Bird discussion is boring as we literally have no point of refference what frontier is willing/capeable to do and what they arnt.
So as something more basic, theres been one potential dlc theme that got quite the shake up, as many of ots most popular suggestions have been added to the grassland pack, the dry lands or desert pack, which atleast i believe could very well be the first carnivora free dlc in quite some time.
Starting of, we got the collared peccary. Spread across southern north america, central and tropical south america these small pigs would have a vast range and many different uses, be it as part of a desert or tropical house, a completly random filler fluff habitat or just a boost to our south america zoos. They are also the most common tropical pig species in the EAZA witth 87 holdings, making them all around a very versatile and strong addition.
Their most notable notable features besides their extreme felexibility in enviroments, living every from deserts, tropical rainforests, savannahs and even urban enviroments must be their social behaviour. While warthogs and babirusa usually live in small groups, peccarys frequently have herds of up to 50 members with multiple males, easily making them the most social pig species.
They are also said to be quite tameable, with amazonian people being said to tame juvenile individuals quite frequently, making them a rather interesting addition to a south american village area.
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Joining the collared peccary from the americas is the one and only owl species that undoubtedly would be a great habitat species, the burrowing owl.
These mostly terrestrial birds live mostly terrestrial in grasslands and half deserts, optaining their name from the gact that they like to inhabit old groundhog burrows, making them a great candidate for the small burrow enritchment and either shared or thematicly linked habitats with the prariedogs.
As another fun thematic partner could serve rattlesnakes, which also love to inhabit groundhog burrows and whose memorable rattling sounds are voccally mimiced by the owl to scare away intruders from its burrow.
But the most important reason that would make them one of the best south america additions is this:
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Their range is gigantic, living in allmost every south american country and ecosystem with only the dense rainforest being an exception.
They also have a population in florida, the carribeans and the great plains, making them extremly versatile, especally when combined with a really good zoo presence of 105 EAZA holdings.
A terrestrial bird thats not only common in zoos but also literally everywhere in the americas below the great plains?
Frontier pls make that happen
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Moving away from the americas we arrive at our main destination, northern africa.
Here we are first greeted by the most trusty vehicle to cross the dry and sandy plains, the dromedary.
The dromedary is one of the most iconic animals not yet in the game, having propaply among the strongest association with a biome of all animals.
You think about the jungle and your mind will cross monkeys and tigers, the african savannah brings lions and zebras to mind and the great plains makes thoughts wander to a bison and just like these if you think about the desert, many people will picture a Caravan on top of dromedarys making their way across sandy dunes.
It also has more scenery then half the roster combined, in parts because of it importance to north african cultures.
As a domestic species its kept in most arid regions of the world, with notable feral populations all over north africa, the middle east and parts of the australian outback.
And to top it all of this super common animals in 133 EAZA zoos and many many more around the world is simply extremly flexible.
They can be shown in normal filler habitats like any other ungulates, be part of a standard petting zoo, a highly themed african petting zoo/domestic display, even enhanced if we would get watussi cattle, african dwarf goat and domestic guinea fowl in the future. Theyd be the perfect animal for a children zoo or an exploration outpost area, would make sense in the australian section of a zoo due to their feral population and importance fir colonising the western parts, it would fit right into any area build with the north african theme and many many more.
Its one of those animals that has been everywhere in many different contexes, making it activly applicable in many different themes and ways.
They even could be an implied dromedary ride attraction or maybe not even implied if frontier feels like it.
The more i think about the dromedary the more i want it as it simply is one 8f the most versatile and iconic animals waiting to be added to the game.
Lets hope it wont be long
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Up in the dry rocks of the horn of africa and the southern middle east we find the next member of this pack.
With just one more holding then the dromedary camel, the hamadryas baboon presents itself as the most common baboon in captivity.
And its first perk is just that, its a baboon, another classic zoo species and obviously a primate aswell. And if theres anything we need more of, its part of the holy trinity of birds, primates and south america.
But thats not the only holy thing about them, as theyve once been sacred animals to the egyptians, giving them a third strong niche: Part of a highly egyptian themed area.
Ancient Egypt is cool, most people can agree on that and even though the north africa pack gave us pieces to build egypt themed areas, we only got one suitable animal with the desert fox with them, but with the dromedary, hamadryas baboon and one other animal in this pack, and the hippo, nile monitor, cheetah, striped hyena, caracal, scymitar horned oryx and maybe even some cosplaying salties, an ancient egypt themed area really has a strong footing by now, making the hamadryas baboon a great and iconic filler habitat that can also be its own highlight aswell in a similar sweet spot as the giant anteater, while also being a monkey and a great fit for some highly themed areas, while being super common.
Truly everything you could want from an animal.
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Every pack has atleast one simple animal, one that doesnt need any crazy new rigging or animations. And what would be better for that then the other iconic north african antelope?
To mr Jcps dismay, the addax has in my opinion all the qualitys of a subtle yet good addition.
A critically endangerd antelope with 56 EAZA holdings and alot more around the world, the addax is one of those species highly dependend on zoos, with only one self sustaining wild population in the termit massive reserve in niger, but multiple smaller and reintroduced areas across north africa.
Once wide spread across all of north africa west of the nile, these animals would not just fit the ancient egypt area mentioned above but bring representation to many underrepresented countrys.
As one of the few larger animals adapted to the sandy and extremly dry deserts of the saharah they have multiple different addaptations, but most interesting in the context of planet zoo would be their changing fur color from grayish brown to sandy white across the seasons, practically begging to be color variations, aswell as its mostly nocturnal behaviour.
While it would be hard to fit them into a nocturnal house due to their size, having ut as their hoding area would still be a nice nod to that.
It also wouldnt hurt to have some ungulate variety for such a large area, especally as mixed north africa habitats of addax SCO and dromedary could be quite fun aswell.
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So far so good, but what would a desert pack be without a reptile?
And theres one commonly requested one that quickly comes to mind here.
This zoo juggernaut with massive 400 EAZA holdings is the african spurred tortoise.
The third largest and largest mainland tortoise, the spurred or sulcata tortoise lives in the sahel, a stretch of arid area south of the saharah.
In these dry enviroments the sulcata tortoise partakes in a behaviour that would make it stand out from the other 2 tortoises. To escape the hot and dry surface, they dig down deep into the earth where its colder and moister, waiting out the hottest hours of the day.
Theyd fill a nice niche for both reptile and desert houses, while also being able to be in outdoor enclosures, surprisingly often found in children and petting zoos and a mainstay ambassador animal.
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Moving to our last continent, we have one of if not the most unique creature on earth, the short beaked echidna.
A true freak of nature whose body came up for many alternate solutions for anatomical problems, while still delivering a highly specialised but adaptable animal that inhabits every inch of the australian continent, aswell as tasmania and southern new guinea.
With a rising population of currently 17 EAZA holdings, they are slowly but surly on their way to become staples of european australia sections.
To the game they would add the ultimate everyman to australia, thats also extremly unique in its many adaptation and ancient split from the other mammals, while still somehow becoming a highly intelligent creature comperable to cats and rats on a continent that mostly used intelligence as a dump stat and produced some of the smoothest brains known to man, including those of the only other monotremes, the platypus.
The short beaked echidna is a delightfully whacky creature im in no way biased towards and frontier if we get them without an animation where they blow mucus bubbles id be deeply saddend, but still very hapoy we got them at all. S tier animal.
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Last but not least we got the exhibit and most common animal by far with 719 EAZA holdings and the 6. Most common animal in the EAZA, the budgie.
The domestic budgerigar is easily the most common aviary bird in the world and would add alot with all its different colorvariations and the fact that it would be the first WE bird we have and what a fitting one at that.
Being estimated to be the third most popular pet after cats and dogs, the budgie originated in the dry central parts of australia, where small to large flocks of them live as nomads, never staying to long in one place.
Another interesting fact is that males seem to be better learners, most notably regarding speech as female budgies struggle with even a few words while male budgies can easily learn up to a hundred of words.
In game they would be a great as an all purpose bird, being excelent in australian areas, as filler aviarys, dedicated cool walkthroughs and literally every single other purpose an aviary could habe, as they propaply would have been used allready for that in a real zoo.
Another great perk would be their many color morphs, with the domestic budgie having 32 different stable primary color mutations and dozen more secondary, allowing for boundless color mixes to choose from for the devs.
Be it blue, grey, white, green, yellow or even violett budgies that all can then mix their secondary color with another of these would allow for many variations and possibly fun franchise breeding.
And if you dont want all that, you can still use only the wild colormorph just as easily.
Win for everybody
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And thats it for my take on a desert pack, my focus really was to bulk up north africa while also throwing the americas and australia a treat.
This pack would finally allow for very diverse north african representation, catapulting straight into green or even blue tier using the ranking the area metrics, while also adding enough to make diverse north american desert houses, while also buffing general south and central america and australias 2 major missing powerhouses.
It also features not a single carnivoran as none comes even close to high priority for deserts anymore, with the sand cat having its niche mostly coverd by the fennec fox, jackals and coyotes being just another less interesting mid size canids and the ring tail while by far the most interesting not being able to match the other america options.
For other honorable mentions, i thought about including an oceanian varanid but didnt as both of my monitors of choice, the lance and the crocodile monitor arnt desert animals, + the african spurred tortoise seemed like an allround easier choice to implement for frontier while also adding the important role of a desert tortoise thats also very flexible for many kinds of different habitats.
Lastly, the patagonian mara is an amazing animal, but it just kind of didnt fit.
It couldnt deliver on the flexibility and large ranges like the owl and peccary could and while it could have replaced one north african animal, it would feel weong to take out the tortoise or the antelope as they very well fit frontiers pattern to add animals very similar in animations and riggs to existing animals. It just would have felt less frontier if that makes sense.
But in general i really enjoyed making this pack, i believe it to be quite a thight slam dunk in filling in the desert biome and making north american desert, north african, middle east and outback areas feel quite satisfyingly filled while also having very general purpose animals that can fill many different roles.
