The roster compared to most common zoo species in real life

I am not "happy" and I am not against the rhea as I like Pampas enclosures, I'm just explaining Frontier's criteria when designing PZ roster and why getting both rhea and emu is unlikely.



Big ABC zoos are not the only kind of zoos, as you said small zoos also exist and that's why the list of most common animals looks like that.

But anyways, either you agree with me about the bias in the game (which reflects the bias in big zoos) and that makes rhea&emu unlikely, or you disgree with me because both species are so different and Frontier will prefer to design a 3rd and 4th ratite instead of a 2nd aquatic bird after the flamingo or a 2nd landfowl after the peafowl.
I mean, I didn't understand your point in your answer to my post, sorry 😅
We have an arctic fox and an arctic wolf. We have two giant tortoises. We have two tapirs (even if one leaves much to be desired) so there is absolutely no reason why we won't get a rhea and an emu.
 
I think a domesticated animals pack in the 4+1 model is very reasonable actually. It'd be a neat way to add barnyard and wooden building pieces.
 
Domestic animals kinda breaks the “release to the wild” mechanic. Would that button be grayed out? It’s not on the llama or reindeer or camel (which are all technically domestic).
 
If they're not greyed out in existing domestic species, I don't see why it'd be greyed out for future additions
To be fair, if Frontier decided to focus a pack on domestic animals, I could imagine them changing that and going more in-depth with the mechanics of domesticated animals. I think as it stands, all the domestics we have now are still technically quite close (almost to the point of interchangeable) with their wild counterparts. I think the idea behind the hand-waving on releasing to the wild was so that we could decide in our own headcanons which one we wanted it to be for a particular project, and to be honest I don't mind that.
 
Compare the domestic llama to the guanaco and then revisit that statement.
I did say almost, friend. It was a generalized statement. Aside from the llama, the point still stands. Llamas are the only indisputable domestic we have. You could easily still use the camel and reindeer to represent their wild counterparts. You can also use wild animals we have (peafowl, fallow deer) to represent domestic counterparts. There's very little difference between them. And in the case of the llama, one singular indisputable domestic isn't a justification to change any mechanics, BUT if we were to get more, I could see it happening.[/I]
 
I did say almost, friend. It was a generalized statement. Aside from the llama, the point still stands. Llamas are the only indisputable domestic we have. You could easily still use the camel and reindeer to represent their wild counterparts. You can also use wild animals we have (peafowl, fallow deer) to represent domestic counterparts. There's very little difference between them. And in the case of the llama, one singular indisputable domestic isn't a justification to change any mechanics, BUT if we were to get more, I could see it happening.[/I]
The domestic and wild Bactrian camels are widely regarded as separate species; the former is the one in PZ.
 
The domestic and wild Bactrian camels are widely regarded as separate species; the former is the one in PZ.
Sure, but I wasn't speaking strictly taxonomically. For someone like me who isn't a camel expert (and that's most people, let's be honest) it's easy to make believe it's whichever one we need for a particular project. It's not like I'm saying a jaguar makes for a good jaguarundi. You can get away with a lot on the domestic / wild thing with the species we have in game, minus the llama. It kinda baffles me that people are continuing to derail the op just to nitpick my post. You're missing the point, guys.
 
So here is the most common species in european (+a few other regions) zoos, with domesticated and aviary birds removed. Animals already in the game are crossed





## in full listSpecies# of facilities
1
1​
Indian peacock
988
2
3​
European fallow deer
846
3
7​
Emu
598
4
9​
Meerkat
587
5
11​
North American raccoon
551
6
12​
Bennett Wallaby
547
7
13​
Llama
547
8
20​
Ring-tailed lemur
483
9
22​
Red eared slider turtle
468
10
25​
Green iguana
450
11
26​
South American coati
449
12
27​
Greater Rhea
430
13
29​
Black Swan
398
14
30​
Bactrian Camel
397
15
31​
wild boar
364
16
32​
African Spurred tortoise
363
17
33​
Ball python
354
18
37​
African Ostrich
341
19
40​
Western Bearded Dragon
329
20
42​
Patagonian Mara
326
21
45​
Red deer
319
22
46​
Common marmoset
313
23
49​
Ferret
303
24
52​
Boa Constrictor
289
25
54​
Cotton top Tamarin
279
26
56​
African lion
275
27
57​
Indian crested porcupine
273
28
58​
Asian short-clawed otter
272
29
60​
Greek tortoise
269
30
62​
Leopard gecko
265
31
71​
Roe deer
249
32
72​
Capybara
246
33
80​
European pond turtle
240
34
88​
Great White Pelican
227
35
89​
Greater Flamingo
223
36
93​
European lynx
215
37
105​
Eurasian wolf (Timber wolf in game)
204
38
107​
Veiled chameleon
203
39
111​
black-and-white ruffed lemur
195
40
112​
Demoiselle crane
193
41
114​
Black-tailed prairie dog
192
42
117​
Red panda
190
43
118​
Siberian tiger
189
44
119​
helmeted guineafowl
187
45
123​
Chinese muntjac
182
46
124​
Axolotl
182
47
125​
Eurasian brown bear
181
48
128​
Red fox
179
49
50


So how likely are the rest to get in, in your opinion?
A North American list would have a lot of overlap but also some differences. For instance, North American zoos overwhelmingly tend to go for the white-nosed coati (whose range extends north to Arizona and Texas) rather than the South American coati, and in other cases would go for a North American animal over a similar European counterpart (e.g. a desert tortoise instead of a Greek tortoise, an elk/wapiti over the red deer). I also think the African crested porcupine is more common than the Indian. There are also differences in endangered animals since the AZA and EAZA often have different focuses; for instance, the EAZA breeds the Goodfellow's tree kangaroo while the AZA breeds the Matschie's.
 
So here is the most common species in european (+a few other regions) zoos, with domesticated and aviary birds removed. Animals already in the game are crossed


So how likely are the rest to get in, in your opinion?
Going through all the ones that haven't been added yet:
Red-eared slider: Niche is covered by the diamondback terrapin and if we ever return to exhibit boxes I think there are other niches that we'd would want to see covered first.
South American coati: One of the top meta-wishlist animals at this point so I kind of expect it, but its obvious chance was the Tropical Pack. The white-nosed coati (uncommon in Europe but very common in North American zoos) is a possible curveball
Greater rhea: Obvious choice for South American representation, but I hope the next bird isn't another ratite. Want to see it at some point though.
Black swan: In my dreams. Would be a fantastic addition but I'm sadly skeptical of Frontier ever adding more than one waterfowl, and I'm inclined to think it would be a duck instead.
Wild boar: Solid chance of being added in the next temperate/forest-related pack, has been gaining steam in the community, but Frontier might wait a bit before dropping another pig.
African spurred (sulcata) tortoise: Hard call that this is the next (and possibly final) habitat reptile. If we can get a third monitor we can get a third tortoise.
Ball python: Definitely see several snakes as more likely than this one. Not really distinct enough. Again, there's a degree of uncertainty around these exhibit animals.
Bearded dragon: Possible wildcard for a desert/Oceania pack? Exhibit discussion applies.
Patagonian mara: My most-wanted mammal and one that might have caught Frontier's eye at Shepreth. Would probably lose out to an African crested porcupine for the rodent slot in a desert pack, but then again we got the beaver and prairie dog in one pack.
Common marmoset: Pushing the size limits for habitat animals, would be possible but kind of disappointing as a walkthrough exhibit. Probably also not the top priority for another New World monkey.
Ferret: Like a domestic ferret? Or a polecat? The latter is a semi-plausible wildcard pick, don't really expect the former.
Indian crested porcupine: Community seems to prefer the African crested.
Greek tortoise: It's going to be the sulcata.
Leopard gecko: See bearded dragon but swap Oceania for India.
Roe deer: I think the demand for European deer is fully satisfied.
European pond turtle: See red-eared slider.
Veiled chamelon: The single most likely exhibit animal, though it could easily be a Jackson's or panther instead.
Demoiselle crane: Another crane will almost certainly be the grey crowned. I'd love this one too but you know Frontier and birds.
Helmeted guineafowl: Reasonable for a variety of packs (safari, children's, domestic, etc.) but I don't know if they'd make Frontier's cut for any of them. I really want it though.
Chinese (Reeve's) muntjac: Actually very plausible for a future temperate or Asian pack. Prominent in Britain due to its invasive status.
Eurasian brown bear: No.

My ideal "common in zoos" animal pack given these parameters, and also taking into account what an American list would probably look like, would be something like:

South American coati
Patagonian mara
Reeve's muntjac
Grey crowned crane (only deviation from the OP list)
Black swan
Helmeted guineafowl
Sulcata tortoise
Veiled chameleon (E)
 
(Possibly) Unpopular opinion: Eurasian brown bear is currently one of my most hoped for animals



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Definitely a lot of progress made!

At this point if we did get some kind of "zoo essentials" pack, going by this and adding in general wants as well I'm noting those general wants with an * as they're not on this list but still seem like they would be common. This would not just be taking the top animals in the meta-list, but the animals on the list that would work within a "common zoo animals" theme. We could look at a line up like:
Old World Porcupine (I know the list had Indian but that's probably 3rd place behind the Crested and Cape)
Coatimundi
Wild Boar
Black Swan
Common Marmoset
Black Howler Monkey*
Dromedary*
Exhibit: Red eared Slider Turtle
 
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