to consider.
For a small list only including animals i found quickly and are kept in the EAZA:
Animals we have that live on/have a subspecies on the phillipines:
This is a sizeable chunk of animals with a few quite common newcommers aswell as animals in the game, so id put phillipenes yellow instead of gray with the top 4 animals as its key missing species, as that would round the phillipenes roster with 2 different ungulates, a monkey and the unique giant cloud rat, making it more diverse then other areas that currently are green or blue (not saying the shouldnt be but the phillipenes allready have more animals in game then madagascar or new zealand for example)
For a small list only including animals i found quickly and are kept in the EAZA:
- Crab eating Macaque (68)
- Northern Luzon giant cloud rat (50)
- Visayan warty pig (47)
- Visayan spotted deer (31)
- Phillipine Duck (28)
- Slow Lori (16)
- Phillipene Crocodile (12)
- Phillipene Palm Civet (7)
- Visayan Mouse Deer (4)
- Phillipene Tarsier (2)
Animals we have that live on/have a subspecies on the phillipines:
- Porcupine
- Clouded Leopard
- Water buffalo
- Binturong
- Asian small clawed otter
This is a sizeable chunk of animals with a few quite common newcommers aswell as animals in the game, so id put phillipenes yellow instead of gray with the top 4 animals as its key missing species, as that would round the phillipenes roster with 2 different ungulates, a monkey and the unique giant cloud rat, making it more diverse then other areas that currently are green or blue (not saying the shouldnt be but the phillipenes allready have more animals in game then madagascar or new zealand for example)
In fairness the porcupine and clouded leopard of the Philippines are a different species and it is only domestic water buffalo there. I do agree though it shouldn't really be grey, there has been an increase in interest in Philippine animals in zoos recently.
The thing is you are counting Palawan, which you shouldn't. This is about the philippine islang group excluding Palawan, because they are a biogeogrpahically isolated island group from the rest of South East Asia, not the country the Phillipines.
With that said, we are lumping together both sides of the Wallace line under the "south-east asia" label, in large because the ingame SEA pack treated them both as the same region and due to some overlap.So a case could be made for including the philippines with the rest of south-east asia. In my mind they are seperate because we have almost no species native to the philippines except the saltwater croc, and that one is an omnipresent marine animal, and almost every animal that could be added for the philippines is entirely endemic to the philippines, making it a distinct area both biogeographically and in the game itself.
At end of day it's a matter of preferance. So let's discuss the Philippines - should they be kept their own region or reunited with South-East Asia?
Aside from the Saltwater crocodile, all the animals on either side of the Wallace are also exclusive to that area so wouldn't that constitute it as the same. Cause honestly, while I'd consider the sunda side blue id only consider the Wallace side green.
South America will have atleast 2 green regions, atleast 2 more regions will get blue, depression if not
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If we have more packs, I think a Latin America Animal Pack is a pretty safe bet. I'm not sure it will be the name of the DLC though. Secondly, a Tundra Pack with native America sceneries would be neat. Imo it's the last very important theme missing in the game.
If we get DLC throughout the whole of 2024, then I suspect both Americas would be getting some more rep. Africa is also a no-brainer, and if mountains is still on the table at all, Asia would probably be getting some more too. Lastly, like one or two Oceanian animals probably.
I think that despite getting a lot africa could still use an entire Safari animal pack.
Here's my suggestion:
- Common Eland
- Serval
- Hamadrayas baboon
- Guereza monkey
- Grey-crowned crane
- African spurred tortoise
- Nile crocodile
- Red-headed agama (E)
My big issue with africa packs is the fact that while yes, africa very much can still give us some very nice packs, it doesnt need them.
Im sure it isnt a shocker when i say that africa was and still is the best represented region that really has it all besides a normal monkey and even then lemures can fill that niche just fine.
While yes we can allways add more to that, those animals and packs can also go to less represented places and do wonders there instead of just tickle onto africa a little, especally as africa still tends to get 1 or 2 slots in biome packs atleast.
Its also not like africa was in anyway shafted by the dlcs, still getting lots of love, even if some might was less obvious like for example the fact that the wild boar, red fox and red deer are all north african animals, and others where just plain favortism on the nose, see arid.
Regional packs that arnt south america are generally a loosing formula at this point, just look at this years reception of them.
A spread like last years where we get a bit from everywhere would suit the game much more at this point and make sure that each pack caters to a wider audience instead of literally just being "you want to build for region xy?" and if no skip till you do.
Its Exhibit selections sucks though.
Something id favor much more would be to combine the wanted africa savannah pack atleast with indian grasslands, as there are animals that live in both (honey badger and the very similar yellow billed and painted stork) and could give the what feels like 2 required ungulate slots to an area desperatly needing them with the black buck and either axis deer or nilgai.
Slap on a monkey, serval and another african animal like the common eland or grey crowned crane and you got quite the nice and ballanced pack.
1. Black Buck
2. Axis Deer
3. Common Eland
4. Honey Badger
5. Vervet Monkey
6. Yellow Billed/Painted Stork
7. Serval
8. Both Areas are dying for a snake, so a python or cobra would be neat
Something like this would side step most of the flaws of an africa centric pack and would give us both african and indian areas to build with some fresh stuff, making it a win win in my book
Throwback to the progress made in the last couple months
South/Central America.
I hope so. I wander why it got so little focus comparedbto othervregoons until now.
With how clearly the community wants mire SA and how hard SA has been avoided this year, the only reasonable conclusion to me is that they are planning an SA pack for next year.
If this year tought us anything its that regional packs are back on the menu, so im quite confident we get one.
However what does slightly concern me is that we got the peccary as the anniversary gift.
Dont get me wrong, i love it and its my favorite animal of the year, buuut there goes our easy clone ungulate thats actually cool.
I dont mind the south american tapir or a wild camelid aswell, but i do be fearing for my second monkey being sidelined in favor of them.
Imo best case would have been a capuchin clone like the squirrel monkey for the anniversary and 1 or 2 other monkeys in a pack, but what happend, happend.
If i had to bet on one animal that we are gonna see next year though it would be the ocelot.
I see no scenario where we get an SA focused pack and no ocelot in it
Absolute Hail Mary but man it would be great: we get three monkeys.
- Howler monkey is the more unique among the three
- Squirrel monkey, almost a direct capuchin clone
- Golden lion tamarin, another “clone”
I am quite on the contrary perception, we got the peccary in 2023 to appease the lack of focus on SA, which also means that 1 more SA animal can now be added in a theoretical SA pack this year because otherwise that slot would have been used for the peccary
