Zookeeper Animal Pack: How would you have done the roster?

[Fossa]

I would just add Muntjac, Pelican, Shoebill, Golden Pheasant, Secretary Bird, Walrus and replace the Leopard with a Blackbuck, also replace the Sifaka with a Aye-Aye, the Baboon with a howler monkey, the dik-dik with a Gerenuk and the tortoise with a Victoria Crowned Pigeon.

Keep the Markhor, Spectacled Bear and Pallas Cat at all cost though.

 

[Birb（｡･ө･｡）]

I'm completely scrapping everything and starting over with it. I love the animals we got, but they should have been nowhere near priority. Our 6th caprid (and fourth in the last three packs), 8th bear, and whopping 14th cat, yet not a single bird, feels like a total slap in the face. Yes, I want to appreciate them for what they are and be happy with what we got - and I am, these are all animals I like overall and will use -, but critique is how the game (or in this case, probably the next game) improves.

Trying to stay somewhat realistic for a Zookeeper's grab bag pack:

Start by bringing back the hamadryas. It's fine. A solid pick that feels justified for a final pack.
Sticking with monkeys, obviously we need a South American one. Almost any is fine, but I'd go with a black howler monkey.

Now to the most glaring omission: birds.
White-faced whistling duck. It's been talked about at length how good this species would be specifically, and I totally agree. Almost any duck would do, but this is one of the better choices
Burrowing Owl. An oddball pick that actually adds a lot. Honestly, it's one of the most underrated animal picks, period. I wish it was brought up more. I usually see a turkey suggested for a NA bird, but these guys are significantly more common and have a much wider range, from Canada all the way to the bottom of SA. Not to mention I think an owl, regardless of species (with this being the only one to work as a regular habitat animal), would probably be a big seller to a more casual audience, making this a pretty easy headliner.

Now for a reptile, since I think it'd be a disservice to the diversity of zoos to not include one, I'm gonna go with an Argentine black and white tegu. Another underrated "oddball" that's ironically more common and arguably beneficial to the game's roster than the big-name mammals we got. This is pretty much a stealth Latin America pack at this point, but who cares, it needs it. The actual pack is nearly all Africa and Asia anyway.

For the non-monkey mammals, I'll give another remnant of the original pack in the Southern Pudu. The dik-dik really grew on me even without seeing it yet, but if I have the opportunity to swap it for something better, I might as well, so why not another rep for the horribly underrepresented non-tropical South America? For the inevitable ungulate (which yes, only one. Sorry not sorry but they really didn't need two in a final pack.), this is one of the best case scenarios.

Lastly, but definitely not least, is the good ol' Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo. I wish we got at least one of the Papuan trio before support ended, so I might as well go with the most requested one.

I'd keep the scenery so long as it ends up being a lot of general zoo pieces and not party pieces, though I wouldn't be upset moving those pieces to the free update (hell I'd ditch the leopard for them without a second thought) and putting an exhibit animal here. Once again, I'm staying realistic, so no flying birds unfortunately, but it is pretty strange that the game ended without a chameleon or cobra, so I'd probably go with one of those, though I'd massively prefer the tuatara personally.

 

[Eletan888]

This is hard honestly. I really don't mind the roster of this pack in a vacuum. But this pack as the last is hard in the sense there are only 7 spots. I really was hoping and maybe even expecting a few more species than normal. I guess this is what I would do?

Zookeepers Animal Pack
1. Hamadryas Baboon
2. Matschie's Tree Kangaroo
3. Black Howler
4. Spectacled Bear
5. Reeve's Muntjac
6. White-Nosed Coati
7. Markhor

 

[PlanetJameson]

S

 

[CharlieXGaming]

Now this is a thread I can vibe with:

Keep:

Hamadryas Baboon - Iconic and necessary for completing Africa, most important one of the actual roster.

Spectacled Bear - Another easy clone keeping in mind frontiers staff and trying to keep it realistic and it’s a popular and requested one. It deserves its place here.

Change:

Pallas Cat to Serval - Love the Pallas Cat really do but the serval is more iconic for a general zoo themed pack and is a (imo) better addition to the cat roster in game.

Kirk’s Dik-Dik to Gerenuk - I know a lot of people probably wouldn’t like this change but in terms of a “zoo collection” or “zoo oddities” type pack I believe the Gerenuk fits better.

Sifaka to Black Howler or Saki - I mean if they had time to make the unique animations for the sifaka I’d bet they would’ve had time to make the howler monkey, one that probably moves a lot more similar to current primates. I added the saki cause it’s memeable and seems like a frontier pick.

African Spurred Tortoise to Mandarin Duck -Pack really needs a bird, and a duck just seems like the easiest choice because they can just use the baby swan model. The pelican would require some beak work but ducks I would assume are already ready to go.

Markhor to Sea Otter - This just feels like an iconic creature not only to zoos but to the world in general. It’s very iconic I feel like this could’ve been the face of the pack art if it was included. I would miss the Markhor though

So all in all:

• Hamadryas Baboon
• Spectacled Bear
• Sea Otter
• Mandarin Duck
• Black Howler Monkey
• Serval
• Gerenuk
• 95 Scenery Pieces

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Ayy another place to throw shade to the leopard

This would have been so much better if the leopard was literally anything else, with the 2 best contenders being the greater Rhea and a capuchin clone, best contender here being the squirrel monkey.
Either of these choices would give us a much needed south american animal and either a bird or new world monkey, both animals in heavy demand.

For the actual pack hot take but id keep all 3 african mainland newcomers for a pretty simple reason: usefullness and widespread use.
Lets face it, we can bemoan south america and birds all we want but the number 1 zoo region that we all build for is africa and while africa allready is great to build for these 3 gave us some amazing variety picks to add something new and enhance also existing african areas easily. Baboon rocks are a zoo staple and getting 2 small filler animals that arnt carnivorans for a continent whose smallest non carnivorans in game are lemures, porcupine and aardvark serves as an amazing way to vary and imo completly complete that aspect of the roster beyond birds and monkeys.
Its also worth noting that anybody can just put them easily into their current plans or even completed areas if they have just a little space, which is imo a great + as an actual anniversary pack.
The one change i would make with the 3 is the tortoise species, swapping it to radiated to 1. Differentiate it more from the others, 2. Add the flexibility of its smaller size and 3. Still throw madagascar some love. While theres nothing inherently wrong with the spurred, the radiated would just add more flexibility and something more different while still keeping pretty much all gemeral perks from the spurred.

The rest of the pack gets shadow realmed though lmao
Dont get me wrong, all usefull and atleast 6/10 additions with no real stinkers, but himalaya, madagascar, bears and cats really arnt regions that need any last minute fixing.
First on the block, spec gets replaced by the south american coati. I dont think i need to explain this one but as one of the most common zoo animals in general and also south america specifically there is no doubt in my mind that they are the best standalone addition to south america.

Next in line, white faced whistling duck with the very simple reasoning of being a duck, which is a bird(!), that spans 2 continents in their tropical and suptropical areas, one of them south america and as a bonus perk they even life on madagascar. So we got duck, trooical bird, south america, waterfowl and extra perks all in one animal, making this a defenetion of a bandaid solution to our little problem called no birds, especally tropical ones. Theyd work fine as filler, standalone aviarys and best case mixed with other animals and of all animals not included they bug me the most.

While my favorite addition in the dlc, the sifaka also gets the axe, as it wasnt needed in the first place and by just tiny changes of tortoise species and adding the duck most quallified for the job of ductaping a bird label on the southern hemisphere we allready arguably gave madagascar a better boost then the sifaka represents.
But instead of a monkey, id replace it with goodfellows treekangaroo. It should be rather similar in work load, would provide a great hard to mod animal base and most importantly throws oceania one last big bone to chew on. Its hard to cross represent oceania and other places so atleast one slot just for them in a final pack is completly warranted and between the echidna and the treeroo the treeroo won out for me.

And last but not least we get the blackbuck. Its not the most exciting addition, but unlike the markhor it actually competes for not just an open but also quite valueable niche of generic indian ungulate. Its a simple addition but it would be in my opinion the single most impactfull ungulate frontier could and should still add.

And lastly, chickening out on the exhibit animal for what could be very well be the final pack is genuinly somewhat pathetic, so bringing in the king cobra in honor of the games engine would be my play.

So in total we got:

1. Hamadryas Baboon
2. Kirks Dik Dik
------
3. Radiated Tortoise
4. White Faced Whistling Duck
5. South American Coati
6. Blackbuck
7. Goodfellows Treekangaroo
8. King Cobra (E)

9. Rhea or Squirrel Monkey (Anniversary)

 

[nutrit]

For the last pack I would keep everything and add:

Coati
Howlers
Tree kangaroo
Pelican
Perè David’s deer

Looking at the species selection from the last packs I think that there could be at least 4 more solid packs created even without flying birds or aquarium creatures reserved for the sequel.

I know that it was never granted but I’m disappointed that pack we’ve waited 6 months for is not bigger in any way and the other creatures found in the dictionary didn’t make it in the end. Especially tree roo.

 

[Matyej167]

Keep:
Hamadryas baboon
Markhor
Spectacled bear
African spurred tortoise
Coquerel's sifaka

Change:
Pallas' cat to Goodfellow's tree kangaroo
Kirk's dik-dik to Secretary bird

 

[becks474]

I would Change nothing on the Pack. It is one of the best Packs If Not the best Pack WE got with one exception. I Miss the exhibit animal. I just would add one Like the Common Mantis or a Chameleon.

 

[Chuditch]

For my take, I'll pretty much be rebuilding the pack from scratch. When I think of fan-favourite animals that should be included in some kind of grab-bag finale pack, there are five that spring to mind for me:

• Hamadryas baboon
• Secretary bird
• A tree kangaroo
• A coati
• A New World monkey

Some of these animals, notably the baboon and secretary bird, are not actually that high on my list of personal priorities, but given how requested they are by the community and the fact that both still bring something unique and interesting to the game, it still feels necessary to include them.

For a New World monkey any species would be fine of course, even something simple like a squirrel monkey. While I'm tempted to go with Geoffroy's spider monkey, I think the golden lion tamarin would be one of the best picks for the theme - they're highly requested, super common in zoos, and are also a conservation icon. Plus, at least in the zoos I've been to, there's a much higher diversity of small South American monkeys than there are larger ones, so I feel like fleshing out that part of the monkey roster takes priority for me.

So that's already five slots taken with what feel like the "necessities", so what should the remaining slots be? A waterfowl is obvious, and as usual with such underrepresented groups, any would be fine. I've gone with the Mandarin duck here, thanks to its striking appearance and abundance in zoos.

I feel like the remaining habitat slot should belong to a reptile. Radiated tortoise would be great, but I'm gonna go for what I'd personally consider one of the most unique possible choices for a habitat lizard, the rhinoceros iguana. While green iguanas are similar or longer in length, rhinoceros iguanas are far bulkier than their tree-dwelling cousins, and given they don't climb and utilise vertical space they generally require larger enclosures. They're often kept outdoors in large open-topped habitats in places that are warm enough for them, and would be a very unique addition to the game as both the first habitat animal from the Caribbean and the first herbivorous habitat lizard. Plus, they just look awesome!

Lastly, I think the last pack really should have included an exhibit animal - the exhibit roster is already pretty sad, but us going through the whole of 2024 without receiving a single new exhibit species is even sadder. What would my pick be, you ask? The highly requested chameleon and cobra? The two-toed sloth, righting the supposed sins of the brown-throated? Perhaps a giant salamander or frilled lizard? Well no, it's the Lord Howe stick insect lol. These guys are my favourite insects and I wanted them long before they were revealed to have been scrapped from the Australia Pack, and I just think it would have been really cute and fitting for them to have been brought back for the finale. Plus, they have an incredible conservation story that fits the themes of PZ very well.

And so, behold:

Oh yeah, the leopard thing. Anniversary animal is easy, greater rhea. Gives Patagonia some rep (even if the poor rhea is still missing its mara buddy), completes the ratites and also ensures the Americas at least have one bird before the game finishes.

 

[Stygi]

The pack is a bit of a disappointment with its very clone filled roster and a lot of the alternatives suggested here have had more animals or much more complicated animals involved, but I believe the pack still could have been much better with a simple roster.
Keep:
1. Hamadryas Baboon
2. Spectacled Bear
3. African Spurred Tortoise

Replacements:
4. Coquerel's Sifaka -> Squirrel Monkey a very simple new world monkey without the complicated tail or unique sounds and could very easily use the capuchin rig, would add a very much needed second new world monkey to the game
5. Kirk's Dik Dik -> Reeves Muntjac means that the roster is far less dominated by African animals, I personally don't have a preference between the two but I know many would have preferred the muntjac
6. Markhor -> Grey Crowned Crane would actually give us a bird but should be simple enough given we already have a crane
7. Pallas Cat -> Greater Rhea is essential for Patagonia and finally gives south america a proper bird

8. African Leopard -> Golden Pheasant a very common zoo animal and finally give us a pheasant

I don't know about other people but I would certainly prefer this pack even though the animal choices should require a very similar level of effort to those in the pack, we actually get more birds as well as a new world monkey and Patagonia actually gets a representative

 

[StellarLover]

My problem with the pack is that its feels like it was an alpine pack that was cut and then they added some extra animals. I've done some changes basing my idea on a realistic pack+some picks I want:

• Hamadryas baboon
• Walrus (spectacled bear)
• Duiker (dik-dik)
• Blackbuck (markhor)
• Coati (sifaka)
• Secretary bird (african spurred tortoise)
• Pallas' cat

 

[NachoB]

Well depends really. For a final pack that took 6 month's i would've at least included 4 more animals and an exhibit (or two)...

So keeping that in mind:

Things i would keep:

Baboon
Markhor
Palla's cat
Spectacled bear (it was requested like it or not, even more than the other four)

Things i would trade

Dik dik for mara (could be the echidna as well if we follow the dictionary)
Sifaka for NWM (any really)
Tortoise for an Australian monitor actually if we want some reptile love or just leave the tortoise. I'm ambivalente towards it. Or just for the tree kangaroo.

And i would add:

• Coati
• Secretary
• Pelican or duck
• Musk ox

And of course Chameleon for the exhibit and the greater rhea instead for the leopard for Anniversary so we boost both SouthAmerica and bird roster in base game.

Perfect? No, but covers most of what is the most wanted for the community (with the mara being a personal pick ofc)

Now if i have to stick to just 8 animals ( and yes, 8 i can't believe they went for generic celebration scenery instead of a chameleon or something like that, just amazing) is a bit harder. The bear would be out for sure and i would probably cut the mara/echidna and the musk ox. So the end result would be

Baboon
Markhor
Palla's cat
NWM
Coati
Secretary
Pelican/duck
Ex: chameleon

Again not perfect for the community (no tree roo) but at least gives birds, South american monkeys the coati and the secretary plus baboon.

Now that we know that is not the very last pack i would probably keep all of the animals, except for maybe one which i would trade for a bird: pelican or secretary bird. That is hoping next pack would have a big focus on latinamerican fauna ofc.

 

[Fossa]

All this hate towards the Markhor is just insane, we only have five goats/sheep, and two of those are boring (Product-goat and Dall Sheep)... We have 10.000 antelopes and still people want to replace the markhor with blackbucks?

African leopard should have been replaced with a Blackbuck, not Markhor.

In all honesty we needed more sheep/goats.

Any Ibex / Markhor / Mountain Goat / Takin / Musk Ox / Bighorn Sheep / Aoudad / Chamois would be perfect, all very different.

 

[SuzieSky]

I like most of the animals, and I think they're all somewhat useful, but the theme was a bit odd. When I first hear "zookeepers animal pack", I expect either a fan-favorites pack or a pack to address obvious roster gaps to anyone who frequents real-world zoos.

For fan-favorites, I'd have expected a coati, tree kangaroo, new world monkey (hopefully tamarins, probably howler), old world monkey (baboon), African bird (probably secretary bird), at least one duck (I want to see the big 3 added together), a large carnivore (walrus or bear) to balance the smaller animals, and chameleon in an exhibit.

For a zoo-basics pack, I'd primarily expect/hope for koi, ducks, tamarins, macaws, and habitat pond turtles. Those are the big ones I see all of the time for which there is no substitute in PZ. Some other missing zoo basics include the other popular new world monkeys, pink trio, coati, mara, rhea, ocelot, ABB, pheasants, muntjac, Great White Pelican, serval, grey crowned crane, spurred tortoise, baboon, guereza/guenon, and Nile crocodile. Any and all of those would have made more sense to me than the other animals actually in the pack, but I don't necessarily want to get rid of them.

 

[NZFanatic]

Given that I don't see the point in worrying about everyone else's wants when discussing fantasy:

• Pallas cat. Serval.
• Hamadryas baboon.
• Coquerel's sifaka. Squirrel monkey.
• Markhor. Waterbuck.
• Dik-Dik. Agouti.
• Spurred tortoise. Leopard tortoise.
• Spectacled bear. Pelican.

 

[Fossa]

In this expansions case, I’m glad frontier was driving the car, and not the fans.

To me this expansion was only missing a bird, but the only spots I would sacrifice are those of the baboon and turtle

 

[Annie_konik]

I would keep almost all animals in this pack with only 2 exceptions:
Sifaka - Squirrel Monkey
Dik-dik - Grey Crowned Crane

And I would change the scenery to an exhibit, our first chameleon. For example Panther Chameleon

 

[Calleo]

As others have said - to me, zookeepers suggests one of two things:

• A pack of fan favourites
• A pack of common zoo species missing

And given this pack had an extra long time in development, I’m not going to limit myself on rigs.

If it was the former:

• Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo
• Ring-Tailed Coati
• Hamadryas Baboon
• Secretary Bird
• Pacific Walrus
• Spectacled Bear
• Black Howler

If it was the latter:

• Black-Capped Squirrel Monkey
• African Spurred Tortoise
• Greater Rhea
• Patagonian Mara
• Mantled Guereza
• Common Dwarf Mongoose
• Grey-Crowned Crane

What it weirdly ended up being was a hybrid of both - where basically most of the pack were mid-tier wishlist animals that many liked the idea of having but weren’t the top (bar the baboon and spectacled bear).

Pallas Cat is my favourite though. And I’m very happy with the Tortoise, Baboon and Dik-Dik.

Markhor I don’t have qualms as it feels like it deserves inclusion and is a ZT2 legacy animal. Same largely goes for the spectacled bear. So really to me it’s just the sifaka (probably should have been either a NWM or Mantled Guereza).

 

[NZFanatic]

probably should have been either a NWM or Mantled Guereza

The mantled guereza is not that common.