AgreeGolden Snub-nosed Monkey would also be awesome even though they seem to be only kept in Asia currently but the Gelada is definitely more important at the Moment. Wish we could get both at once
Unpopular Opinions
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AgreeGolden Snub-nosed Monkey would also be awesome even though they seem to be only kept in Asia currently but the Gelada is definitely more important at the Moment. Wish we could get both at once
eh not necsisarily. Most of the ones near me started as private collections.
Time for my unpopular Eurasia opinions:
- Saiga is a better option for the pack than the Blackbuck or Nilgai.
- The wisent is perfect for this pack.
My impression of what I typically see in an American zoo (not focused on local species):
- Ungulates: (~15-25 species, but zoos with a smaller budget and reduced space could easily have less and smaller budget zoos with excess space--Safari drive-through parks--may have a disproportionate number of ungulates.)
- Most bigger budget zoos have a Safari zone with ~2-5 antelope, zebra, giraffes, and maybe warthogs. Rhinos are common in a separate enclosure.
- They often have a species of deer. If they can't afford a large or any Safari zone, there is a greater chance they will have more (~3) species of deer.
- Elephants, hippos, and okapi are bigger ticket animals that turn up occasionally in large zoos.
- There may be a smaller section for antelope from India or tropical Africa, but it's not as common.
- Camelids and bison are extremely common.
- Tapir, other pig species, and other equids (wild horses and donkeys) are fairly common.
- There may be a species of wild goat or buffalo, but they aren't as common.
- Barnyard sections are common. They almost always feature goats, a donkey, and a weird cow. Alpacas and pigs are fairly common. Sheep and horses are rare.
- Primates: (~7-12)
- Most bigger budget zoos will have ~2 great apes. Chimpanzees, orangutan, and gorilla are all fairly common.
- I've seen gibbons fairly often. Some zoos will have more than one species.
- Baboons or mandrill turn up occasionally.
- South American monkeys, especially tamarins, marmosets, capuchins, squirrel, and spider monkeys, are extremely common. I've seen howler, saki, and uakari at least once.
- Smaller African monkeys are common. I've seen De Brazza's Guenons most often, but there are many other species.
- Lemurs are extremely common. Most zoos will have more than one species.
- It's pretty common for zoos to have an Asian macaque. Occasionally there will be more than one species of Asian monkey.
- Carnivorans: (~12-20)
- Most zoos of any budget will have at least two of but often all four: tiger, cheetah, snow leopard, and lion. Occasionally there are mountain lions, clouded leopards, jaguar, or true leopards, too.
- Most zoos will have at least two little cats, with serval, fishing cats, and bobcat/ Canadian lynx as the most common, but caracal, Pallas's cats, and ocelot turn up sometimes.
- Bears are common but not omnipresent. All species turn up occasionally, with local ones more frequently, and both pandas and polar bears extremely rarely. It seems more likely that zoos will have multiple species or none.
- Wolves are pretty common. Occasionally they will show something else like a maned wolf, jackal, or wild dog.
- Hyenas and foxes show up occasionally.
- Otters, coati, meerkats, and red pandas are common.
- Seals and sea lions turn up occasionally and are more common in big budget zoos.
- It's pretty common for zoos to have one or two oddball picks like a binturong, other civet, mongoose, or mustelid. The smaller stuff often ends up in something closer to an exhibit.
- Birds: (~12-20, varies) not in dedicated bird houses, which can have a bunch of random ones (toucans, exotic songbirds, ibises, and spoonbills are common)
- It's very common for there to be at least 2 ratites.
- Penguins show up occasionally. Where they are present, there is often more than one species.
- Flamingos are extremely common, but I think I've seen more American species.
- Peafowl are extremely common and will roam some zoos freely.
- Swans show up sometimes.
- A couple of cranes and maybe a stork are common.
- Duck ponds are extremely common and will often feature multiple species. Mallards and the occasional Canadian goose flock will turn up sometimes.
- Domestic species, including chickens, guineafowl, turkey, and waterfowl are common. They may roam.
- Separate buildings where you can feed budgies are very common.
- Larger outdoor aviaries for owls, eagles, and the occasional condor are common. Injured ones may be kept in a smaller space.
- Smaller outdoor enclosures for pheasants, macaws, cockatoos, and sometimes kookaburra are common.
- I've seen pelicans occasionally.
- Other: (?)
- Rodents: Capybara, prairie dogs, and porcupines are extremely common. Mara and beavers are common. Smaller species may be kept in exhibits/aviaries.
- Xanarthra: Armadillo and giant anteater are pretty common. Sloths show up sometimes, and I've seen at least one tamandua.
- Reptiles: A large crocodilian or two and a species of large tortoise are extremely common. A monitor or two is common. Some zoos will specialize and have more. Reptile houses with exhibits for smaller species (including monitors and smaller crocodilians) are extremely common.
- Marsupials: Kangaroos and wallabies are common. Tree kangaroos and koalas are rarer but cool. Monotremes are rare. Usually there are only one or two.
- Other: rabbits show up sometimes, butterfly houses and especially gardens are common, some insects are kept in houses, aardvarks and pangolins exist.
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My local zoo has striped hyena's and gray foxes
Its the global region debate again where I am only the large accredited zoos have any ungulate most zoos here focus on native fauna but when they do branch out its usually smaller animals like birds, reptiles, monkeys and cats. There are only 4 hoofstock that have more than 10 holdings in my country and we have all of them.
Either way this isnt the issue at hand its more about roster diversity and utility more than it is about what real collections look like.
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I clearly have the unpopular opinion in that i feel like the petting zoo pack is overrated and doesn't add all that much to the game. I live on a station so plenty of the animals we are talking about are ones I deal with regularly
Chickens? I have some as egg and meat producers
Cows? The property runs 4 mobs with 4 breeds, I drench, Vax, muster, preg test ext ect these guys
Sheep? There's a few thousand for me to chase around, I don't want to build them a habitat in a game
Goats? Pigs? Rabbits? Massive feral problem. Am part of population control group.
Ducks? Don't have any but I think wild duck species in the game would add value
Donkey? Horses? I love both, was a mildly successful equestrian before I had kids, would rather them not be in the game. Some wild type species could add value like Onager, Kiang, but that's about it for me.
It's my personal opinion, but petting zoo reminds me of work and introduces animals I'm already interacting with and caring for. I'd rather have exotic wild species than domestics. I feel like it doesn't really fit into the wildlife conservation message that's a core of both the game and irl zoos
We also have to consider how release to wild would function because it's generally frowned upon to let stock animals establish in the wild
Chickens? I have some as egg and meat producers
Cows? The property runs 4 mobs with 4 breeds, I drench, Vax, muster, preg test ext ect these guys
Sheep? There's a few thousand for me to chase around, I don't want to build them a habitat in a game
Goats? Pigs? Rabbits? Massive feral problem. Am part of population control group.
Ducks? Don't have any but I think wild duck species in the game would add value
Donkey? Horses? I love both, was a mildly successful equestrian before I had kids, would rather them not be in the game. Some wild type species could add value like Onager, Kiang, but that's about it for me.
It's my personal opinion, but petting zoo reminds me of work and introduces animals I'm already interacting with and caring for. I'd rather have exotic wild species than domestics. I feel like it doesn't really fit into the wildlife conservation message that's a core of both the game and irl zoos
We also have to consider how release to wild would function because it's generally frowned upon to let stock animals establish in the wild
This is the whole I see them all the time so they are boring idea again which people used to criticise animals like the raccoon which many players love.
We also already have plenty of feral animals in the game that people really like the red fox and wild boar come to mind. These may be a factor as to why you dont want the pack but alot of people dont have this view if they dont get to see these animals often.
Also we can already release domesticated animals to the wild so they will either continue to pretend this isnt a problem or switch them permanently to the rehome option
Bush Dog or tanuki would definitely add to the game! Even though, canids are complete in geography and sheer species number we do NOT have a shorter legged canid...
but, I completely understand if people don't want bush dog or tanuki... Short legs are pretty cosmetic at the end of the day.
...I guess.
This is great! Thank you for this reference!
Even though its anecdotal it still helps.I want to go! That seems so fun!My local zoo has striped hyena's and gray foxes
Our former local has striped hyenas and bat-eared foxes.
It's less that I see them all the time - imo a fair comparison in that regard would be kangaroos and emus. I see those all the time, I like them in the game because they're wildlife. Feral species like red fox and wild boar are still wildlife species, where as a merino sheep or a Friesian cow is not, it is an animal bred solely due to human actions for human purposes.
It's more that I put a significant amount of time and energy into livestock care and management, which is physically and sometimes mentally draining - especially when I am dealing with deceased animals as I do on occasion. I don't particularly care to bring the hot, sweaty, dusty, and sometimes gross intricacies of farming life into planet zoo
The US has very strict import laws on deer (even across state lines) due to concerns about chronic wasting disease and the AZA rarely bothers with them. Bronx is a major exception but most foreign deer in America are in private collections or non-accredited zoos.
I got one:
A "Terrarium Pack" comprising 3 habitat animals and 5 exhibit animals plus 200+ building pieces and nature objects for creating a higher definition of terrariums and greenhouses. Comes with a free update of lighting adjustments to make it darker inside buildings perfect for nocturnal houses.
A "Terrarium Pack" comprising 3 habitat animals and 5 exhibit animals plus 200+ building pieces and nature objects for creating a higher definition of terrariums and greenhouses. Comes with a free update of lighting adjustments to make it darker inside buildings perfect for nocturnal houses.
This mostly tracks with my personal experience as well as just a general knowledge of what's around in the country, but I'd add my own commentary as follows:
- In my experience, sakis (and howlers, but especially sakis) are way more common than you'd suggest. I don't think any zoos presently keep uakaris, however.
- Macaques seem to be most common in non-AZA facilities. Japanese macaques are really only found in the northern half of the continent.
- Cougars seem considerably more common than cheetahs in my experience. Eurasian lynx is also fairly common, but mostly (maybe almost entirely?) outside of AZA.
- I think sand cats would be the next most common little cat, and I think Geoffroy's cat technically outnumbers some of the species you'd expect to be more common simply because so many non-AZAs keep them.
- Off the cuff I'm pretty sure polar bears are maybe the third most common bear, after the obvious American black and brown. Asiatic black, spectacled, sloth, and sun are around, but I believe the idea is to phase out Asiatic black and sun (both of which are elderly populations that have historically had few births) to make more room for spectacled and sloth. Pandas are literally only in Atlanta at present.
- I think jackals might be exclusive to non-AZA. Very limited AZA presence, if not.
- I'm not sure what "other civet" many zoos keep? The only viverrid besides the binturong that I'm aware of in any real numbers is the common genet, which still isn't that prevalent. Everything else seems to be restricted to non-AZA or private trade and basically only shows up briefly as a one off before dying.
- Even more so than budgies, I feel like lorikeet-feeding aviaries are everywhere.
- Sloths are super common and only getting commoner, way more than armadillos (or anteaters, which are also pretty common) in my experience. The vast majority of armadillos are BTS and/or ambassador species.
- Red kangaroos and Bennett's wallabies are absolutely the most common marsupials, but sugar gliders would actually take the number 3 spot. Virginia opossums, as our local marsupial, are obviously also around, largely as rehabs/BTS. Southern hairy-nosed wombats might be around in comparable numbers to koala/tree kangaroo? Monotremes are "around", sure, but in all but a single facility it's just short-beaked echidnas.
- Aardvarks are certainly around, but pangolins only exist in the strictest of senses - only a single zoo has them on display.
- Don't forget hyraxes! They're definitely around.
- I was going to bring up dolphinariums as a fringe thing that exists, but it seems like only two zoos (as opposed to aquariums) actually have them. Similarly, manatees are absolutely around, but the vast majority of them are in Florida.
Thanks! I was just going off of the top of my head as a person who has visited more zoos on the east coast, especially the northeast. Some zoos are larger, some were smaller and not accredited. That was just my general sense of what I've seen. I'm a zoo enthusiast, not an expert. I checked zoochat on a few things because this got me thinking.
- In hindsight, I might have overestimated the carvivoran presence slightly. It should probably be more like ~7-18 instead of ~12-20. My main zoo was the Smithsonian, which has 20 I think, and I had a hard time believing that cats made up such a large chunk of them. I checked a few maps of zoos, and didn't see quite as many non-felids as I was expecting. I also checked the zoochat page and apparently snow leopards and fishing cats are more common in my area, but mountain lions, jaguars, and ocelots are way more common out west. I've probably actually seen a Eurasian lynx without realizing it. They always talk about how to distinguish them from bobcats. I'll add that to my list of European animals I've seen here.
- Other (kind of) civet: Fossa. I'm just used to seeing 1 weird or new thing when I go. I couldn't really remember what specifically.
- Also, wild goats are definitely not the most common of ungulates, but they are more prevalent that buffalo (not bison). Most common goats, according to zoochat: takin, aoudad, bighorn sheep, musk ox, mountain goats, and markhor.
- I looked up holdings of South American monkeys. Tamarins dominate, followed by marmosets and capuchins. There are still a decent number of saki and spider monkeys. Squirrel monkeys aren't as common as I'd thought, though. I only saw the uakari when I was little, and I've never seen them since.
- For old world, I've seen a few macaques around, but I never meant to suggest there were as many as African ones.
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I can only see this working if it comes along side an exhibit rework otherwise literal no one would want it unless the 3 habitat animals were perfect.
how it could work
2 habitat animals which are more terrarium style or make the whole pack exhibits and do 2 walkthrough
- chinese giant salamander / hoffmanns two toed sloth
- rhinoceros iguana / vampire bat
- banded sea krait
- thorny devil
- king cobra
- chinese giant salamander
- rhinoceros iguana
- coconut crab
- alligator snapping turtle
- king cobra (standard exhibit box)
A mandatory full rework of the exhibits
- smaller base sizes to accommodate for smaller animals
- null walls and roof
- ability to swap terrain types for animals with multiple biomes
- rework of the animations to make them similar to walkthroughs where the animals actually move but on lopped animations
- modular exhibits
- rework of babies so they actually exist in some form or another instead of the animals giving birth straight to adults.
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The wild boar was never needed. I'm seriously bummed out that something more interesting wasn't included in its place just because a few people want to occasionally build German tierparks.
The saiga as a concept has grown on me (and then shrunk on me again when I learned what a massive pain in the A they are to keep in captivity, but anyway) but if we get to the end of support without the blackbuck I'll be very upset (and no, the mod is not good enough for me). IMO the blackbuck is really the last major piece of the Indian puzzle at this point. Lion-tailed macaque would be a glorious addition, too, but I can make a cosy little "India" section with the rhino, blackbuck, peafowl, sloth bear, and tiger (elephants too of course, but not always).
The saiga as a concept has grown on me (and then shrunk on me again when I learned what a massive pain in the A they are to keep in captivity, but anyway) but if we get to the end of support without the blackbuck I'll be very upset (and no, the mod is not good enough for me). IMO the blackbuck is really the last major piece of the Indian puzzle at this point. Lion-tailed macaque would be a glorious addition, too, but I can make a cosy little "India" section with the rhino, blackbuck, peafowl, sloth bear, and tiger (elephants too of course, but not always).
I agree to that, because
1. It doesn't feel fully Indian without them.
2. Personally, wished to see them since ZT1 but never featured in either ZT2 or ZT3
Its not like the boar will ever only used for wildpark builds