Why so little love to South America?

[Kikoss_Luiz]

With the recent revelations of the tropical pack, which I really liked, don't get me wrong, the only animal from South America being the Three toed sloth is kind weird. I'm a little biased because I'm Brazilian, but still, for being the most biodiverse country in the world AND with the biggest tropical rainforest, Brazil is lacking representation. I really hope there's a brighter future, for now, it looks like frontier has something against my country. There are some great Brazilian animals from the "tropical" biome that are very popular in zoos, but yet Frontier ignores them. Why is that?


Planet zoo and frontier, Please come to Brazil!



Again, don't get me wrong, I really like the pack reveal!

 

[RightWhale]

I think it’s because a lot of South America is made of “smaller animals”. A lot of birds, monkeys, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and fish make up a huge portion of South Americas biodiversity. So far Frontier likes to focus on megafauna, but who knows how much more support the game will get? Maybe we could get an Amazon pack?

My top 8 animals (in no order) from South America:
1. Black Howler Monkey
2. Golden Lion Tamarin
3. Agouti
4. Green Anaconda
5. Leaf cutter Ants
6. Scarlet Macaw
7. Toco Toucan
8. Harpy eagle

 

[snoogins]

SA needs it's own exhibit pack too. There's so many small reptiles and amphibians there that would be really cool to see in game. Lemur Tree Frogs, Fer-de-lance, Mata-matas. It's sad SA gets no love.

 

[RightWhale]

SA needs it's own exhibit pack too. There's so many small reptiles and amphibians there that would be really cool to see in game. Lemur Tree Frogs, Fer-de-lance, Mata-matas. It's sad SA gets no love.

I FORGOT ABOUT MATA MATAS add another animal to my list then. We could use another exhibit turtle.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Part of the problem is that Frontier seems to consider exhibit animals on the same level as habitat animals, a sentiment not shared with no small portion of the playerbase. From that perspective, South America isn't really that bad off - it has 15 exhibit species! I disagree with that being the lens we should be looking through, but it's still certainly a perspective.

Things are also compounded by how many of the "South American" animals we do have that just genuinely don't feel like South American species from a zoo context. Nobody's going to include the king penguin in their South American sections of a realistic zoo, and that's mostly going to be the case for the llama and Galapagos tortoise as well. No North American zoo, at least (because I genuinely don't know how they're handled internationally), is going to treat the cougar or nine-banded armadillo like a South American species. And then because Frontier considers Central America to be part of South America, that means the raccoon also gets tagged as South America in game. Then you've got the caimans, which I mean they're fine but in my experience I've seen them far more often in non-region specific reptile houses so in an ideal situation where we had more choices I wouldn't personally be sticking them in a dedicated SA section more often than not.

All that said, the PZ wiki lists 30 South American species by Frontier's count (31 once the sloth gets added). Once you remove the exhibits and the ones that are dubious for one reason or another that I just discussed, you're left with:

1. Baird's tapir
2. Capybara
3. Capuchin
4. Cuvier's dwarf caiman
5. Giant anteater
6. Giant otter
7. Jaguar
8. Maned wolf
9. Spectacled caiman

It's insane how quickly that list gets whittled down. At best you can add +2 if you're building outside of North America and want to include the cougar and armadillo (again, I have no actual idea where they're typically located in international zoos).

 

[FoxyDee]

I am a huge fan of SA animals. I still think we need:

Squirrel Monkey - really common in captivity, can use Capuchin rig, would make wonders for SA sections.
Tamarin species - Also needed, very common in SA sections.
Howler or Saki monkey - For more "unique" monkey.
South American Coati - I just hope the inclusion of Raccoon doesnt mean no Coati. I really think we need them.
Patagonian Mara - Also common, and represents something different than a rainforest biome.
A clourful tropical bird - Roseate Spoonbil, Scarlet Ibis or even American Flamingo really. Just something colourful!

And some that would be nice to have: Tamanduas, Peccaries, Spectacled bears, Rheas.

Of course there is a whole flying SA birds discussion but since there are no birds in WE yet, i havent included them.

 

[Alexjh]

My hypothesis is that it's basically that monkeys are probably the most complex (and thus expensive) animals to animate, and realistically with the exception of maybe Spectacled Bear, Coati and Ocelot, the vast majority of noted SA candidates are monkeys.

Spider-monkey, Howler Monkeys, Tamarins, Marmosets, Squirrel Monkeys, Uakiri etc.

 

[nutrit]

I looooooove SA fauna and I still hope at least for:

• Coati
• Spider monkey
• Howler monkey
• Caribbean Manatee

And if we would ever get more lucky also:

• Collared peccary
• Ocelot
• Spectacled bear
• Vicuna
• Rhea
• Patagonian mara
• Tamandua
• Bush dog
• Kinkajou
• Pudu
• SA birds

 

[premierfong]

looks like we do need some south American birds.

 

[Aramar]

It's true that Frontier is not giving us a lot of South American animals, but I think it's also fair to point out that Frontier has put a lot of love into the South American animals we got recently. The armadillo was probably the animal that needed more work in the grasslands pack. The maned wolf is also quite different from the other canines. I'm sure the sloth has also required the most effort in the new tropical pack. Other continents are getting improved reskins, but South America is getting new rigs.

 

[NZFanatic]

I will throw my full support behind any thread that brings up the need for more New World monkeys.

The gibbon might be one of the more popular animals in the new pack, but for me it's the one that should be gone. Give me a damn squirrel monkey, or spider monkey, or howler, or saki, or night monkey, anything. Take the llama back if you have to! Give me more monkeys!

 

[DarthQuell]

Y'all, it isn't simply just the rainforests we need to boost.
My paternal family is Argentinean (so yes, I want some more Animals from Argentina, maybe even a yerba mate stand), and we have our own set of animals that would add to the game (having the capybara and caiman helped, but it's not enough).
Animals I'd say we should receive are:

• Greater rhea - while essentially a clone, it would add to SA grassland habitats and be able to live alongside capybaras, Baird's tapirs, and giant anteaters
• Patagonian mara - a lovely lagomorph-like rodent. Basically a cross between a rabbit and a capybara
• Curassow - any species of curassow will do
• Scarlet ibis - a crimson king of the jungle
• Roseate spoonbill - good for both NA and SA representation
• White-faced saki - New World monkey with a unique white face (who knew?!)
• Howler monkey - would really benefit from the chorus behavior
• Spider monkey - would definitely benefit from the brachiation and it's newest updates
• Spectacled bear - while I've never seen on in real life, these would be the apex predator of the Andes and give us a unique SA that uses the taiga tag, alongside the llama

 

[abigenius]

is going to treat the cougar or nine-banded armadillo like a South American species.

It depends of how the zoo is distributed, the most of the zoos has the cougar at least in the NA section because they're north American cougar, they can resist the low temperatures and they are so fine in the outdoor exhibit, The cougars and the armadillo are truly South America animals, in fact the armadillo was original from South America when it was an unique continent

I think there are a few zoo in USA that have south America cougars because ir more easier get the north American one instead of the south America and that's a particular reason why you don't see the cougars in the SA section