Which Planet Zoo Animals Do You NOT Like?

[Aidan635]

I feel like everyone is always talking about their favorite animals in Planet Zoo, but don't as often mention their least favorites. I have quite a few. I'll break it up by section/reason why I don't really like them...

The model isn't the best...

• Lion
• Binturong
• Bactrian Camel
• Japanese Macaque
• Aardvark
• Warthog
• Binturong
• Koala
• Orangutan

They don't really do anything for me...

• Peafowl
• African Buffalo
• Bonobo
• Black Wildebeest
• Chimpanzee
• Himalayan Brown Bear
• Nile Monitor
• Llama

They're just kinda eh...

• Saltwater Crocodile
• Springbok
• Hyena
• Snow Leopard
• Hippo
• Pygmy Hippo

Feel free to post your lists and reasons down below. Let's start a discussion!

 

[Old Country]

I dont have too many problems with the animals I love them all really, but the animal I'd say that is the most obvious that needs a fix is the Malayan Tapir. I'd say that is something that needs to happen.

 

[Antimony96]

The Saltwater crocodile looks pretty paltry compared to what we've seen Frontier do with the American alligator and Cuvier's dwarf caiman

 

[Ztlabraptor]

Off hand the lion bothers me most. Also not a big fan of the timber wolf skin. The Arctic wolf skin looks so much better when in reality the species look fairly similar. The sea lions also look a little off to me. Otherwise I think I like em all.
As for the species themselves I think they’re all great picks, the one I don’t like is the Himalayan brown bear. I feel like any other bear species would’ve been better than what in game is essentially an obscure grizzly clone. Few complaints overall

 

[dino1]

1. Dingo - I have never even used this one in the game and don't plan to. Idk, I just don't find it interesting enough.
2. Himalayan Brown Bear - Never heard of this bear before, so when choosing between this one and Grizzly bear, I'll always choose grizzly. So I guess that is the reason why it ended up on this list.
3. Bonobo - Looks the same as chimpanzee so, yeah obvious reason, I just don't need two same-looking animals in the zoo.
4. African Wild Dog - Same as a dingo, I just don't find it that interesting.
5. Proboscis Monkey - Idk about this one. Guess I don't find it interesting.

Bonus: All exhibit animals since I find them useless. Especially spiders, poison frogs, and insects.
Reason: terrarium is too big and these creatures are way too small.
Other that that, I actually love many of the species that I have listed above, it's just when choosing between so many animals these are my least favorite.

 

[avietar]

Lion, it just looks very out of place compared to all the other cats.

The apes, I never use them in game because I dislike seeing human-like creatures in a zoo. I already dislike most of the ones walking around

Himalaya Brown bear, because it's such a weird inclusion over much more interesting and viable options that could have been used to flesh out Europe. If there needed to be a second brown bear, don't make it the third and a super niche Asian bear; make it the Eurasian brown bear! That way you still have the representation for Asia and also very importantly for Europa.

 

[becks474]

The only one is the Himalayan brown bear. Instead they should have given us either the sloth bear, the spectacled bear or the American black bear from the beginning. With all the other animals I am more or less fine. The dingo perhaps also is a bit discussable but I am okay with it.
I somehow like especially the surprising picks of the packs like the creepy giant otter, the cassowary or the Dall sheep.

 

[Aramar]

None, I like all of them.

However, I think the Himalayan brown bear should have been the Eurasian brown bear, so if I have to choose one animal that I don't like, this is the one.

The animal I use the least is the bonobo because I always choose the chimpanzee instead.

 

[random goat]

The vast majority are good to me, and around half of them are really good models. However, one can clearly see the quality improvement as time went by in the DLCs, which leaves some of the original animals in a bad spot. The PZ artists are exceptional so this is not an attack to them or their work, but it is worth pointing out that some models should need adjustments (in my opinion).

-Lion: probably the one that annoys me the most. Specially the male is too cartoony. The mane looks too stylized, it doesn't feel like proper fur. However, I gotta say this one is probably one of the toughest animals to make (Aurora Designs in ZT2, anyone?).
-Orangutan: Again, the same problem as the lion mane and most animals with long hair. The hair, which is one of the most characteristic features in orangutans doesn't feel 3-dimensional. Also the fact that they move like gorillas is a bit annoying.
-Malayan tapir: a complete reskin of the Bairds tapir. It literally needs just an afternoon to make the appropiate adjustments.
-Potato-shaped animal ehm... I mean Grizzly bear and its cousing Himalayan Brown Bear. Yeah, they pretty much have the shape of a potato. I reckon that the problem was again an attempt to substitute the long fur with a chonky body. They both need a more prominent hump, bigger ears and in general a slimmer shape.
-Bactrian camel: dromedary face and too small in size.
-Timberwolf: too cartoony. It looks like they're smiling almost.
-Reindeer: too cartoony.

 

[Veah]

I really like almost every animal so far, there is only one I regret it was included, the dingo, because I would have preferred another marsupial (or a monotreme, or the Australian sealion, or the little blue penguin, or the emu, or...) instead of wasting the slot in a feral dog, the third Canis species (like... in the Australian pack it was decided we should have more dog subspecies than marsupial species, nonsense). The dingo model is fine, though.

On the other side, the neckless spherical brown bears (Grizzly and Himalayan) and the Malayan tapir, just because of their models. But this could be easily fixed like the binturong, I'm not against their presence. Even though the Himalayan maybe it's a odd choice, but I would rather have that than just having the grizzly as the only brown bear (like in ZT), because it's too big to represent the smaller subspecies of brown bear (like the Syrian, which is the one I would have chosen).

And on the last tier I could name those animals where the only thing bad about their appearence is they have odd sizes (elephant, camel, bison...). About those I wouldn't really say I don't like them, it's just that... Such an easy mistake, preventing from reaching perfection.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Honestly the Malayan tapir and bactrian camel are the only ones whose model I'm particularly bothered by. Not to downplay people's issues with the lions or wolves or orangutans or whatever, but I'm fine with handwaving these personally.

As for lack of presence in captivity, the proboscis monkey and Chinese pangolin really stick out. They're both great animals, but they have no place in 99% of realistic zoos. Also the llama stands out for basically the opposite reason, being the only fully domesticated species and feeling out of place no matter where you put it.

And beyond that, the bear and especially wolf taxonomy is a mess. It's frustrating that we have two brown bear subspecies, one of which basically nobody is happy with, and also that we only have one specific subspecies of Asian black bear. And the issues with the "timber" wolf have been discussed to death, I'm sure you're all well aware of where people take issue here.

 

[Spiderhawk]

I am fine with almost every animals inclusion
Although
I have had horrible experiences making hippopotamus habitats. Even when I try to fix their water and land requirements, something goes wrong and I make their habitat bigger only for other problems to pop up. Guests complain and they require too much and are impossible to satisfy.
Prairie dogs were not on my list. I have hoped for a larger exhibit types that could accommodate small mammals and medium sized critters that are just too small for a habitat. The NA pack included some of the most requested NA animals with the exception of Arctic fox (which I am happy to have) and the prairie dog.
I have not been happy with polar bears. Even though the space requirements have been lowered, I often had frustration making habitats for them and ungrateful guests complaint about viewing.
Flamingos: while I like using them as an entrance animal, they get too stressed for an animal that allows guests to enter habitat. I often have to give them hiding spots with foliage and shelter, I hate how guests hate the view despite me adding a lot of them and give the ability to enter habitat. I now don’t allow guests to enter habitats at all (except for peafowl) because of lemurs and flamingos high stress.
Chimpanzees: even though the sex ratio says there can be a few males, they never stop fighting, they need to either change it on the ratio or have them relax.
Hyenas: same as chimps, the sex ratio is broken. Frontier won’t fix the ratio and they are always fighting, says 2 males and 2 females but more then 1 female involves fights. Plus I’ve never really liked hyenas.
Dwarf Caimans: I was disappointed by their habitat requirements which don’t allow more then 2. I am happy they reworked the alligators and hoping caimans can allow others.
Now for animals currently not in game that other people want
Alligator Snapping Turtle: these things scare me as when I went to a camp at a lake that had these horrible scary things, one day I sow some bully’s push a little boy in the lake where one was and he got attacked.
Wild Boar: I have seen how destructive and aggressive they can be as well as invasive.
Sea otters: I used to work on Alaska tour boats, I very much understand how important sea otters are to the ecosystem being a keystone species and their revival story is very impressive. Females and pups are cute and lovely. The males are monsters! I could go on about the horrifying things they do (I know animals we currently have do horrific things) but I will try to keep my posts PG-13.

 

[jcp011c]

Proboscis Monkey - I researched them in a "research zoo" I set up, but have yet to actually place them in any zoo. They just do nothing for me and I wish they'd included a Gibbon instead.

Bongo - they're too similar looking to the Nyala and don't have nearly the variety of environments they can be in. Plus, they seem to get stressed out so easily. So yeah, one of the two was not necessary for me, and the Bongo is it. I've used them twice but don't really have an interest in doing so again.

Peafowl - Liked them at first. Too many problems over time and now I don't use them anymore; they're now banned from entry.

Bonobo - like the Bongo, too similar to the Chimpanzee. You know the zoo game's going to include Chimpanzees, but I'm not sure why they decided to go with another primate species that's so similar looking. I have only used them once.

Springbok - too similar looking (there's a theme here) to the Thompson's Gazelle. I personally always have like Gazelles. I think I've used the Springbok in one zoo.

Himalayan Brown Bear - yet another that's too similar looking to another animal, the Grizzly Bear. This one's not quite as superfluous as the rest, as they do at least live in different continents. I can use the HBB in Asian themed zoos, but typically if I'm going to include a "brown bear" it's going to be the Grizzly.

Oddly enough, in the whole "too similar looking to another animal" I don't include the tigers, but that's probably because I really like tigers and they're both so different biome wise. I've used both quite a bit, so they don't make my list, just qualifying since so many of the above are not used a lot because they're just not necessary IMO.

Another edit - I know I go on about the Giant Otter. I use them more than I actually want to, because I really want otters in my zoos. But I wish I had another option, and I do find the Giant Otters creepy, but I don't know that i actually "dislike" them. I'd probably still use them from time to time.

 

[XT]

I tend to be opposite to most people's preferences. I love the dingos, the painted dogs (they are such great animals in real life too!), the smaller animals like the new badger, etc. The only one I'm not fond of are the meerkats and prarie dogs. Obnoxious animals and their habitat requirements are annoyingly big. The pygmy hippos are sweethearts and easier to care for and the bonobos are (or should be) much nicer as well - in real life they're more social, and less aggressive and nervy than chimps (I wish the game better reflected that...) they're also uh, much more sexually active which makes them an odd choice for a g rated game - removign that tendency removes a lot of their uniqueness.

The imperfect models don't bother me much, except for the orang. I won't used, not 'cause of the difficulty with proper hair (long hair is a perennial problem in computer games), but they are very unique animals and the lack of brachiation kinda kills it for me. For me, I'm less troubled by the visuals ('cmon folks, this game has - so far as I'm aware - the best depictions of animals in a game this flexible and complex), than when vocalizations or movements aren't right. The correct vocalizations is nothing but buying a license, which is money, yes but still ... and I know the proper movements are difficult for some species but it's the thing you're really going to see since we're all watching the zoo from god view. I mean, at a distance, the lions aren't terribly annoying but the arboreal animals spending 60% of their time on the ground is real obvious.

 

[DarthQuell]

they're also uh, much more sexually active which makes them an odd choice for a g rated game - removign that tendency removes a lot of their uniqueness.

Maybe they can represent it by making it where they breed often in-game, but in a kid friendly way


Now, I love all the animals in-game. The only animal that borderlines for me not liking it will be the Himalayan brown bear. I guess because it doesn't look that special to begin with

 

[NZFanatic]

The llama is the only one I actively dislike and deliberately avoid, really.

Because it's a domestic barnyard animal.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Bongo - they're too similar looking to the Nyala and don't have nearly the variety of environments they can be in. Plus, they seem to get stressed out so easily. So yeah, one of the two was not necessary for me, and the Bongo is it. I've used them twice but don't really have an interest in doing so again.

Bongos are awesome though. Super majestic animals and one of the few antelopes we have that live not in south africa and the only one that prefers tropical rainforest.
Also just take a look, they do look quite distinct, especally in colors and the nyalas yellow legs. But i am disappointed in google, no problem finding ingame pictures of the nyala, but for the bongo it mostly shows the nyala! We need to upload more bongo picures asap

The llama is the only one I actively dislike and deliberately avoid, really.

Because it's a domestic barnyard animal.

Exactly and thats why i love them One mans trash is another mans gold

 

[Khaidu]

Least fav is probably the apes and monkeys, I'm not really an ape/monkey person.

For model issues, I love the Nyala, but the male has some serious legs issues going on. They bend backwards a lot of the time at the knee.

 

[nutrit]

I like all the animals. I’m just not the biggest fan of some and I would gladly switch them to some other species:

Himalayan brown bear to Spectacled bear
Arctic Wolf to Wolverine
Llama to Guanaco
Dingo to Tasmanian devil
Baird’s Malayan tapir to Malayan tapir

I would also like them to fix sizes of Indian Elephant, Bactrian camel and American bison.

 

[WolfofAnarchy]

I love all the animals. I can proudly say that I don't hate any of them when I pretend that the Himalayan brown bear isn't in the game. eye twitch

There have been some questionable choices for the roster in my opinion, like the proboscis monkey, which (and I guess this is only relevant to realism builders, but I am one, so) doesn't thrive outside its native range. But, even such animals are great if you're building a zoo in their native range!

....But man getting the HBB and the grizzly in the base game felt like a slap in the face when, at the time, there were so many other unique bears they could've chosen. Definitely felt like a choice to pad the numbers and no other reason.