Your Top 10 Animals of 2023!!

TheDuckKnight

TheDuckKnight
As we brace ourselves for the Console Edition late next month, let's reflect on our year previous. 2023 was certainly...a year. A year that had DLCs for the cartoon zoo game and there were animals.
It's a bit of an understatement to say 2023 was a polarizing one for the PZ community - some call it a masterwork in animal quality and updates, other say it was filled with overrepresentation and missed opportunities. But regardless on how you feel, it was certainly a topic of discussion.
So, simply what are you top 10 favorite animals this year and why?
I'll go first.

10. Hermann's Tortoise - It might surprise some to see an exhibit animal beat out several habitat ones, but I just love these little buggers. Much needed boost to turtle representation, the first small tortoise, a previously unfilled niche - a highlight in the exhibits for sure.

9. Dromedary Camel - while there's a "FINALLY" vibe to its inclusion, Frontier truly delivered with an absolutely breathtaking model, gorgeous color morphs, fun new animations, well worth the wait for this zoo staple!

8. Quokka - A talked about "oddball" inclusion, but I love them. The unique animations of greeting guests and feeding, their cute hoping cycle, and ofc endless meme power. I'm a pretty firm believer in recognizability and charisma trumps real life zoo presence (same goes for the platypus and proboscis monkey), so I consider the quokka a winner.

7. Lar Gibbon - Like a lot of users, my gibbon needs were thought to be filled by the siamang in 2022, but I was proven wrong. Between the color morphs, the improved and expanded brachiation, and increase in primates, the Lar gibbon is a necessity and Froniter executed them perfectly.

6. Brown Throated Sloth - a very controversial addition at the time, but as the dust has settled, I'm officially in the sloth's corner. An ingenious method of getting a what seemed impossible icon into the game (although I'm still a bit pressed Tropical didn't feature a bird, but that's another story).

5. African Crested Porcupine - I'll just say it, this is the best looking animal in the entire catalogue. Frankly, along with the camel, they save the Arid pack from being a "skip" for me.

4. Little Blue Penguin - I don't want to live in a world where more penguins is seen as a bad thing.

3. Red River Hog - ginger representation, I feel SEEN.

2. Mute Swan - As the username suggests, waterfowl is sorta my thing, and the swan is better than I could possibly imagine. The neck rigging alone makes me want to give the dev team a Pixar-level Christmas bonus. Plus, it's incredibly validating to see how much love the swan is getting.
For years, I thought waterfowl were a low priority for the greater community and I was alone in having them be a top tier - outranking most of the favorite mammals - so seeing this excitement and renewed optimism in getting more birds is something to behold.

1. North Island Brown Kiwi - As much as I love waterfowl, this is it folks. I don't really know what more to say than one of the most unique, weird, iconic birds in existence has made its way into Planet Zoo. Its presence alone raised a once very lackluster roster for birds to a more admirable level. It was also the first bird of my original Meta-Wishlist to be added and I literally screamed when I saw the teaser.

What are yours???
 

SuzieSky

SuzieSky
I'm going to list 14 because that feels like a better cuttoff for me. While there may have been some better options out there, I at least liked a lot of the animals this year.
14. Collared Peccary: I don't really like pigs, but I have to mention anything that gives SA better representation. I can also use them for the southern part of NA's SW desert. They eat cacti. They were a generous gift.
13. Hermann's Tortoise: They are one of my favorite 4x4 exhibit animals right now. They are colorful and cute.
12. Addax: This is one of my favorite antelope and one I was missing from ZT2. Some conservation species are nice to have. Zoos near me will often have a rare antelope for a conservation project and conservation education.
11. Quokka: Although I haven't quite forgiven it for not being a tree kangaroo, quokka are also adorable. They are a great addition for the region, and I like having them in the game.
10. Somali Wild Ass: I'm happy we got another equid. I like equids, these ones are cute, and they have a good conservation story. Their model was impressive, but I wish they had more accurate sounds.
9. Sloth: I didn't really care which sloth we got, and I'm glad South America finally got this icon. While I generally prefer habitat animals, I'm glad I don't have to watch them struggle on the ground. Hopefully we'll be able to pick different colors for their climbing frame in a future update.
8. Red River Hog: I think this is the only pig I actually like. They are colorful and adorable.
7. North Island Brown Kiwi: I'm glad New Zealand got its icon, and I was pleasantly suprised by all of the detailed animations.
6. Lar Gibbon: It was one of my big wants, at least before we got the siamang. While SA needs primates a bit more right now, this one is still a great addition.
5. Sand Cat: I love having a little cat! I use them often, and they are adorable.
4. Wolverine: This is another great small mammal for that slot in zoos. They aren't very common in NA zoos, but everyone's heard of them. They're unique and fun.
3. Dromedary Camel: This one was an obvious exclusion from the base game. I'm glad we fianlly got them, and I'm also happy they went all out with the color variation. They are great for North Africa, the Middle East, and I think even Australia has some feral populations. They are extremely common in zoos near me and a highly useful addition.
2. African Crested Porcupine: I wasn't sure we were ever going to see this one in the game, but I love seeing them in zoos. They are cute, and I'm glad they took the time to add all of those quills. It is a great small mammal for that niche in the game, especially as a frequent star in zoos.
1. Mute Swan: It is so nice to have a waterfowl, and I'm glad they went with a well-known classic. This is the last animal I truly needed for European sections outside of domestics, too. They are beautiful, add another bird, add an animal for garden sections, and add a nice thing for ponds.
 

NachoB

NachoB
1. Collared peccary
2. African Crested porcupine
3. Mute swan
4. Lar gibbon
5. North Island Brown Kiwi
6. Red river hog
7. Fossa
8. Dromedary camel
10. Spectacled flying fox

I'll elaborate later.
 

Annie_konik

Annie_konik
My top ten of 2023 newcomers:
1. Somali Wild Ass 🤩 Super happy about this one, and equids are always my top priority
2. Takin! 🥰 YAY! one of my most wanted animals ever, even my favorite subspecies!
3. Porcupine 🥳 These guys are the best!
4. Dromedary - Beautifully made, so realistic, perfect camel
5. Kiwi - they are the cutest and so unique
6. Mute Swan - beautiful and versatile, I love taking screenshots with them
7. Tasmanian Devil - they are amazing, I'm just a bit sad they have short lifespans
8. Sloth Bear - I love bears, all of them
9. Wisent - I thought we would never get this species, yay! A dream came true :)
10. Hermanns Tortoise - I didn't know I needed them but they are so cute! They are among my favorite exhibit species now :)
 

Eletan888

Eletan888
I'm going to make this based on the most useful, not necessarily my favorite animals.

10. Black Rhinoceros- icon animal, conservation program species
9. Addax- conservation program species
8. Lar Gibbon- GIBBON
7. Somali Wild Ass- conservation program species
6. Tasmanian Devil- high-budget NA zoos
5. North Island Brown Kiwi- high-budget NA zoos
4. Takin- TAKIN
3. Fossa- A good step in the right direction for Madagascar, still waiting for sifaka, nile croc, and aye aye ;)
2. African Crested Porcupine- PORCUPINE
1. Red River Hog- Most commonly kept wild suid in AZA, and best suid species on this freaking planet
 

Aramar

Aramar
10 Hermann's Tortoise - One of my most wanted exhibit animals and they look adorable
9 Sloth bear - The more bears the better!
8 Wild boar - I was afraid we wouldn't get it after getting two pigs this year, but it was a great surprise
7 Fossa - It's a very good addition for Madagascar areas
6 Mute swan - It's gorgeous and brings me hope for a pelican
5 Dromedary - After years requesting it, we finally got the camel and it looks real
4 Lar gibbon - I always wanted a gibbon over a siamang, and they improved brachiation
3 Tasmanian devil - The model is awesome
2 Wolverine - I waited for it for a long time and it didn't disappoint
1 Porcupine - It's just perfect
 

Marvinb

Marvinb
1. Swan: Finally, finally, finally a waterfowl

2. Porcupine: Very high on my Wishlist and a absolute masterpiece

3. Gibbon: I really didnt need a second gibbon, but now that its here i really enjoy it.

4-10. In no particular order:
-Wild Boar
-Kiwi
-Devil
-Fossa
-Tortoise
-Monitor
-Wolverine
 
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Angeł

Angeł
10. Little Blue Penguin - I love the colour. I don’t use them often, but I like what they bring to the game.
9. Black Rhinoceros - goes nice in my smaller city zoos when I don’t want to use the larger White Rhinoceros.
8. Lar Gibbon - another fun animal I use a lot. I like building Southeast Asian areas, and these are a staple.
7. Takin - a gorgeous looking ungulate. I love cold climate animals, and this is no exception. Wish it was called the ‘Sichuan Takin’, as that’s what it is.
6. Red River Hog - a really great model and very useful animal. Fits in every zoo. Was a great addition to the game.
5. Wild Boar - European rep, which was VERY needed. Similar to RRH, a gorgeous model and versatile addition.
4. African Crested Porcupine - arguably the best model this year. A very highly requested animal, and one I use in every zoo I build. Was one of the last ABC zoo animals we really needed.
3. Brown Throated Sloth - although it is completely the wrong species (for which I will never forgive Frontier) it is still a sloth. We needed one in game, and they are an absolute necessity for tropical houses and SA sections.
2. Wolverine - much needed Europe rep and probably the most crowd-pleasing addition this year (next to the tassie and porcupine). It’s such a well known and fascinating creature, with a fantastic model and has such versatile building options for its habitat.
1. Wisent - my personal favourite and an absolute dream come true for me. I didn’t think we’d ever get the Wisent, despite its necessity to European rep. It’s a fascinating animal, with a great conservation story and a wonderful model. Overall the best addition of the year for me, and the headliner of my best pack since Twilight.

This year was overall not the best of years for me. Until Eurasia, all of the packs had been pretty mediocre. I don’t use anything except the scenery from Oceania, and the Arid pack was so full of filler. Tropical had great scenery and some good choices, but felt lacklustre. The Eurasia Pack brought me some of my most requested animals, and finally a cold climate animal pack. I’m so glad it ended with Eurasia, or I’d have been pretty meh about this year.
 

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
10 . Desert Horned Viper - I always like some diversity for reptiles and the ever expanding snake roster welcomes this viper. Personally above the tortoise for me because of how it can be buried in the sand.
9. Wolverine - One of my favourite 'zoomies' animals that are great fun to watch run all over their habitat in real life, yet to see them in game though. One animal closer to a completed highland wildlife park makes this a great additon regardless.
8. Lar Gibbon - The gibbon we needed and should of got first, the brachiation of this animal is a joy to watch.
7. Wild Boar - Europe has finally received its friendly totally not invasive pig. Personally this addition finished off the pig roster as the temperate biome was still needing some representation.
6. Fossa - Lemurs meet your doom! Madagascar feels almost complete with the addition of the fossa.
5. Mute Swan - Honestly the mute swan itself doesn't excite me but the rig is the best we have got this year. Mods are already making great use out of it.
4. Takin - My favourite animal out of the eurasia pack and adds desperately needed diversity to the himalayas... if only it had a pallas cat friend.
3. Black Rhino - A second rhino was greatly needed for africa for realism sakes and I love it more than the white rhino.
2. Red river hog - It's red, it's a pig and it actually gives tropical africa something else than a primate! Whats not to love.
1. Dama Gazelle - I pity those who thought I was going to say the porcupine NOPE, the most controversial animal of the year is my favourite boosted by my visit to the columbus zoo back in july just made me love the gazelle even more. Soemmerring's gazelle when?
 

Chuditch

Chuditch
10. Hermann's Tortoise - Starting off the top 10 with a neat little exhibit species, definitely one of my new favourites.
9. Asian Water Monitor - I like monitor lizards lol. There were no doubt better choices for tropical varanid species, but the model is really spectacular and they're an iconic species for South-east Asia.
8. Mute Swan - WATERFOWL!! The only reason the swan is this low on the ranking is because the species itself isn't the most useful or interesting Frontier could have picked, but it's still so awesome just to see an anseriiform finally make it into the game.
7. Fossa - Going into 2023, this and the coati were the only two carnivorans I considered essential. The apex predator of Madagascar, it's so great to see the island finally get representation that isn't just more lemurs.
6. African Crested Porcupine - Should have been the Cape porcupine, but a lot of zoos mislabel Capes as African cresteds so it arguably adds to the realism lol. These guys are fantastically made and you can really tell Frontier put their heart and soul into bringing them to life.
5. Dromedary - A strange choice to place a "clone" camel over the porcupine, but the dromedary just looks like a real animal. Frontier grabbed a live camel and shoved it into their game against its will and it's beautiful. Plus, of all the non-Oceanian species added to the game this year, the dromedary is pretty easily the most useable for me.
4. North Island brown kiwi - Be prepared for the Oceania Pack to comprise the entire top 4 lol, I was just way more excited for all the species in this pack than anything else the game offered in 2023. The kiwi would probably be in second place if I got to use it more, but I love them enough that I am eventually planning to build a whole NZ zoo just to include them somewhere.
3. Quokka - Niche to most, the quokka is a very common animal in zoos around me and easily one of the most useful animals added to the game in 2023. It's the perfect filler species (a first for Oceania), a small and unobtrusive animal you can shove in little corners and mix with other species.
2. Little penguin - I basically couldn't build for penguins in my realism builds before. Now I can build for penguins. Enough said.
1. Tasmanian devil - who asked for this rat creature. frontier fell off tbh
 

Fossa

F
Dama gazelle is the worst animal choice ever made.

My favorites are: Fossa, Red River Hog, Porcupine, Tasmanian Devil, Little Penguin, Kiwi, Takin, Wolverine, Saiga and Swan.

All unique and wonderful, well rather had a black swan, but anyway
 

Chuditch

Chuditch
Marvinb said:
Really? Which one?
Click to expand...
The Asian water monitor is the best choice in regards to captive presence, but a species that was less similar to the Nile monitor in regards to size and appearance would have been preferable imo. A lot of my favoured choices, like the lace monitor, crocodile monitor and mangrove monitor, are arboreal and therefore held back by possible issues with climbing for habitat lizards unfortunately, but even just the Mertens' water monitor would have offered more - they're more visually distinct, would represent a new, smaller size class for varanids, and also give us an Australian monitor species (something the game is still missing and we're unlikely to get at this point).

5899125371_2fdf64feb2_b.jpg

IMG_9968.jpg

(the latter image is me giving one a hug for the sake of a size comparison lol)

That said, I still really do like the Asian water monitor, hence why it's in my top 10.
 

RightWhale

RightWhale
TheDuckKnight said:
As we brace ourselves for the Console Edition late next month, let's reflect on our year previous. 2023 was certainly...a year. A year that had DLCs for the cartoon zoo game and there were animals.
It's a bit of an understatement to say 2023 was a polarizing one for the PZ community - some call it a masterwork in animal quality and updates, other say it was filled with overrepresentation and missed opportunities. But regardless on how you feel, it was certainly a topic of discussion.
So, simply what are you top 10 favorite animals this year and why?
I'll go first.

10. Hermann's Tortoise - It might surprise some to see an exhibit animal beat out several habitat ones, but I just love these little buggers. Much needed boost to turtle representation, the first small tortoise, a previously unfilled niche - a highlight in the exhibits for sure.

9. Dromedary Camel - while there's a "FINALLY" vibe to its inclusion, Frontier truly delivered with an absolutely breathtaking model, gorgeous color morphs, fun new animations, well worth the wait for this zoo staple!

8. Quokka - A talked about "oddball" inclusion, but I love them. The unique animations of greeting guests and feeding, their cute hoping cycle, and ofc endless meme power. I'm a pretty firm believer in recognizability and charisma trumps real life zoo presence (same goes for the platypus and proboscis monkey), so I consider the quokka a winner.

7. Lar Gibbon - Like a lot of users, my gibbon needs were thought to be filled by the siamang in 2022, but I was proven wrong. Between the color morphs, the improved and expanded brachiation, and increase in primates, the Lar gibbon is a necessity and Froniter executed them perfectly.

6. Brown Throated Sloth - a very controversial addition at the time, but as the dust has settled, I'm officially in the sloth's corner. An ingenious method of getting a what seemed impossible icon into the game (although I'm still a bit pressed Tropical didn't feature a bird, but that's another story).

5. African Crested Porcupine - I'll just say it, this is the best looking animal in the entire catalogue. Frankly, along with the camel, they save the Arid pack from being a "skip" for me.

4. Little Blue Penguin - I don't want to live in a world where more penguins is seen as a bad thing.

3. Red River Hog - ginger representation, I feel SEEN.

2. Mute Swan - As the username suggests, waterfowl is sorta my thing, and the swan is better than I could possibly imagine. The neck rigging alone makes me want to give the dev team a Pixar-level Christmas bonus. Plus, it's incredibly validating to see how much love the swan is getting.
For years, I thought waterfowl were a low priority for the greater community and I was alone in having them be a top tier - outranking most of the favorite mammals - so seeing this excitement and renewed optimism in getting more birds is something to behold.

1. North Island Brown Kiwi - As much as I love waterfowl, this is it folks. I don't really know what more to say than one of the most unique, weird, iconic birds in existence has made its way into Planet Zoo. Its presence alone raised a once very lackluster roster for birds to a more admirable level. It was also the first bird of my original Meta-Wishlist to be added and I literally screamed when I saw the teaser.

What are yours???
Click to expand...
I like this! A little positivity!

Here is mine:
  1. Mute swan for an easy #1
  2. Little blue penguin for #2, I saw these guys at the Bronx zoo and they are adorable
  3. Brown kiwi for #3, what a shock, I loved all the birds most
  4. Red river hog is a great animal and I was happy to see it in game
  5. Somali Wild ass, love them at the Franklin Park Zoo
  6. Cape porcupine, honestly another great choice
  7. Black rhino, another animal I really wanted
  8. Asian water monitor, the only habitat reptile this year and easily one of the best looking ones
  9. Wisent, just an all around cool dude and cool conservation story
  10. Lar gibbon, personally my gibbon of choice!
 

jcp011c

jcp011c
that's really tough. I got every single one of my top 5 mammals last year, and some other great things as well. This is mostly in order of my wanted but not completely

1. Wolverine - most wanted going into 2023.
2. African Crested Porcupine - possibly the best designed animal in the entire game, given both its level of detail and complexity.
3. Red River Hog - second most wanted going into 2023
4. Northern Brown Kiwi
5. Tasmanian Devil
6. Brown Throated Three Toed Sloth
7. Mute Swan
8. Wild Boar
9. Little (Blue) Penguin
10. Wisent

So Eurasia has 4, Oceania has 3, Arid has 1 and Tropical has 2. I think I know how the packs sorted for me lol
 

Antimony96

Antimony96
10. Collared peccary
9. Little blue penguin
8. Asian water monitor
7. Sloth bear
6. North Island brown kiwi
5. Sichuan takin
4. Lar gibbon
3. Red river hog
2. African crested porcupine
1. Mute swan
 
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