What oddball unlikely animal do you want in the game?

[biggest_dreamer]

I have a huge soft spot for the numbat. It's always been a favorite of mine, and it's the very rare exception to my preference for species common in captivity. To my knowledge, they're kept at only a single zoo in Australia, which works closely with the species in the wild as well. Perth, maybe?

And then a bit less of an oddball, and much less unlikely (even though I still wouldn't consider it likely), the common genet is another species that really resonates with me and seems sorely underappreciate.

Prevost's squirrel would qualify too, I think. It's a very striking species, especially when it's running about. Reasonably common, and incredibly undervalued.

 

[NZFanatic]

So far all I've learned from this thread is that I want to somehow take over Frontier and add pretty much all these animals.

 

[Ounze]

Hmmm, I'm a mega nerd and ecologist, so, I'd love some evolutionary wonky species.
Southern Grasshopper Mice- Predatory mouse whose diet is mostly arthropods and other mice.
Syrian Hamster- Shortest Gestation of any mammal, just 16 days.
Any Hummingbird.
Aye-Aye- Why wouldn't I add this awesome, evolutionary weirdo?
Diving-bell Spider- Literal aquatic spider.
Wood Frog- Freezes solid come winter and de-thaws back to life.
Hero shrew- Just type "Hero Shrew backbone" in the search. Go on, and you'll see why. Not really found in captivity, but seemingly because no one has tried to keep it.

I guess this is more of a one habitat seven exhibit pack, but I'd pay ten bucks for this, personally.

 

[Mr Weasel]

Most of my animal wishlist is pretty conventional but here's one I don't see requested often:

The African pygmy goat

More of a farm animal but also extremely common in zoos, especially in Europe. It could help stock our petting zoos or augment our African sections.

 

[avietar]

I already got my red deer, so now:

West Indian manatee.

 

[HunterIsCookie]

Got too many, so I made an animal pack out of 'em.

1. Brazilian Porcupine - Everyone's talking about the african crested (I want them too, don't worry), but I have a soft spot for these little goobers. Adds to roster of tiny South American weirdos (there's also the tamandua, which for some reason I feel is slightly more likely)
2. Celebes Crested Macaque - Outside of the Lion-Tailed Macaque, this is probably the most unique macaque species for the game. On surface level it seems like a Japanese Macaque clone, but it's colouration, face structure, conservation status and biome all make it incredibly distinct. Plus, it was the subject of an infamous copyright debacle.
3. Eastern Long-Beaked Echidna - Something tells me we might get to see the Short-Beaked Echidna in the game, but I think this weirdo is distinct enough to also warrant an inclusion. I'm only aware of their captive presence in Port Moresby and off-display at Taronga (which I only learnt about this year), but I think they're neat and funny looking things. Kinda like the mammalian version of a weevil.
4. Greater Bilby - If you're Australian, I think you can at least understand my want for this guy. Aussie conservation icon, even becoming our national symbol for Easter.
5. Himalayan Tahr - I just want more goats, and I like this one's mane. Thas it.
6. Japanese Raccoon Dog - Okay, yeah. This one's actually pretty popular. I just have a hard time seeing it getting in unless we're really lucky. Probably the last canine I really want in the game. I'd settle for the mainland species.
7. Leopard Seal - No longer in captivity, but their reign at Taronga was still really recent and I think they're interesting enough to make an exception here.
E. Olm - Apparently these blind salamanders are very recently back in captivity at like one zoo, meaning they're technically legible by our arbitrary rules. Hooray for me.

 

[Cotolorynchuseggs]

The west african lungfish, as shown in my profile. I don't really even know why, I just like these little guys.

 

[Antimony96]

The capybara's best friend, the southern screamer.

 

[Aramar]

I forgot to say that I want the Greek tortoise as an exhibit animal too:

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

Another one I've thought of (a zoo not far from where I live has got them recently) that is surprisingly low on the meta-wishlist is the common eland. It only has 10 votes (position 201 on the list).

Being very large and impressive antelope (only slightly smaller than the giant eland, on average), they are very popular in zoos. In 2019, there were 185 common eland split across 23 zoos in North America. As of January 2020 there were around 130 eland split between 5 zoos in Australia, making them the most common African antelope in the continent's zoos. Zootierliste records 136 zoos across Europe, Israel, Tawian and the UAE keeping this species - 130 zoos hold eland of no known subspecies status, 6 hold Cape eland and one of the Taiwanese zoos houses East African or Patterson's common eland.

Because eland are not only visually impressive but also reasonably placid, they are one of the more basic megafauna a zoo can keep. The zoo local to me that recently obtained common eland are the first antelope they keep, and have joined zebras as the first inhabitants of their new African enclosure.

The giant eland is much higher on the list (position 81), despite being almost entirely absent in captivity. There were a few zoos that kept giant eland until recently, but all the animals belong to a private company that are supposedly a nightmare to work with, so the zoos have sent the eland back to this private holder. More details on what has happened with the North American giant eland population can be seen here:

Giant Eland Left in North America

Giant eland are one of my favorite hoofstock, but as far as I know, more and more collections have phased them out. As of now, here are the only 3...

www.zoochat.com

To me, it seems a bit odd that such a niche animal all but absent in zoos has pretty much the opposite placing to the extremely commonly-kept equivalent on the wishlist.

As for packs it could have fitted, again both Africa and Grasslands would have been ideal. Probably the only chance an eland really has of making it into the game would be via some kind of Africa Pack 2.0 (creatively renamed as something like a Safari Pack).

 

[SalamAnders]

I forgot to say that I want the Greek tortoise as an exhibit animal too:

View attachment 336053

I want them for habitats

 

[Naturaroca]

As a lover of ungulates I am going to put 2 that I would like to see in the game:
the topi
the wild donkey

Although I would like to see a lot more from different continents hahaha but I would love these!!!

 

[TheHippoGirl]

Another one I've thought of (a zoo not far from where I live has got them recently) that is surprisingly low on the meta-wishlist is the common eland. It only has 10 votes (position 201 on the list).

View attachment 336054

Being very large and impressive antelope (only slightly smaller than the giant eland, on average), they are very popular in zoos. In 2019, there were 185 common eland split across 23 zoos in North America. As of January 2020 there were around 130 eland split between 5 zoos in Australia, making them the most common African antelope in the continent's zoos. Zootierliste records 136 zoos across Europe, Israel, Tawian and the UAE keeping this species - 130 zoos hold eland of no known subspecies status, 6 hold Cape eland and one of the Taiwanese zoos houses East African or Patterson's common eland.

Because eland are not only visually impressive but also reasonably placid, they are one of the more basic megafauna a zoo can keep. The zoo local to me that recently obtained common eland are the first antelope they keep, and have joined zebras as the first inhabitants of their new African enclosure.

The giant eland is much higher on the list (position 81), despite being almost entirely absent in captivity. There were a few zoos that kept giant eland until recently, but all the animals belong to a private company that are supposedly a nightmare to work with, so the zoos have sent the eland back to this private holder. More details on what has happened with the North American giant eland population can be seen here:

Giant Eland Left in North America

Giant eland are one of my favorite hoofstock, but as far as I know, more and more collections have phased them out. As of now, here are the only 3...

www.zoochat.com

To me, it seems a bit odd that such a niche animal all but absent in zoos has pretty much the opposite placing to the extremely commonly-kept equivalent on the wishlist.

As for packs it could have fitted, again both Africa and Grasslands would have been ideal. Probably the only chance an eland really has of making it into the game would be via some kind of Africa Pack 2.0 (creatively renamed as something like a Safari Pack).

Wow I was not aware of this. I voted for the giant eland on the metawishlist. But I would be OK with the common eland too then. Either one would be fine, but I really hope we are going to get one of the two

 

[BananaLeech]

Well, I already want some of the animals that have been mentioned on this thread, here some others that I want which I did not see on this thread

Common Brushtail Possum: I know this animal is mundane in Australia, despised in New Zealand, and extremely obscure elsewhere. I wish these furry wonders could get some more relevancy.

African Civet: I wouldn't expect this animal to come out especially when we still don't have more known African carnivores such as honey badger or bat-eared fox.

Greater Bushbaby: I don't even know if small climbing animals could make it to the roster of the game, but a man could just dream

 

[JW97]

These would be my picks for rare in zoo species:

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Can's believe I forgot the ring-tailed vontsira! Basically a red panda mongoose, except they aren't even really a mongoose, there's a Madagascan "mongoose". I think they're pretty uncommon in zoos, but I do know off hand that Bronx has them.

 

[becks474]

Yeah I think that Addax with 76 votes is the most possible from those 4, but remember that we live in a time where skunk with 36 votes and Blue wildebeast with 25 votes made into the game.

So I think that quite easy to make Somali wild donkey with 52 votes and Pere David’s deer with 45 votes may still have some hope to be chosen as the next filler species in an animal pack or Anniversary update.

Times were never really different. We nearly always got these so-called "oddball" animals in a pack that had not so much votes and this is good as it is. I want to be surprised a bit by Frontier.

 

[nutrit]

Times were never really different. We nearly always got these so-called "oddball" animals in a pack that had not so much votes and this is good as it is. I want to be surprised a bit by Frontier.

Not really actually, for me Arctic, SA, Australia, Africa, NA and Europe brought animals that were extremely popular in the community and very high on the meta-wishlist - it was not that hard to predict what will they contain.

The 2022 is the year of packs filled with unexpected oddballs - and that is exciting and great

 

[ralphthestick]

Got to be aye-aye for me. I sort of struggle to see a pack for it though, unless Twilight being specifically crepuscular animals leaves the door open a crack for a true nocturnal pack at some point in the future (as I assume fossa would fill the Madagascar slot in a potential 'Islands' pack).

But just look at this adorable weirdo.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Not really actually, for me Arctic, SA, Australia, Africa, NA and Europe brought animals that were extremely popular in the community and very high on the meta-wishlist - it was not that hard to predict what will they contain.

The 2022 is the year of packs filled with unexpected oddballs - and that is exciting and great

Dall sheep, lama, cassowary and dingo, africa youre correct, arctic fox beaver and prariedog, badger