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I’d much rather the Greater Rhea, southern ground hornbill, grey-crowned crane, black-crowned crane, white stork, pink-backed pelican, great white pelican, scarlet ibis, African spoonbill, Bernier’s Teal, Black Swan, Northern Bald Ibis, helmeted Guineafowl, Pheasants, Roul-roul etc etc.

Most of these are also good options.

Why is the Secretary bird so highly requested? It’s not that common in zoos and not particularly colourful compared to other more common and uniquely shaped birds. I think many on the wishlist just go ‘I want birds’ and so vote for the bird high up on the wishlist already and the Secretary bird got a heads start because of its ZT2 appearance. If in the early days grey-crowned crane had got a few votes I think that would now be 8-9th on the wishlist because people are just pushing up the highest ranked bird now regardless of the actual species. A lot of them probably don’t even know what a Secretary bird is,

I think you're underestimating how many people carried over from ZT2. A fair chunk of it is nostalgia, besides being a rather unique raptor that is quite distinctive. Also it's endangered to boot. It also wouldn't necessarily have to fly, making it an easier inclusion to the game. Also while not necessarily common, there are nearly 50 holders in Europe and another 10 or so in NA. This includes several relatively famous/heavily visited zoos such as the San Diego parks, Dallas, Chester, Pairi Diaza, Plzen, and Berlin - so there is a good deal of exposure and precident. A lot more than several species that have made the roster, at that.

I was having a discussion of high priority SA species on the forums yesterday and one of them told me Agouti’s aren’t a common feature of SA sections before admitting they’d never heard of an Agouti…

They'd be pretty low on mine honestly. They seem to be quite a lot more common in Europe than here in the states, but regardless the Patagonian Mara is a stronger contender I think for another SA rodent. I've never seen an agouti, but I have seen a fair few mara. Or perhaps people are still sour over the 9 agouti options from the ZT that shall not be named. :p
 
Secretary bird has missed their chance three times now. Africa, Conservation (they’re Endangered), and now Grasslands.
Maybe someday…
I think the secretary bird may be best suited for when they truly incorporate flight into the game, even though they're quite terrestrial. Then again, with Planet Zoo who knows what'll happen!
 
Or just idk drop us with a PZ 2 trailer with birds and aquariums, that'd be hilariously infuriating
Man... if they did that, and on top of it Planet Zoo Players had to pay full price AND we lost animals AND we couldn't transfer our Planet Zoo 1 games to it... I would be SOO mad. It happened with Jurassic World Evolution, so... it's not off the table for Frontier.
 
Why is the Secretary bird so highly requested? It’s not that common in zoos and not particularly colourful compared to other more common and uniquely shaped birds. I think many on the wishlist just go ‘I want birds’ and so vote for the bird high up on the wishlist already and the Secretary bird got a heads start because of its ZT2 appearance. If in the early days grey-crowned crane had got a few votes I think that would now be 8-9th on the wishlist because people are just pushing up the highest ranked bird now regardless of the actual species.
I think the Secretary Bird is so highly requested because of how comparatively rare it is. Also, they’re just really cool and no other bird really looks like them. How badly do people want Shoebills? Those are even rarer than Secretary birds!
A lot of them probably don’t even know what a Secretary bird is, I was having a discussion of high priority SA species on the forums yesterday and one of them told me Agouti’s aren’t a common feature of SA sections
Well, that’s somewhat embarrassing…. but I don’t think you can assume the zoological knowledge of the average Planet Zoo player based off of that. Anyways, Agoutis would be nice (I have one at my local zoo), but I agree with @Great Argus about the Patagonian Mara being the better choice.
 
Honestly a pretty good pack. Armadillo is fairly unique and represents a much wanted group. Emu boosts the Aussie roster nicely and likely will have enrichment bonuses with a bunch of them. Wallaby I would have preferred a different species but it is nice to see them make the game. Maned wolf is another large canid but I am very happy to see them arrive, a favorite of mine there. Striped Hyena... eh okay. Personally would have liked Aardwolf but it's not horrible. Caracal finally gives us another small cat to help offset the three foxes, took long enough. A good choice too. Butterflies are a surprise on a few levels - multiple species in one slot for a start. How big are they going to be? Most of those species are not particularly large. How will breeding work with their caterpillar and chrysalis stages? Are they just going to spawn adult butterflies every two weeks? Most of the chosen species are very short-lived, are they going to extend this? Are they going to have space requirements? I'm curious to see how this works. I'd be a bit more interested with species like Atlas Moth and Giant Owl Butterfly as well. They gave us a NA species with Cloudless Sulphur, but I've never seen a wild one nor a captive one...
And the Wildebeest - waste of a slot. I stand by the opinion it should have been Blue in the base game and that was enough. Could've been Kudu, Gerenuk, Dama Gazelle, Blackbuck, Eland, Bontebok - but we got another double up. Darn.
Cloudless Sulphur is kept in captivity though - Saint Louis has them.
 
Cloudless Sulphur is kept in captivity though - Saint Louis has them.

Yeah they're around in captivity but not common it seems. I checked around a few rearing places and came up empty more than successful. Lot of other NA species I'd have rather seen in its place. But oh well, we got what we got.
 
Secretary bird has missed their chance three times now. Africa, Conservation (they’re Endangered), and now Grasslands.
Maybe someday…
Frontier: I don't want to spend time on making new model for Secretary Birds, most people are happy with cloning the existing model to make Emu
 
I would say I am not happy with Emu and Blue Wildebeest
Emu: since we already have Cassowary for Aussie paleognath, I prefer Rhea so that can fulfill the South American birds species, or Secretary Birds, Southern Ground Hornbill, or Bustard
Blue Wildebeest: why do we need two Wildebeest species? We still don't have any Asian antelope, why not getting Nilgai, Blackbuck, Saiga, Chiru (there is Chiru in captivity, in one zoo of Lhasa)?

I am fine with Striped Hyena, since it can be used for Middle East, Central Asian or Indian theme.
 
Frontier: I don't want to spend time on making new model for Secretary Birds, most people are happy with cloning the existing model to make Emu
Ok, that’s a little harsh…
I would say I am not happy with Emu and Blue Wildebeest
Emu: since we already have Cassowary for Aussie paleognath, I prefer Rhea so that can fulfill the South American birds species, or Secretary Birds, Southern Ground Hornbill, or Bustard
Blue Wildebeest: why do we need two Wildebeest species? We still don't have any Asian antelope, why not getting Nilgai, Blackbuck, Saiga, Chiru (there is Chiru in captivity, in one zoo of Lhasa)?

I am fine with Striped Hyena, since it can be used for Middle East, Central Asian or Indian theme.
Hey, Australia needs all the representation it can get! Emus weren’t high on my priority list, either, but I’m not mad that they’re here.
 
Ok, that’s a little harsh…

Technically he's not wrong though, look at the tapirs as a particularly notable example. We've frequently seen reuse of rigs rather than new ones, which does save on time and efficiency, but does tend to promote too many similar species. Which said, remember it was Frontier who had a big part in the ZT of many subspecies, so the apple isn't falling far by any means.
 
Technically he's not wrong though, look at the tapirs as a particularly notable example. We've frequently seen reuse of rigs rather than new ones, which does save on time and efficiency, but does tend to promote too many similar species. Which said, remember it was Frontier who had a big part in the ZT of many subspecies, so the apple isn't falling far by any means.
Oh I’m well aware of that. Animal packs tend to have more “reused” species than scenery packs (Malayan Tapir, Spectacled Caiman, the Wildebeests).
My issue was that he was making Frontier out to be lazy because they added the emu instead of the Secretary bird.
At least, I think that’s what that comment was saying. @StellarChaser I am having trouble discerning the second part of your response to me. Are you implying that Frontier is aware of people modding in emus or is that comment two separate thoughts?
 
@Corangurilla My response to you is only this quotation:


My complaint about Emu and Blue Wildebeest is just my personal thought, I think they are not in priority currently.

I think they’re VERY different cases. The emu is one of the most common zoo species on the planet, its omission from the game was a whopping great hole in both the roster as a whole and the Australian roster. It really isn’t a clone of the cassowary and it definitely hasn’t stolen a spot from another species like the Rhea or Secretary bird. They’re unique enough to still add. The southern cassowary being a rainforest bird more common to SEA too really doesn’t make it a substitute for the emu.
 
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I think they’re VERY different cases. The emu is one of the most common zoo species on the planet, its omission from the game was a whopping great hole in both the roster as a whole and the Australian roster. It really isn’t a clone of the cassowary and it definitely hasn’t stolen a spot from another species like the Rhea or Secretary bird. They’re unique enough to still add. The southern cassowary being a rainforest bird more common to SEA too really doesn’t make it a substitute for the emu.
I agree here; emus are also more flexible and tolerant when making multi-species, even walk-through, enclosures with a more open look. Plus Oceania has the lowest species roster in the game, so I feel this and the wallaby are welcome additions.
 
I wanted emus, I did and still do want rheas more because I do think South America needed a boost more and we already have one Australian ratite... but the emu is one of the most iconic Australian animals... the roster without it felt very wrong and the emu is certainly unique enough from the cassowary anyway to be a worthy inclusion.
 
I would say I am not happy with Emu and Blue Wildebeest
Emu: since we already have Cassowary for Aussie paleognath, I prefer Rhea so that can fulfill the South American birds species, or Secretary Birds, Southern Ground Hornbill, or Bustard
Blue Wildebeest: why do we need two Wildebeest species? We still don't have any Asian antelope, why not getting Nilgai, Blackbuck, Saiga, Chiru (there is Chiru in captivity, in one zoo of Lhasa)?

I am fine with Striped Hyena, since it can be used for Middle East, Central Asian or Indian theme.
chiru is not an antelope, they're closely related to wild goats, so it's considered a goat.
 
You know, while I like the inclusion of the Caracal and Striped Hyena, part of me thinks that this wasn’t the right pack for them. Those two are more “desert” than “grasslands”, at least to me. It’s kind of like the Arctic fox being in North America, but reversed because there’s no desert pack (yet).
 
You know, while I like the inclusion of the Caracal and Striped Hyena, part of me thinks that this wasn’t the right pack for them. Those two are more “desert” than “grasslands”, at least to me. It’s kind of like the Arctic fox being in North America, but reversed because there’s no desert pack (yet).

I concur on the Striped Hyena in particular. Which also has been revealed and looks rather subpar imo.
https://twitter.com/PlanetZooGame/status/1599750820534407168
 
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