Yep, shoot.
Your most wanted animal (2022 edition)
- Thread starter Aramar
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Okay so, a dhole is a reddish dog with the possibility of cute fluffy fur.Dhole fans unite!I'm curious though -- why do you prefer it in game as opposed to in real life? Personally, I find the winter coats of the real thing cuter, and while I love them in-game I think they're not always the most accurate model.
Cool, but not that cool.
But now from a zoo and especally from a theming perspective, these guys are a powerhouse!
There is one thing i value about animals more then anything else: flexibility.
What i mean is basicly the ways you can use it in your zoos and what kind of habitats you can build for it. An easy example for a cool, but relativly inflexible animal would be the hippo. Hippos will allways be the coolest animal in the room, hands down. They are the stars of the show, the 5 stars, the cool guys. You dont just add the hippo anywhere, you will propaply theme a whole area around it, build them a house, maybe a rainforrest hall or a safari boat tour or what ever.
Meanwhile, while you could easily do the same with the dhole, they most prominently feature in the most important role of the zoo ecosystem: the support.
What i mean with that is, that while dholes defently can be the stars of their own show, they work best when paired with other "cooler" animals, because a zoo is not just 5 star big budget animal next to another star big budget animal.
Zoos present many different animals, most of them arnt your big cats, polarbears and elephants. They are medium popular animals, which while not as exciting on their own for the casual visitor still serve the educational and conservation purposes of the zoo, as well as thematic ones.
Tell me, whats more impactfull?
Having one cool tiger habitat or having the same one in an area themed around it like a "trail of the tiger" subarea, featuring some other animals from their habitat that ideally also are connected in other ways, for example their main prey animals or rivals of their foot source like dholes or a leopard.
This boosts the educational value by far, aswell as being a way more exciting way to see the animal instead of just seeing the tigers and move on.
This role of support to enhance other animals is something the dhole excells at.
In fact i would argue its one of if not the best in the game for the job, simply because of its flexibility i mentioned before. Dholes have a wide range of habitat from india over south east asia, china, up to russia. Thats tropical, temperate and taiga! They can support literally allmost every asian animal besides the himalayan ones and the bactrian camel, be it both tigers, the asiatic black bear, elephant, rhino, water buffalo, sunbear, clouded leopard, etc. They have extreme synergies with allmost every asian animal in the game, they will enhance every asian and not himalayan themed area, have a very unique niche as a mid size predator that lives in larger groups (so far unique amongst zhe asian animals) and thrive in every setting you throw them at!
Tropical house? Check
Taiga Area? Check
Chinaland? Check
India themed temples? Check
Indonesia themed? Check
Just a random habitat in a low budget zoo that cant afford high amounts if theming? Check
I could go on and on, but i think you guys can see my point. In short, i love the dhole for being the perfect 3 star animal and an incredible addition to the game for every one who likes building themed areas. For me, no animal is as good and diverse in this role as the dhole and pretty much borders on essential for each of my asian areas, which is something that defines a clear s tier animal for me.
What more is to wish for then an animal that is uniquely exeptional at fullfilling the most important job of enhancing an area and all animals around it in many different settings and essambles of different animals, while also being a completly fine stand alone animal and even fitting into any budget range that a zoo can have?
I hope you all liked my ted talk and now appreciate the gooddest boys from asia just a little bit more
Have a nice day and happy building
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I couldn't agree more, and each pack has its cool 3star fillers. I find way more fun to build cool enclosure for the underdogs before the centerpiece of the area (e.g. : Aardvark or Oryx in a savannah, Arctic wolf in a polar zone, Beaver in NA, Ibex or badger in a temperate/mountain zone and so on).
A zoo just with centerpieces is boring I think. It would be a movie being just the climax.
The new pack is really interesting to me cause there are actually a lot of underdogs (I guess that's also why I guess my choice for the most wanted is not a centerpiece).
While I did never concentrate my zoos just on centerpieces, indeed your Ted Talk was quite perspective changing @KönigDerKaffeebohnen . I actually did plan the Dhole for my low budget project anyway. What still stands for me, though: The Model isn't actually a good one. But to be honest, for me that goes for every canine in game besides the African Wild Dog currently.
Depending on which source you cite, the Japanese racoon dog (tanuki) is either a subspecies of the common raccoon dog, or a distinct species in the same genus. I think subspecies is the generally favored description, but you know how taxonomy can be. I think in general they're not creatures that most people are super familiar with so the terms end up getting used interchangeably even though they don't necessarily mean the exact same thing.
Zoo Atlanta used to have raccoon dogs, and I'm certain they were non-Japanese raccoon dogs, but I always called them tanuki because that's the term I'm more accustomed to (I watch, uh, a lot of anime).
So, what is this? A Tanuki or a racoon dog? Because that's what I want and the pic shows up with both Keywords on google. In german I always only know them as "Marderhund" and never saw a different name.
Because that's what I want and the pic shows up with both Keywords on google. In german I always only know them as "Marderhund" and never saw a different name.
I'm not sure it is possible to tell from a picture like that, what subspecies that is.So, what is this? A Tanuki or a racoon dog?
Especially since some captive animals (as I imagine that is) might have some color variations to them, you don't normally see in nature, since they could be related to animals from fur farms
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Unsurprisingly, my most wanted animal in the game is the tree kangaroo. It's a cute and beautiful animal, would give us more Oceania representation, is another unique (and tree-dwelling!) marsupial and could be perfectly used for any tropical house exhibits.
I don't actually care which species we would get. The Goodfellow's seems more popular both in zoos and here in the forums, but I'd be fine with both. Little personal anecdote: I have a personal fondness for the Matschie's Tree Kangaroo for nostalgic reasons. When I was a little kid, I found that name the funniest thing in the world. My dad and I used to randomly call each other "Hey you Matschie's Tree Kangaroo" all the time. We still always laugh when we hear the name. He's pretty sick now, so I would absolutely love to be able to go to him and tell him, "hey dad, you know what? There's now Matschie's Tree Kangaroos in Planet Zoo!" He always wants to see some of the zoos I've build when I visit him, so that would be really cool for that personal reason. But still, I'd be fine with either of them... if we get a tree kangaroo in the first place, of course!
I don't actually care which species we would get. The Goodfellow's seems more popular both in zoos and here in the forums, but I'd be fine with both. Little personal anecdote: I have a personal fondness for the Matschie's Tree Kangaroo for nostalgic reasons. When I was a little kid, I found that name the funniest thing in the world. My dad and I used to randomly call each other "Hey you Matschie's Tree Kangaroo" all the time. We still always laugh when we hear the name. He's pretty sick now, so I would absolutely love to be able to go to him and tell him, "hey dad, you know what? There's now Matschie's Tree Kangaroos in Planet Zoo!" He always wants to see some of the zoos I've build when I visit him, so that would be really cool for that personal reason. But still, I'd be fine with either of them... if we get a tree kangaroo in the first place, of course!
That's the most heartwarming reason for an animal wish I ever read on here <3 I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. And it's so nice to hear that your dad takes interest in your zoos. Love hobby supportive parents. Hope your dad gets well, if possible. Sending warm thoughts your way.
I honestly really struggle to say because the terms are used to interchangeably when labeling pictures, and there seems to be a lot of visual variation within the species, that I don't have a good feel for the defining characteristics of one vs. the other. If it's the fluffy look you're after, I can say for sure that that's its winter coat. It's my preferred look for them, so ideally it's what we'd get if they were ever added to the game. Here's actually a great visual coat comparison of the one in my avatar: Source: https://twitter.com/zooatl/status/949368128101928960So, what is this? A Tanuki or a racoon dog?
And huh, guess Zoo Atlanta did refer to them as tanuki as well. I just remember their actual exhibit signage saying raccoon dog.
"Tanuki" is just the Japanese word for raccoon dog. I use it because it's less effort to type than 'raccoon dog'. They are the exact same thing.So, what is this? A Tanuki or a racoon dog?
Okay, if we ever get them, please don't take the Dhole road, Frontier. Winter coat, please.
I think they would choose the more fluffy coat this time. The reason they probably chose the summer coat for the dhole was because the whole SEA DLC was themed around tropical climate parts of Asia imo.
If I am not wrong it is part of the game. We have two types of tapirs.
Glad the time typing was a good use then
And with the model im honest, i might be as much of an animal geek as everybody else here, but i dont care that much about the models. Ofcourse accurate and beautiful models are amazing and a good priority to have, but when actually playing the game i wont be super close zoomed in most of the time, so i just dont think about that when building and planning my zoo.
+ since their update they look honestly quite decent
As mentioned above it’s a joke because they’re dissatisfied with the Malayan tapir, which shares a model with the Baird’s tapir (they’re fairly different in real life)
I'm not complaining. I want the gray fox
I've always thought so...
@KönigDerKaffeebohnen, I just wanna say I also loved the inclusion of the dhole. When I saw it announced, you bet I was excited, but for a different reason.
My 1st time hearing about the "red dog" was few years ago, while reading a graphic war chapter in the Jungle Book II. Basically, dholes are seen as marauders, so when they invade the Jungle, a war happens between them and the inhabitants (the wolf pack, Baloo, Bagheerah, Mowgli). It was real interesting, and after I read about dholes, I was even more interested.
For example, did y'all know that a pack of dholes can and will chase off a tiger from its kill?
Canines are always fascinating, personally I would love more, but not everyone shares my opinion
I just thought of something: if we now can get multiple color variants, what if we get "model variants"?
Like, as a "color mutation" the dhole can have a winter coat?
In all honesty, I did not really get that part of the update. Don't know what it actually means.
Edit: Wait, that with the variants was recently, right. But where? Can't find it in the update.