Yes, I know that we will never receive such packages and this discussion is just to exercise the mind (unless the developers are weirder than us...), but I want to see your creativity in action, so let's see what the most unusual package you can come up with. Some sample ideas: 1. Black animals, 2. Animals with something in their body that is not understood by science, and more... I don't have a list of animals for the ideas I gave, but I expect you to bring a list as well (4 is enough and an exhibition animal). So come on, let's go!
The weirdest packages you can come up with
- Thread starter Cloudy tiger
- Start date
A pack without a carnivoran species 
Animals with fantastic facial hair pack:
- Emperor Tamarin
- Bornean Bearded Pig
- Walrus
- Markhor
- Bearded Seal
- Asiatic Lion
- Bearded Saki
- Bearded Dragon (E)
Island animals pack but it will annoy almost everyone
- Common Brushtail Possum (or Eastern Quoll)
- New Guinea Short-beaked Echidna (or Dusky Pademelon)
- Ring-tailed Vontsira (or Radiated Tortoise)
- Black Lemur (or Common Brown Lemur)
- Cuban Hutia
- Nene (or Kagu)
- Toque Macaque (or Crested Macaque)
- Exhibit animal: Mountain Chicken Frog (or Puerto Rican Crested Toad)
Not bad at all
Still has an Oceania species, need to remove all of them to annoy more people
Challenge accepted.Still has an Oceania species, need to remove all of them to annoy more people
- Replace the New Guinea Animals with Svalbard Rock Ptarmigan (inb4 rock ptarmigans are not common in captivity, JAZA zoos kept and generics and supposed Svalbard Ptarmigans as model animals before trying to breed Japanese Ptarmigans making Rock Ptarmigans a dime a dozen)
- Replace the Australian animals with Vancouver Island Marmot
or do the Frontier move and add Kodiak Brown Bear
I really like this one! Definitely different but in a great way!
Bald pack
Music theme: barbershop quartet
New staff: Groomer. They clean animals and cut their hair
- Marabou stork
- Bald uakari
- Walrus
- Wild turkey
- Naked mole rat (E)
Music theme: barbershop quartet
New staff: Groomer. They clean animals and cut their hair
But the marmot would make me happy
Cat-like Animals with Striped Tails:
- Ocelot
- Ringtail Cat
- Coati
- Ring-Tailed Mongoose
- Genet
- Serval
- Margay
Look, I'm not clamoring for most of these animals, but honestly aside from the hutia I'd be super happy with everything about this pack. I think I singled out the vontsira recently as a never-ever that I have a huge soft spot for.
The convergent evolution pack - three pairs of species that have evolved from different startpoints and ended up with similar results, plus a single animal that is the convergent evolution of an animal already in-game. The exhibits have many potential options.
First species pair:
1. Short-beaked echidna - Oceania: Desert, Grassland, Temperate, Tropical (possibly Taiga)
2. West European hedgehog - Europe: Grassland, Temperate (possibly Taiga)
Two fairly small mammals that have independently evolved sharp quills and the ability to roll up into a ball for defence, one living in Oceania and the other in Europe. These mammals may have last shared ancestry around 200 million years ago, at around the start of the Jurassic period. Both species are kept in captivity, and I have seen both in large open-topped outdoor enclosures.
Second species pair:
3. Water chevrotain - Africa: Aquatic, Tropical
4. Lowland paca - North America (Central), South America: Aquatic, Tropical
Perhaps the most remarkable case of convergent evolution - an African ungulate and a Latin American rodent that have both evolved into a medium-sized, semi-aquatic animal that even share the same coat pattern. Like most placental mammals, they probably diverged some time between 100 and 85 million years ago. Water chevrotains are no longer kept in zoos, although they have been kept and bred before in the past; lowland paca are still kept and bred in zoos.
Third species pair:
5. Secretary bird - Africa: Grassland
6. Red-legged seriema - South America: Grassland
Two long-legged hunting birds from open grasslands; the secretary bird is a true bird of prey, while seriemas are more closely related to parrots and sparrows. I cannot find when they split, but they are definitely both strong examples of convergent evolution. Also, the seriema is an example of convergent evolution with dinosaurs like Velociraptor, having a raised sickle-like claw on the inner toe. Both species are commonly-kept in captivity and can live in open paddocks.
Additional species:
7. Argentine black-and-white tegu - South America: Grassland, Tropical
A large ground-dwelling lizard that has evolved into a similar species to the monitor lizards, hunting on the ground for small prey and having a similar forked tongue. It isn't exactly known when the tegus and monitors last shared ancestors, but the closest relatives of tegus are much smaller insect-eating lizards, while monitor lizards are more closely related to snakes than they are to tegus. Tegu are commonly kept in zoos.
Exhibit species:
Green tree python and emerald tree boa - Two species of snake that have both evolved into green arboreal constrictors - one in Oceania and the other in South America. They last shared ancestry between 90 and 90 million years ago.
Thorny devil and Mexican giant horned lizard - Two lizard species, one from Australia and the other from North America, which both evolved into ant-eating desert specialists which drink by getting water to flow up their bodies through capillary action. These species separated onto different paths on the evolutionary tree around 150 million years ago.
A poison-dart frog and the golden mantella - Frogs from Latin America and Madagascar that have independently evolved into brightly-coloured frogs that obtain powerful defensive poisons from their diet. These frogs split from one another around 140 million years ago.
Hummingbirds and sunbirds - Two groups of nectar-feeding birds, one from the New World and the other from the Old World. I think three species of each would be appropriately diverse. It's not entirely known when these birds split, but it was definitely over 40 million years ago when hummingbirds separated from the swifts, their closest cousins.
First species pair:
1. Short-beaked echidna - Oceania: Desert, Grassland, Temperate, Tropical (possibly Taiga)
2. West European hedgehog - Europe: Grassland, Temperate (possibly Taiga)
Two fairly small mammals that have independently evolved sharp quills and the ability to roll up into a ball for defence, one living in Oceania and the other in Europe. These mammals may have last shared ancestry around 200 million years ago, at around the start of the Jurassic period. Both species are kept in captivity, and I have seen both in large open-topped outdoor enclosures.
Second species pair:
3. Water chevrotain - Africa: Aquatic, Tropical
4. Lowland paca - North America (Central), South America: Aquatic, Tropical
Perhaps the most remarkable case of convergent evolution - an African ungulate and a Latin American rodent that have both evolved into a medium-sized, semi-aquatic animal that even share the same coat pattern. Like most placental mammals, they probably diverged some time between 100 and 85 million years ago. Water chevrotains are no longer kept in zoos, although they have been kept and bred before in the past; lowland paca are still kept and bred in zoos.
Third species pair:
5. Secretary bird - Africa: Grassland
6. Red-legged seriema - South America: Grassland
Two long-legged hunting birds from open grasslands; the secretary bird is a true bird of prey, while seriemas are more closely related to parrots and sparrows. I cannot find when they split, but they are definitely both strong examples of convergent evolution. Also, the seriema is an example of convergent evolution with dinosaurs like Velociraptor, having a raised sickle-like claw on the inner toe. Both species are commonly-kept in captivity and can live in open paddocks.
Additional species:
7. Argentine black-and-white tegu - South America: Grassland, Tropical
A large ground-dwelling lizard that has evolved into a similar species to the monitor lizards, hunting on the ground for small prey and having a similar forked tongue. It isn't exactly known when the tegus and monitors last shared ancestors, but the closest relatives of tegus are much smaller insect-eating lizards, while monitor lizards are more closely related to snakes than they are to tegus. Tegu are commonly kept in zoos.
Exhibit species:
Green tree python and emerald tree boa - Two species of snake that have both evolved into green arboreal constrictors - one in Oceania and the other in South America. They last shared ancestry between 90 and 90 million years ago.
Thorny devil and Mexican giant horned lizard - Two lizard species, one from Australia and the other from North America, which both evolved into ant-eating desert specialists which drink by getting water to flow up their bodies through capillary action. These species separated onto different paths on the evolutionary tree around 150 million years ago.
A poison-dart frog and the golden mantella - Frogs from Latin America and Madagascar that have independently evolved into brightly-coloured frogs that obtain powerful defensive poisons from their diet. These frogs split from one another around 140 million years ago.
Hummingbirds and sunbirds - Two groups of nectar-feeding birds, one from the New World and the other from the Old World. I think three species of each would be appropriately diverse. It's not entirely known when these birds split, but it was definitely over 40 million years ago when hummingbirds separated from the swifts, their closest cousins.
The Animals Purposely Picked to Agitate and Anger the Planet Zoo Community Pack:
- Syrian Brown Bear
- Mountain Tapir (a second reskinned tapir
) - Iberian Pig
- West African Lion (but even MORE stylized)
- Somali Ostrich - the last bird ever to be added
- Leaf Cutting Ant (but you can only have one per exhibit)
- Nile Lechwe 2
- Dromedary
Golden Pack:
- Golden Takin
- Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey
- Golden Slender Mongoose
- Akhal-Teke (translates to "Golden Horse")
- WE - Golden Lion Tamarin OR Exhibit - Golden Eyelash Viper
- Scenery - Just large piles of gold coins.