Unpopular Animal You Really Want

I'd say the red deer is different since the game's had a sign for the species since Day 1. It's even a trace of a stock photo to boot.
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That was exactly what I was getting at with it adding “very little” as opposed to the “nothing” of the wisent and EBB (again, from a strictly personal preference). Red deer was my original choice over the fallow deer in part because of the sign. And while I think we could use one more deer to cap off our deer roster, at this point I feel like the red deer offers less to me than the white-tailed (local species), Eld’s (unique looking antlers and a bit more exotic feeling), or Pere David’s (unique habitat and conservation darling).
 
I really can’t understand people who don’t appreciate proboscis monkeys just because they are the species that is not so popular in zoos. I have never been a fan but it’s such a unique and beautiful in a way species that since it’s already in the game I use it all the time everywhere. Also because of lack of different langurs.
Please respect proboscis monkeys 😁

Meet the one from the Yokohama zoo:

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My problem with the proboscis monkey is that it’s one of literally four monkeys that we have in the game. It’d be a lot more palatable if it was our twelfth monkey or whatever, sure, we can fit in some more out there picks at that point. But when 25% of our monkey roster is outright unviable for the vast majority of zoos striving for realism, that’s a problem. And of course this isn’t really a problem with the proboscis monkey itself, just the super underrepresented area of the roster it finds itself in.
 
I don't understand the appeal of the White-Tailed Deer at all. To me this is a pest species. I suppose European and other fans are a large part of this game, but it would be very hard for me to get excited about an animal I've seen get hit by a car. Ditto for things like skunks and opossums.
 
They’re kept in plenty of zoos that feature local wildlife, though. I was literally just at a zoo that keeps strictly local wildlife including white-tailed deer today. I’ve seen striped skunks in zoos before too, and know that probably just as many keep Virginia opossums. It’s true that I’ve also seen infinitely more white-tailed deer dead on the side of the road than I’ve seen in zoos, but the fact remains that they’re also a zoo animal. They aren’t at the top of my list or anything, it’s just that they’d make local animal reserve style zoos that much more realistic if they did find their way in (which, let’s be honest, they won’t so it’s moot either way).
 
I don't understand the appeal of the White-Tailed Deer at all. To me this is a pest species. I suppose European and other fans are a large part of this game, but it would be very hard for me to get excited about an animal I've seen get hit by a car. Ditto for things like skunks and opossums.
I've found that "pest" is a relative term. To Westerners like us, nilgai are appealing zoo animals. But for an Indian farmer, they're a major nuisance because of their crop raiding.
 
My problem with the proboscis monkey is that it’s one of literally four monkeys that we have in the game.
I can understand that but to be honest unless they do an animal pack with literally just monkeys in it I doubt I'll ever be satisfied with the monkey roster.

I mean, I can throw one together right now;
  • Celebes black macaque.
  • Lion-tailed macaque.
  • Diana monkey.
  • Mantled guereza.
  • Bolivian squirrel monkey.
  • Golden lion tamarin.
  • Geoffroy's spider monkey.

If that got announced tomorrow I'd still be wondering about the cotton-top tamarin, emperor tamarin, red howler, white-handed titi, a species of night monkey, maybe the spot-nosed guenon, heck even the red-shanked douc which is almost as rare as the proboscis monkey in captivity.
 
My problem with the proboscis monkey is that it’s one of literally four monkeys that we have in the game. It’d be a lot more palatable if it was our twelfth monkey or whatever, sure, we can fit in some more out there picks at that point. But when 25% of our monkey roster is outright unviable for the vast majority of zoos striving for realism, that’s a problem. And of course this isn’t really a problem with the proboscis monkey itself, just the super underrepresented area of the roster it finds itself in.
Not enough monkeys and not enough ground birds and not enough small cats 🤩
Those kind of species that are often very well represented in all zoo’s.

Two animal packs and one regular dlc dedicated only to them should fill up this gap but there are so many species with bigger priorities that I am afraid we would end up with only 6 monkeys and that would be disaster.

I think that I would be much more happy with the caiman and buffalo if I would know that Frontier have a plan to cover at least 30 of the most wanted species. But now having another caiman and not having coati or scimitar oryx is just annoying 🤷🏽

Monkeys:
Lion tailed macaque
Douc langur
Snub nosed monkey
Baboon
Mantled guereza
Da Brazza’s monkey
Patas monkey
Howler monkey
Spider monkey
Tamarin

Ground birds:
Great white pelican
Gray crowned crane
Shoebill
Ground hornbill
Great Malayan argus pheasant
Black swan
Saddle billed stork
Wild turkey
Mandarin duck

Small cats:
Caracal
Serval
Fishing cat
Ocelot
Jaguarundi
Jungle cat
Sand cat
Pallas cat

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Honestly with the monkeys i dont feel like we need that much.
Yes animals like the squirrel monkeys would be great and i still would welcome them, but wouldnt they fill the same niche as the capuchin in the end?
Dont get me wrong i want more monkeys, much more in fact but im quite sure even and additional 4 or 5 monkeys would be satisfying in the grand sceame of things.

A pavian, a guenon, a tamarin, a howler monkey and a surprise pick like a nightmonkey or another langur would propaply be enough, especally counting in how it would increase the modability of the game. Normally im against mods being part of the discussion of ingame content because it should be satisfying without them, but here is a clear case where the want for whats basicly a bunch of clones of a few different body types would make one of each enough. Mind you that would still be a bunch of more monkeys needed for the game with atleast 4 more being a must, but the monkey situation really isnt as grim as for example the birds or most ungulates (this dlc were the first dlc antelope and bonvine in over 2 years support).
The only groups that can be argued are over represented are the bears, felines, canines and crocodilians and lets just say, i honestly think thats good and pretty cool. We should feel about every group in the game like thise 4, more would be nice but not needed and its especally nice that we have one non mammalian group included in there.
+ after thinking abit about the crocs, the caiman actually was a pretty great inclusion, as we now have most of the extremes with crocodiles coverd, we got the largest and the one ocean dwelling (salty), the weirdest (gharial), not the smallest but a significantly smaller one (dwarf caiman), the most common in north american zoos (alligator) and the most common in european zoos (spectacle caiman).
I would say thats quite the ideal selection and while an african crocodile like the nkle or a dwarf crocodile might be nice, it does not feel needed, which in the end means we got a really good selection on our hands here.
Lets just hope that we will have more groups we can say that about soon, cause in the end shouldnt that be the endgoal of planet zoos animal selection? Being good enough even though we literally cannot have every wanted animal in the game.
I hope you liked my rambles, goodbye from my tedtalk, love my new caiman boy
 
Honestly with the monkeys i dont feel like we need that much.
Yes animals like the squirrel monkeys would be great and i still would welcome them, but wouldnt they fill the same niche as the capuchin in the end?
Dont get me wrong i want more monkeys, much more in fact but im quite sure even and additional 4 or 5 monkeys would be satisfying in the grand sceame of things.

A pavian, a guenon, a tamarin, a howler monkey and a surprise pick like a nightmonkey or another langur would propaply be enough, especally counting in how it would increase the modability of the game. Normally im against mods being part of the discussion of ingame content because it should be satisfying without them, but here is a clear case where the want for whats basicly a bunch of clones of a few different body types would make one of each enough. Mind you that would still be a bunch of more monkeys needed for the game with atleast 4 more being a must, but the monkey situation really isnt as grim as for example the birds or most ungulates (this dlc were the first dlc antelope and bonvine in over 2 years support).
The only groups that can be argued are over represented are the bears, felines, canines and crocodilians and lets just say, i honestly think thats good and pretty cool. We should feel about every group in the game like thise 4, more would be nice but not needed and its especally nice that we have one non mammalian group included in there.
+ after thinking abit about the crocs, the caiman actually was a pretty great inclusion, as we now have most of the extremes with crocodiles coverd, we got the largest and the one ocean dwelling (salty), the weirdest (gharial), not the smallest but a significantly smaller one (dwarf caiman), the most common in north american zoos (alligator) and the most common in european zoos (spectacle caiman).
I would say thats quite the ideal selection and while an african crocodile like the nkle or a dwarf crocodile might be nice, it does not feel needed, which in the end means we got a really good selection on our hands here.
Lets just hope that we will have more groups we can say that about soon, cause in the end shouldnt that be the endgoal of planet zoos animal selection? Being good enough even though we literally cannot have every wanted animal in the game.
I hope you liked my rambles, goodbye from my tedtalk, love my new caiman boy
I respect your opinion but I would have to disagree. Monkeys are sooooo different from each other that I don’t think that 5 would be enough. At least 7 with their own movements sounds and appearance would satisfy me really 🤷🏽
I would finally like to make a proper monkey house and it’s still impossible even with the mods.
 
the monkey situation really isnt as grim as for example the birds or most ungulates (this dlc were the first dlc antelope and bonvine in over 2 years support).
There are twice as many antelope as monkeys. Not saying that antelopes aren't wonderful, just that monkeys are more appealing because zoos generally have several species, whereas the game now gives you 4 -- 3 if you're very focused on realism. Audubon Zoo has an entire primates loop, of which only a few species are not monkeys, and a solid 5 are, plus spider monkeys elsewhere in the park. And the Smithsonian has around 6 monkey species as well. It feels bad to advocate for monkeys taking the spot of a less unique DLC addition, but we honestly should have started the game with at least 5 species IMO.
 
There are twice as many antelope as monkeys. Not saying that antelopes aren't wonderful, just that monkeys are more appealing because zoos generally have several species, whereas the game now gives you 4 -- 3 if you're very focused on realism. Audubon Zoo has an entire primates loop, of which only a few species are not monkeys, and a solid 5 are, plus spider monkeys elsewhere in the park. And the Smithsonian has around 6 monkey species as well. It feels bad to advocate for monkeys taking the spot of a less unique DLC addition, but we honestly should have started the game with at least 5 species IMO.
Yes but the thing is, ungulates are 1. A much larger group of animals that also need larger representation and 2. Ungulates are the most common type of animals in zoos. Why do we have so many african antelopes? Because allmost every zoo has them and if they do theirs a good chance there are atleast 5 or more. Cervids needed years to be even remotly represented in the game, having all 3 of them as dlc and arguably still atleast a small deer like the muntjak in the must have list. Suids are omnipresent in zoos, every zoo i know has atleast one and the 4 by far most common species (peccaries, wild boar, red river hog, domestic) arnt in the game yet. Bovids are fine now, we got the major one for each continent with the european one being basicly a clone, but there are still very good domestic additions like the yak, scottish highland and wattussi cattle. Goats are a joke in the game, we got two but atleast a domestic one (the number 2 most common zoo animal in the EAZA is the african dwarf goat), a takin and either an asian or northafrican one is desperatly needed. Asias antelopes arnt even in the game, so much for them and we got just one horse aswell, with atleast a donkey and the prezwildhorse needed.
Yes, monkeys are great and underrepresented, but they can be fixed with a few more animals, but i would argue that ungulates would need atleast 10 more additions (muntjak, takin, markhor/barbary sheep/any other goat, peccary, wild boar, red river hog, blackbuck, nilgai, a dwarf antelope like a dik dik or a duiker) to feel somewhat complete, but thats still disregarding domestic animals which would bumb an extra 4 onto that list, as a domestic cattle, donkey, pig and goat are the must if we should ever get more domestic animals and want to build petting zoos and the like.
Just because africa has a good ungulate representantion that does not mean that we dont need more and even africa has some niches begging to be filled like the red river hog or the very big and small antelopes that we for some reason dont have any of.
And while i agree that its a crime we obly got 2 dlc monkeys, its an equal shame that ungulates are also often overlooked for dlc. The only packs with 2 ungulates are the wetland pack, europe pack and the arctic pack, while only two others had one. So we got 8 ungulates per dlc, 3 being cervids that wernt in the base game, 2 goats that wernt in the base game, 1 bovine, 1 antelope and 1 suid. Thats an allright representation, allmost a fifth of the dlc animals but still no where near enough. Im not saying every dlc must have ungulates but i would be lying if i would say that we have enough and should stop getting more, which just feels dismissive to me.
Yes i know we got like 10 african antelopes but that does not invalidate how sucky the representation for not subsaharan african ungulate in the base game was and honestly how much still is needed. We are finally at a point where the ungulate representantion in the game is decent, but thats not a reason to stop.

But hey, guess two flies with one hit, if this isnt the best place to rant about the unpoularity of ungulates, where else should it be?
 
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Yes but the thing is, ungulates are 1. A much larger group of animals that also need larger representation and 2. Ungulates are the most common type of animals in zoos. Why do we have so many african antelopes? Because allmost every zoo has them and if they do theirs a good chance they are 5 or more. Cervids needed to years to be even remotly represented in the game, having all 3 of them as dlc and arguably still atleast a small deer like the muntjak in the must have list. Suids are omnipresent in zoos, every zoo i know has atleast one and the 4 by far most common species (peccaries, wild boar, red river hog, domestic) arnt in the game yet. Bovids are fine now, we got the major one for each continent with the european one being basicly a clone, but there are still very good domestic additions like the yak, scottish highland and wattussi cattle. Goats are a joke in the game, we got two but atleast a domestic one (the number 2 most common zoo animal in the EAZA is the african dwarf goat), a takin and either an asian or northafrican one is desperatly needed. Asias antelopes arnt even in the game, so much for them and we got just one horse aswell, with atleast a donkey and the prezwildhorse needed.
Yes, monkeys are great and underrepresented, but they can be fixed with a few more animals, but i would argue that ungulates would need atleast 10 more additions (muntjak, takin, markhor/barbary sheep/any other goat, peccary, wild boar, red river hog, blackbuck, nilgai, a dwarf antelope like a dik dik or a duiker) to feel somewhat complete, but thats still disregarding domestic animals which would bumb an extra 4 onto that list, as a domestic cattle, donkey, pig and goat are the must if we should ever get more domestic animals and want to build petting zoos and the like.
I see where you're coming from. Even so, I think the common-ness of monkeys can't be understated, as well as another factor -- appeal. Guests without zoo knowledge generally favor monkeys, which are charismatic, active, and cute, over ungulates, which often are not. Again, I'm not saying that we don't need more ungulates -- just that more primates are, in my opinion, necessary. Compare PZ's 30 ungulates to its 11 primates (of which the bonobo and proboscis monkey are uncommon in captivity). I don't really want to continue this discussion because it's a matter of opinion which I don't think can be changed, and I'm glad that others are so excited about hoofstock (and believe me, there's a lot of species of ungulate I'd still like).
 
I see where you're coming from. Even so, I think the common-ness of monkeys can't be understated, as well as another factor -- appeal. Guests without zoo knowledge generally favor monkeys, which are charismatic, active, and cute, over ungulates, which often are not. Again, I'm not saying that we don't need more ungulates -- just that more primates are, in my opinion, necessary. Compare PZ's 30 ungulates to its 11 primates (of which the bonobo and proboscis monkey are uncommon in captivity). I don't really want to continue this discussion because it's a matter of opinion which I don't think can be changed, and I'm glad that others are so excited about hoofstock (and believe me, there's a lot of species of ungulate I'd still like).
Yeah really is a thing of subjective opinion.
Both groups have a really sucky representation in game, with the ungulates slowly starting to recover and im honest this rant was less provocated by you but all those general anti ungulate comments.
Ofcourse each opinion is valid, but when i see people dismiss the lechwe and water buffalo for being just a cow and another african antelope i just literally ask myself if people realise that these are the first of their kind to be added to the game since release.
I also have some personal beef with about half the antelopes in the base game, because i think that there are some rather objectives flaws with the the variety between them, like literally all besides 2 of them being from south africa, but in the end im glad we finally got some cervids, goats and an northafrican antelope in the game.
Took literally 2 years, but hey rather late then never
 
My most wanted animal is unanimously the Mallard Duck. As I duck from the onslaught of tomatoes and rotten eggs, as well as brace for the pitchforks and torches, LET ME EXPLAIN.
  1. Literally everyone loves ducks
  2. We need more birds
  3. Mallards are the most common duck in the entire world, I defy ANYONE to visit a zoo in any continent and not see these moochers hanging around the exhibit ponds and lakes.
  4. They're funny af
  5. We NEED more birds
 
Well, at least with African Antelopes/hoofed animals, while still underepresented, you can have 5 different zoos and all of them can have a different antelope. While if you want to have a South American monkey in all of your 5 zoos in game, you can choose…capuchin, capuchin, capuchin….oh and a capuchin…and of course a capuchin again….
 
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