Community Species Suggestions

[toxic oriole]

You sure?

[flint sable]

diprotodon probably

[toxic oriole]

I mean it'd be a surprise

[inner wedge]

||aka i willingly ignored them cause i really really want nothosaurus ingame pretty please||

[shell sonnet]

??

[flint sable]

I was just going off of what was on the list

idk crazier stuff shares rigs

deinocheirus shares a rig with tyrannosaurus

[inner wedge]

what the hell

[shell sonnet]

But Deinocherius is not an alt

[flint sable]

I mean thats fair

they look pretty similar to me at least with the exception of the "horn" on zyg

which could be comparable to the horn difference between elasmotheriums/sinotherium ig

[late swallow]

Eoraptor is right there

[shell sonnet]

I missed it but Herrera isn't

[late swallow]

thats the animal i was referencing with the killer missing animal

[inner wedge]

i mean

[late swallow]

but like this is his opinion

he's welcome to it

[inner wedge]

if we got a format like this for the dlc

[shell sonnet]

Sure, I'm just making a suggesting for another Triassic/SA pack

[inner wedge]

it would be really hard to give the triassic justice like that

[late swallow]

i may feel strongly in favor of Herrera, but some people really dont care

[late swallow]

so much good shit in it

[short rover]

9/10 times ice age horses refer to E. ferus

[late swallow]

Chinle is full of gold

[toxic oriole]

I renovated your chart to make it a template for all to use, fred

[polar tinsel]

Are we guessing how many species slots will get per DLC, or was there something official by devs?

[shell sonnet]

We don't know how many we're getting

[polar tinsel]

👍👍

[shell sonnet]

The devs have talked about making a recently extinct pack as one of the earliest DLCs (provided the game is successful enough) and one of the stretch goals of the kickstarter was a recently extinct expansion with ten animals. Though, ten seems unlikely.

[flint sable]

I would guess 6 as the high estimate

I could realistically see 6 or 4

8 or 10 seems a bit unreasonable

I could also see 5 with one vivarium

[shell sonnet]

I could see 5 with 2

not counting alts

[flint sable]

yeah basically my estimate is anywhere from 4-7

with a varying degree of vivarium species

[late swallow]

i could honestly see 6 or 7 standard animals, maybe 3-4 viv honestly depending on the frequency they'd decide, since they wouldn't be worried about features, just animals

[shell sonnet]

It also depends how often they'd like to release DLC

I can imagine 10 if they were annual

[amber field]

https://www.dmns.org/science/research/rise-of-the-mammals/

Early Paleocene Denver had really interesting mammals

Could work in normal or vivarium

[shell sonnet]

There's definitely good paleocene animals, the big issue is that it's hard to find much info on them and there's like one animal (Gastornis) that people actually know and care about

[amber field]

Mostly like early Triassic

[slim flare]

They are not a subspecies

They diverged 2.5 million years ago

I mean both cat clades in game would also be scavengers. Hell, lions scavenge more than spotted hyena.

Also I would say they are an apex predator, not the apex predator. Even ignoring hominids, there were steppe lions, Homotherium, gray wolves and brown bears on the steppe.

[polar tinsel]

Sure every meat eating animal is also a scavenger to some extent. I meant that Hyenas are kinda known for it.

I thought that there was consensus tho, that they were absolutely the apex predator of pleistocene Europe. Even with all the aforementioned animals in mind, but maybe I'm misremembering

[slim flare]

No not really

[quick ore]

Steppe Hyenas weren't scavengers any moreso than the other pleistocene carnivores we already have in game

[slim flare]

It’s just a stereotype

[quick ore]

the hyenas that are true scavengers are those like Striped or Brown Hyenas which are specialized for it

those of the Crocuta genus are active and successful predators

[hollow furnace]

All carnivores in a zoo are scavengers

They feed on dead animals killed by other animals (humans)

[quick ore]

and this isn't even to say that they never hunt either, they just are specialist scavengers

Spotted Hyenas aren't like that though

[polar tinsel]

Well I guess that pack hunting is still on the table?

[quick ore]

I mean, yeah there's no reason to think that Steppe Hyenas weren't social hunters

but all the same, Spotted Hyenas do a lot of their hunting solitarily

They don't really need to cooperate to bring down most large prey

[slim flare]

And both lions and Smilodon were also cooperative hunters

[quick ore]

is that confirmed for Smilodon?

[slim flare]

More or less

[ancient dagger]

Probably not full lion prides but definitely more social than previously thought

[buoyant zenith]

Aight, I didn’t think I would be making this but here’s a list of hyenas I think would be cool to have in game; 1. Cave hyena, 2. Chasmaporthetes, 3. Pachycrocuta, 4. Dinocrocuta, 5. Thalassictis, 6. Lycyaena, 7. Ictitherium, 8. Adcrocuta.

[buoyant zenith]

Now, on the flip side, here is my list of felines: 1. Miracinonyx, 2. Giant cheetah, 3. Homotherium, 4. Machairodus, Meganthereon, 5. P. blytheae, 6. European Jaguar, 7. Eurasian puma, 8. Dinofelis, 9. Xenosmilus, 10. Proailurus, 11. Pseudailurus.

I realized a lot of the jaguars I wanted to add are unfortunately subspecies.

I had more expectations with my cat list but uh, I was slapped with some realizations.

[late swallow]

Buddy, I have mews doe you

Homotherium is neither a feline nor a felid

[buoyant zenith]

No. 😓 I had one as a kid.

She was a calico. 🤩

[buoyant zenith]

It’s ok.

I think I honestly just want a bunch of extinct cheetahs. 🐆

[polar tinsel]

Huh, what is it then?

[buoyant zenith]

Yeah, um, that part I don’t get since it literally says machairodonts are part of Felidae.

[polar tinsel]

Yeah, just went back and checked, Felidae is Felid...

[buoyant zenith]

Nimravids aren’t. They are closely related but they are in another family.

And they’re false sabers.

Which, I didn’t mention and would make another list for.

[late swallow]

i was thinking somethin else then

[coarse inlet]

-David Peters

[quick ore]

Chasmaporthetes....

https://tenor.com/view/key-and-peele-dap-me-up-dap-whoopsie-regrettably-gif-24122134

[buoyant zenith]

I have no clue why they call it a hunting or running hyena as common name listed on the Wiki... Like, bud, don't most hyenas do that???? JUST CALL IT THE ARCTIC HYENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sounds way cooler anyways.

[buoyant zenith]

https://tenor.com/view/barbie-just-like-you-gif-26133750

[buoyant zenith]

Since this is my brainrot channel, here is my next list, extinct cetaceans: 1. Kentriodon, 2. Basilosaurus, 3. Livyatan, 4. Dorudon, 5. Odobenocetops, 6. Pakicetus, 7. Ambulocetus, 8. Perucetus, 9. Ankylorhiza, 10. Squalodon, 11. Macrokentriodon, 12. Haborophocaena, 13. Kutchicetus, 14. Aetiocetus, 15. Cetotherium, 16. Zygophyseter, 17. Mystacodon, 18. Llanocetus, 19. Notocetus, 20. Extinct orcas, 21. Australodelphis, 22. Arktocara, 23. Goedertius, 24. Ninjadelphis, 25. Awadelphis, 26. Miophocaena, 27. Semirostrum, 28. Piscolithax, 29. Lomacetus, 30. Meherrinia, 31. Maiabalaena.

[ancient dagger]

2 lists for the price of 1 today. My comprehensive vivarium suggestions. You know the drill for what's underlined and what's crossed out. Decided on a larger roster of 42 species with hopefully a well rounded cast of fan faves and newbies.

Aegirocassis
Alphadon
Anchiornis
Anomalocaris
Anurognathus
Archaeopteryx
Arthropleura
Brontoscorpio
Castrocaudia
Cephalaspis
Coelurosauravus
Confuciusornis
Cynognathus
Didelphodon
Diictodon
Dimorphodon
Drepanosaurus
Haikouicthys
Halszkaraptor
Hynerpeton
Icthyornis
Isotelus
Jeholopterus
Lystrosaurus
Meganeura
Megarachne
Microraptor
Mononykus
Necromantis
Notosuchus
Passenger Pigeon
Peltephilus
Peteinosaurus
Petrolacosaurus
Proburnetia
Rahonavis
Rhamphorhynchus
Shuvuuvia
Simosuchus
Thrinaxodon
Tiktaalik
Yi Qi

[buoyant zenith]

We love them long rosters around here.

[buoyant zenith]

https://tenor.com/view/storks-cute-wolves-i-agree-i-agree-i-agree-i-agree-storks-wolves-i-agree-i-agree-stork-wolves-movie-scene-i-agree-i-agree-i-agree-storks-wolves-scene-gif-5117701668463654622

[late swallow]

https://tenor.com/view/cotylorhynchus-cotylorhynchus-walk-walking-cotylorhynchus-gif-27547597

Coty would be full fledged tbh

[buoyant zenith]

I love how smooth that animation is.

[ancient dagger]

I suppose, given how big it is

Wait, I already had Coty in my Synapsids list haha

[quick ore]

imagine how cute baby Coty's will look

[flint sable]

depends on the species but probably yeah

if we were to get coty I could almost guarentee it would be handcocki not romeri or bromeri

at least as the main

since its the big one

also if that was the case it would be the 2nd animal where the type species wasnt the one ingame, first being microraptor

(PK has M. gui, type is M.zhaoianus)

[late swallow]

Ursus, panthera

[flint sable]

ohhhhh yeah lmao

I would put them into a different category seeing as they are yknow

alive

but touche

[late swallow]

Yeh

[buoyant zenith]

Honestly, all those Permian creatures would make for a sick indoor zoo if they were alive today.

[cosmic cosmos]

Rhamphorhynchus is an exhibit sized flier

[coarse inlet]

yeah it's the best choice for a non vivarium non pterodactyloid

[buoyant zenith]

Question: if we get the Daeodon, y'all think Archaeotherium would be an alt species?

[toxic oriole]

I remember starting up a discussion regarding swine for PK

A few months ago or something

[buoyant zenith]

There is old concept art of Daeo so maybe still up for consideration on the mammal side of things (I hope it is). There are many cool entelodonts.

[polar tinsel]

Pleistocene Podium: Dwarf Sicilian Elephant

There's so many pleistocene proboscideans that could comfortably make it into this game, without getting in each others way, however I feel like this apply for our next species the most.

Dwarf Sicilian Elephant stands out amongst its contemporaries, first and foremost by size. This makes it fantastic pick for zoo manager games and Zoo Tycoon seemed to pick up on that very early on.

Their size allows for you to care after elephants in your park, without having to construct yet another mega habitat. It also allows for more creativity when it comes to habitat design and barrier picking, when you don't have to worry about behemoths breaking out again.

They also refresh that stereotypical cold pleistocene atmosphere (which is still pretty cool tbh) coming from warm, humid Mediterranean, prompting new enviroment and flora to be added.

Now elephants aren't the most colorful animals, but looking at the art below, we can have alternatives with variations of hair, from moderately hairy (again, like gentlemen below) to almost complete hairlessness, like our modern elephants.

That would be it for this one. Until tomorrow 👋

Art by Agustin Diaz.

Previous podium: #1360542295228944414 message

[left spear]

Funnily enough there some old stuff that slightly pointed towards p. Namadicus and p. Falconeri as alts

It's kidna old tho (like a year and a half) and It was never confirmed so don't think much about it

[polar tinsel]

Old stuff, like from the devs, or fan speculation?

[hollow furnace]

Kinda both

[steep tulip]

Doubt its possible anyway
Not only is falconeri the size of antiquus calf, but they are also built very differently
Falconeri is built like a cow

[polar tinsel]

Well if it's at all on their minds it's cool to hear

I keep reading bits and pieces of bunch of different post EA plans, but all through secondary channels, so I can't check what's legit and what's not

[ancient ibex]

Albertosaurus is a quite popular pick but I'm just gonna bring over Medena's take on it (unrelated to the game), because it deserves love

[slim flare]

Looks unclean

[tulip umbra]

I would prefer either alioramus or qianzhousuarus over other tyrannosaurids like alberta, gorgo, daspleto, lythro

[abstract compass]

didnt know medena did a alberto. neat

[amber field]

would love to see Dryptosaurus in the game

[buoyant zenith]

Aside from the ones in game, what major theropod groups are we missing (I know we talked quite a bit about the megaraptorans).

[hollow furnace]

Ceratosaurs (Ceratosaurus, Carnotaurus, noasaurs)

Metricanthosaurs (Yang gang)

Therizinosaurs

[abstract compass]

DID SOMEONE SAY YANG GANG

[hollow furnace]

Troodontids

[amber field]

Carnotaurus is coming

[hollow furnace]

Birds

[hollow furnace]

But it's not here yet

[amber field]

Personally, I want to see majungasaurus

[left spear]

Noasaurs too

[buoyant zenith]

I am so ready for theris.

[hollow furnace]

mentioned them

[left spear]

We only need Masiaka but damm do we need Masiaka

[hollow furnace]

Incorrect

[left spear]

Whoops

[hollow furnace]

Limu + Elaphro

[left spear]

Emphasis on the need

[hollow furnace]

Yes

We need Limu + Elaphro

[left spear]

Limu and elaphro are peak dlc

[buoyant zenith]

For the tiny dinos, I can imagine making like those kid sections where they can kinda pop their head into the enclosure through glass bubbles.

[desert flame]

Dinosaurs smaller than Velociraptor would likely be classified as vivariums, but when I look at the larger vivariums, I think it would be possible to exhibit dinosaurs the size of Velociraptor.

[ancient ibex]

Eh, if that's a major group, oh boy the coelurosaur subdivisions we gotta go through bwahaha

(FWIW, not saying that they aren't cool; c'mon mid-late Jurassic China pack)

[buoyant zenith]

Ok but at what taxon are we actually classifying all these theropods? Families, orders?

[hollow furnace]

whichever you want

[ancient ibex]

Those are ranks, and ranks are actually meaningless

At the end of the day, gotta find the compromise to make most people happy (and that includes the devs, and that involves workload and profitability)

[buoyant zenith]

Sometimes I hate how confusing it gets with all those terms we can use.

Makes me cross eyed. 😓

Anyways, bringing it back to mammals, here is my entelodont wish list: 1. Daeodon, 2. Archaeotherium, 3. Entelodon, 4. Paraentelodon, 5. Cypretherium, 6. Brachyhyops, 7. Proentelodon.

[late swallow]

I mean, they're not that useless.

[ancient ibex]

So tell me why order coleoptera is both larger, more diverse and older than class mammalia? The ranks are useless because they are based on 18th century vibes, and they are just used by old farts when they are trying to disregard the importance of genetic data, or biodiversity, or any measurable part of biology

[desert flame]

Daeodon already has a model, so it will probably be improved and come back later.

[buoyant zenith]

Still putting it in just in case. Reinforcement of it being my top pick for the group.

[late swallow]

Beetles are vastly more diverse than mammals. You can still find use in "this is a beetle" and "this is a mammal"

[ancient ibex]

Good, a member of Coleoptera and a member of Mammalia

[buoyant zenith]

Think I will make some lists for borophagines, nimravids, hyaenodons, and general extinct canids later.

[ancient ibex]

but "order" or "class" has no use whatsoever

That's what the useless ranks are

Not the clades as a whole

[desert flame]

oh
I hope that when Daeodon returns, Entelodon will be added as an alternative species.

[late swallow]

I know I'm not going to change your mind, but pushing that onto literally everyone else here is exhausting

[ancient ibex]

It is literally my job and my formation

Also, isn't it more exhausting to come and try to contradict something just because?

[buoyant zephyr]

Oh dios mío

What is happening

[ancient ibex]

Nothing, really, a minor disagreement that gets long winded

Sorry

[buoyant zenith]

Honestly, don’t care which species gets put in as alternate, as long as we have an alternate. I like having different genuses involved in the game to make diversity. I personally think it adds more variety in a zoo environment.

[buoyant zephyr]

WRONG

Those are still more important and probably have more priority

[buoyant zenith]

Can we please stop arguing over priority of species? At the end of the day, all of these are speculations. It’ll be up to the devs which they want to take priority of. You’re all allowed to have a preferred species that another person doesn’t.

[tulip umbra]

No

[ancient ibex]

Alberto is literally as far away from Tyrannosaurus you can go without stopping being a tyrannosaurid

[plush nacelle]

Thats the point - to argue over animals. No fun, if it was just here I suggest animal and everyone is wow

[ancient ibex]

Also predator for both Dinosaur Park and Horseshoe Canyon

[ancient ibex]

Conflict is overblown

I want to gush over animals

[buoyant zephyr]

Yes??

Lol

[tulip umbra]

By that logic frontier wouldve added Hatzegopteryx, but they added Thanatosdrakon instead

[buoyant zephyr]

Frontier is not this game's team tho

[tulip umbra]

Well, all im saying is that I would prefer the more unique alioramids over all the other tyrannosaurs (alberto, daspleto, lythro, gorgo, nanuq)

[ancient ibex]

Funnily enough Alio may be the closest to Tyranno out of those

[tulip umbra]

Yeah, i just like them cuz theyre unique and pretty recently discovered so they deserve more spotlight imo

Also ive always found Alioramus to be a pretty cool name

[ancient ibex]

I honestly want Alberto first, but Aliorams are IMO without a doubt a good third rep

(and Daspleto would be cool if we were to get a 4th tyrannosaurid, but I don't really care much for Teratophoneans and specially Nanuq)

[tulip umbra]

Fair enough Alberto is definitely a classic that should get added

[tulip umbra]

I feel a lil bad for Daspleto though, he always gets overshadowed even though hes pretty badass

[late swallow]

Thanatosdrakon > Hatzeg

[tulip umbra]

Imma pretend i didnt just read that

[coarse inlet]

Girl what

[cosmic cosmos]

Alverezsaurids

[steep tulip]

Thanatos is better known material wise (kinda), but hatze has its own unique appeal

Even if its 2 bones

There's more undescribed tho

[late swallow]

excited to see it described

but i do favour thanatosdrakon, jwe kinda got me introduced

[buoyant zenith]

Without a doubt, I call the pterosaurs the wyverns of the real world.

[hollow furnace]

Yeah, I’d rather a more unique animal known from less material, then a better known animal that’s basically the same as something else we’re getting

[tulip umbra]

Also Hatzeg isnt terrible relative to most azdarchids (fossil material wise)

Right?

[late swallow]

relative, yeah

which like, low bar

[tulip umbra]

Well Thanatos is missing its entire skull iirc which is the most diagnostic part

So Hatzeg is still pretty decent compared to it

[plush nacelle]

Arent just two azdharchid skulls out there?

[hollow furnace]

It’s pretty terrible

Still enough to be distinct from others from the definite material (holotype) and even more if you include the referred material

[tulip umbra]

Probably Q. lawsoni and Zhejiangopterus then

[hollow furnace]

Definite Hategopteryx material

Including referred material:

[buoyant zenith]

That’s all they found?

[hollow furnace]

Yes

[tulip umbra]

Yep

Not much lol

[hollow furnace]

Welcome to Azdarchids

(There is more undescribed specimens that might be Hateg as well)

Like Dracula

[tulip umbra]

Its better then Arambourgiana though

[sharp dock]

mmm amazing head fragment

[tulip umbra]

Never understood why it gained popularity

[sharp dock]

big

thicc bird

[hollow furnace]

Tbf, that head fragment is enough to know it had a crazy wide skull

It’s pretty cool

[quick ore]

if this is all they found then how come it is always depicted with a huge skull?

or a crest

[tulip umbra]

Its unfortunate we dont really have any clue what their crest if they had one looked like though

[tulip umbra]

That little fragment in the skull is enough to tell you it had a wide skull compared to other azdarchids

[plush nacelle]

Look at zheijano

[quick ore]

ah

[late swallow]

combo Azhdarchidae and Hateg

[tulip umbra]

Do we have any info on those?

[hollow furnace]

It had a skull as wide as T. rex

[hollow furnace]

Some but not much afaik

[steep tulip]

I remember asking this here a while ago
While we have no evidence for a crest in hatze, every azharchid that was found with the crest preserved is from different lineages so its safe to assume it was a basal trait of the group

Something along those lines

[ancient dagger]

Ah, underestimated how big Rhamp was

[steep tulip]

I think that's based off the largest specimen we have of it
All the others we found are a smaller (tho still too big for a vivarium imo)

[hollow furnace]

A lot of the Solnhofen fossils have a very big taphonomic bias towards juvenile animals, it’s quite interesting

[steep tulip]

Mhm
We have so much material of rhamphorhynchus that we have more than 1 fossil of one being attacked by aspidorhynchus, the thought of them all being juveniles is pretty weird (tho dearc was basically the same size as the largest rhampho specimen)

[plush nacelle]

They will surprise

And pick that smaller species

[ancient dagger]

List #6: exhibit-size marine animals. This is another comprehensive one, including invertebrates, fish, mammals, reptiles, etc. Since there are no marine animals in PK atm, nothing is underlined or crossed out. As usual, no alt genera included. This is a bigger one, with a clean cut roster size of 45 critters.

Archaeodobenus
Archelon
Attenborosaurus
Basilosaurus
Cameroceras
Caribbean Monk Seal
Cretoxyrhina
Cymbospondylus
Dakosaurus
Dolichorhynchops
Dorudon
Dunkleosteus
Elasmosaurus
Globidens
Gomphotaria
Halisaurus
Helicoprion
Henodus
Hybodus
Hyneria
Icthyosaurus
Jaekelopterus
Kronosaurus
Leedsichthys
Liopleurodon
Livyatan
Machimosaurus
Megalodon
Megalograptus
Metriorhynchus
Mosasaurus
Nothosaurus
Odobenocetops
Opthalmosaurus
Parapuzosia
Perucetus
Platecarpus
Plesiosaurus
Pliosaurus
Prognathodon
Pterygotus
Shonisaurus
Stellar's Sea Cow
Tylosaurus
Xiphactinus

[tulip umbra]

Wheres my boy Onchopristis

[buoyant zenith]

Make your own list. I am sure you got a bunch of ones you can name which we didn’t come up with.

[ancient dagger]

Got plans for him

And several others that didn't make the cut

Or I just forgot lmao

[tulip umbra]

I would add Stratodus and Mawsonia as well

[inner wedge]

i think that all big invertebrates will end up in aquariums rather than exhibits

the big ones would be good enough for all of them

[ancient dagger]

Yeah, I just used exhibit as a catch-all term for their size

[inner wedge]

also hopefully we'll see a lot of small aquarium species

since making fishes and trilobites would be really easy even compared to vivarium animals

[tulip umbra]

Also super obscure and unknown fish but pretty cool and would be nice filler imo Megalampris

[ancient dagger]

Agreed

[ancient dagger]

Duly noted

[inner wedge]

regardless the aquatic expansion will be massive

[coarse inlet]

If free swimming animals can be done I dont see why eurypterids couldnt be among them

[inner wedge]

i don't think devs want to make a full animation/behaviour set for invertebrates

[coarse inlet]

Why not?

[inner wedge]

too complex to animate

[coarse inlet]

like I get it for stuff like Arthropleura

[inner wedge]

oh also ontogeny would be a mess

[coarse inlet]

but eurypterids arent that complicated

[inner wedge]

ontogeny alone would sent them to the vivarium prison

[coarse inlet]

it's doable

[inner wedge]

i kinda thought about it too

in my list

but just make their larval stage smaller versions of the adults instead of something more elaborate

[coarse inlet]

I think the Megaquarium route would make more sense and mesh well with the current breeding system

[inner wedge]

maybe

it's way too early to say

[coarse inlet]

sure

but this is all hypothetical

[inner wedge]

and it's not like devs are following this thread seriously, isn't it?

[buoyant zenith]

I bet not. Maybe here and there.

[inner wedge]

i saw nano post once but that's it

[tulip umbra]

Probably not, this is all wishful thinking lol

[inner wedge]

at the very best they took a glance at the community poll

[tulip umbra]

I highly doubt theyre actively looking for species suggestions at this point in time especially

[buoyant zenith]

If I were a dev, I probably would look at this thread just for fun and maybe sketch out some fun concepts but realistically when you know how much work you already have has to be developed, you know it’s best not to dwell too long here.

[inner wedge]

especially considering they already outlined the post-release support schedule for the next 1 or 2 years after

[tulip umbra]

Yeah, they’ve most likely already planned out all or most species and possibilities for the foreseeable future

[steep tulip]

Desmatosuchus in u17
Desmostylus in u18
Dimorphodon u19

Mau told me

[inner wedge]

fuck off king dedede

[late swallow]

Not the ancient mola mola

Also prehistoric wildlife spotted

[polar tinsel]

I need to get used to the fact that "Exhibit animals" in this game doesn't mean the same thing in means in Planet Zoo

[tulip umbra]

You’ll prob get more used to it when they actually release U16, for now its still just pics and words on a screen afterall

[tulip umbra]

Its actually related to Opah not Mola

[late swallow]

Okay but it gives mola mola vibes

[buoyant zenith]

You know what? I really love just the fact we have many giant counterparts of modern species.

[tulip umbra]

Yea, except for spiders

And whales given that the blue whale is the largest

[plush nacelle]

No giant colugo on sight

[late swallow]

Let's keep it that way

[buoyant zenith]

Giant venomous arachnids just sound like a human heart attack waiting to happen.

Anyways, can’t wait for aquatics and even making multi species aquariums with all those cool fish.

[tulip umbra]

We just gotta find em, surely they existed with how long spiders have been around

[buoyant zenith]

I bet they do. Just fossilization.

We know how finicky that is.

[tulip umbra]

Or we are just that unlucky that we just so happen to be living with the largest spiders in history

[buoyant zenith]

I would love to make an entire aquarium exhibit dedicated to the Spinosaurus fishy habitat.

[tulip umbra]

So these guys?

[buoyant zenith]

Ye. Minus Spino.

Although, maybe I could make a thing that somehow makes it look like Spino is in the habitat but not actually there….

Combining enclosures but not…

[hollow furnace]

Getting Onchopristus and Mawsonia/Axelrodicthys would be amazing

[buoyant zenith]

Would play around with that if we ever got it.

[tulip umbra]

It depends on how they implement aquatics, i see three options

1. Like zt2 with giant aquariums
2. Lagoons like jwe
3. Sculpting out the terrain and filling it with water manually

[hollow furnace]

I personally suspect they’ll probably work something like a hybrid between the zt2 tanks and JWE lagoons

[buoyant zenith]

I wouldn’t mind having options on how they implement it. But honestly, whatever suits the devs best.

It would be cool making an aquarium through modular building and then having a game recognition system that allows for it.

But only if that is something they are willing to put the time in for and want to do so.

[tulip umbra]

That does seem very complicated and unprecedented (i think)

[buoyant zenith]

Exactly.

[tulip umbra]

Though pk were the first and still only to do the seamless ontogeny

[buoyant zenith]

And I would give them the money for that shit again.

I can’t believe they did it but they did. And it paid off. I am SO proud of them for that.

[tulip umbra]

It still surprises me how this small development team is implementing these huge innovative systems

[buoyant zenith]

Imagine how that must feel even more to be the one to pull it off. The champagne must have been flowing in the office that day.

That’s why if they did something like what I described, I wouldn’t be surprised. I believe they would find a way.

[tulip umbra]

Out of all the animals discovered in 2025 so far, which 3 would you add to pk?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_archosaur_paleontology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_paleomammalogy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_reptile_paleontology

[flint sable]

kostenosuchus, duonychus, mirasaura

definitely mirasaura

[late swallow]

wait

Duo was this year

[flint sable]

yes

[late swallow]

jfc

[shell sonnet]

I think Protoceras celer and Paracrax gigantea/Bathornis geographicus would nice additions.

Protoceras's males had pair of crested horns over the nasal area, two on the back of the skull, and third one set just in front of the eyes. The females meanwhile only had the back pair, which were shorter than the males. They would have stood a meter in height and also had mouse deer like fangs. This would make a great early starting mammal alongside an early horse and Lagomeryx.

Both Paracrax and Bathornis are large flightless birds (over 2 meters in height) that were macropredators in their environment. The former is said to prefered more aird ecosystems compared to the latter. After a terror bird and Gastronis, I think they would the next best choice for a large flightless non-recently extinct theropod.

All these also come from the White River formation so they would nice additions alongside the must haves of Daeodon, Hyaenodon, Megacerops and Meso/Miohippus.

[buoyant zenith]

https://tenor.com/view/awkward-im-out-byee-ok-gif-15304701432226785572

I love the little ungulates. Just makes me wanna pick them up and cuddle.

[flint sable]

great picks

I personally would prefer Synethoceras or Syndoceras over Protoceras, but a great pick reguardless

[coarse inlet]

I've seen some people say that Paracrax and Bathornis have been misinterpreted somehow and werent that big but IDK enough to say for sure

https://www.reddit.com/r/Paleontology/comments/zp3rns/where_did_the_idea_of_bathornithids_as_huge/

[buoyant zenith]

I just need more pronghorn type species in general.

[shell sonnet]

I don't know the answer myself, but this was a counterpoint on a different thread.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Paleontology/comments/1iutzja/comment/me4dgn5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I'm not sold on the animal myself, I was just trying to find some decent additions for White River and it looked unique, but as usual, finding any information on cenozoics is hard.
I am pushing for Protoceras.

[buoyant zenith]

You would think it's easier since it's a mammal and then get hit with the opposite reality.

[late swallow]

i see a gator

[shell sonnet]

It's one of the earliest species of the genera.

[ancient dagger]

List #7: Dinosaurs. This is one I've been putting off because I wanted to give all the other guys a fair shot. This is the penultimate list in my little series, with a lot of underlined and crossed out species. For those who are new and wonder why I didn't list certain dinos, I'm not including alt genera. This is my hardest list since there are so many dinos I love that would make the initial cut. But I gotta keep these rosters to a reasonable number. Here, I settled on 50.

But I did say penultimate, soooooo..................

Acrocanthosaurus
Albertosaurus
Allosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Apatosaurus
Argentinosaurus
Baryonyx
Brachiosaurus
Camarasaurus
Camptosaurus
Carcharodontosaurus
Carnotaurus
Centrosaurus
Ceratosaurus
Coelophysis
Deinocheirus
Diplodocus
Dryosaurus
Edmontonia
Edmontosaurus
Eoraptor
Gallimimus
Gigantoraptor
Guanlong
Herrerasaurus
Iguanodon
Lambeosaurus
Leaellynasaura
Muttaburrasarus
Nasutoceratops
Ouranosaurus
Oviraptor
Pachycephalosaurus
Pachyrhinosaurus
Parasaurolophus
Plateosaurus
Protoceratops
Psittacosaurus
Scelidosaurus
Spinosaurus
Stegosaurus
Styracosaurus
Tenontosaurus
Therizinosaurus
Thescelosaurus
Torvosaurus
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus
Utahraptor
Velociraptor

[silver steeple]

White River would be such a peak "Safari" formation (stuff like Tokod, HC, Morrison etc)

[ancient dagger]

Agreed (Totally not because I'm SD Mines alumni and I spent 4 years next to White River lmao)

[cosmic cosmos]

You have the wrong k(c)entrosaurus on this list

[ancient dagger]

The other one will be added next list

[ancient dagger]

List #8: The "Finale" list. This is the final list in my little series. It consists of extinct taxa that were runners up for my previous lists, or those I just forgot because I'm a dum dum. This is another big one, with 60 taxa (not counting alt genera). Dinos, birds, marine animals, vivarium animals, reptiles, amphibians, weird paleozoic guys, etc.

And with this, my little list miniseries is coming to an end.

Aetosaurus
Amargasaurus
Archaeoindris
Arsinoitherium
Australovenator
Beelzebufo
Chasmosaurus
Cryolophosaurus
Dacentrurus
Deinonychus
Diplocaulus
Eryops
Eurohippus
Falkland Islands Wolf
Giganotosaurus
Glacialisaurus
Hallucigenia
Homalocephale
Homotherium
Kauaʻi ʻōʻō
Kentrosaurus
Leptictidium
Lythronax
Madtsoia
Magyarosaurus
Maiasaura
Majungasaurus
Mawsonia
Megalampris
Merycoidodon
Mesosaurus
Metridiochoerus
Miracinonyx
Monolophosaurus
Nanuqsaurus
Nimravus
Nothronychus
Olorotitan
Onchopristis
Opabinia
Ornithomimus
Pakicetus
Platybelodon
Prenocephale
Pterodactylus
Pulmonoscorpius
Pygmy Mammoth
Sauropelta
Saurosuchus
Simbakubwa
Stenonychosaurus
Stratodus
Synthetoceras
Teleoceras
Titanomyrma
Tsintaosaurus
Tullimonstrum
Yangchuanosaurus
Yutyrannus
Zalmoxes

Now for Phase 2: Organizing all these lists into more digestable DLC packs

[neat iris]

Is this a wishlist?

[polar tinsel]

Pleistocene Podium: Glyptodon

I believe I don't have to spend much words on this one.

It's one of the pleistocene staples and well established in pop culture and paleocommunity. Very unique animal, coming from very diverse order of mammals.

Picking them over Doedicurus was an arbitrary, subjective choice, and either would be more than welcome in game.

For alternative variant we could have Glyptotherium, for that North America coverage. Maybe that range that could be covered with those two variants is an advantage Glyptodon would have against Doedicurus. Makes it a more flexible pick for different kinds of zoo sections.

(In before people tell me that they're nothing alike and wouldn't work as alternatives)

Also I don't know how much backing has the theory that Glyptodons could've had trunks, but I think it would be fun to see model variations (like Elasmotherium) with and without. Or make one species have it and other not. Idk.

That would be it for this one. Until tomorrow 👋

Art by LADAlbarran2001.

Previous Podium: #1360542295228944414 message

https://youtu.be/8yI0Wz3e5b4?si=QhyGj2neM0vrHO1p

Trunked variant in Ice Age Giants doc

[inner wedge]

i have a hunch glyptodon may be in full release or shortly after

[inner wedge]

bawitius and concavotectum would be cool too

[tulip umbra]

I think Bananogmius is prob better than Concavovectum

[ancient dagger]

Sort of

[ancient dagger]

Maybe an alt genus to Doedicurus?

[shell sonnet]

No, they're too different

[buoyant zenith]

Which glyp do y’all think would suffice as an alt? For whichever species that is main.

[shell sonnet]

For which main?

[buoyant zenith]

Doedicurus and Glyptodon.

Like, take those as the main genus for the first two/three skins. What would their alts be?

[desert flame]

There are rumors that Doedicurus will be coming in Update 19, but considering the number of herbivore slots, I hope Glyptodon will come along too.

[abstract compass]

holy shit there are rumors?

[steep tulip]

doedicurus has no good alts

theres one from the miocene that could work but its not that interesting if Im being honest

forgot the name

[desert flame]

Yes
but these are just rumors and the animals that will be added may differ...

[buoyant zenith]

I see there is one sister genus; Eleutherocercus.

[steep tulip]

yeah that one

[desert flame]

In some cases, Update 16's animal predictions turned out to be very different from reality.

[hollow furnace]

https://tenor.com/view/glee-santana-lopez-rumor-has-it-the-troubletones-rumor-gif-23703387

[polar tinsel]

As I mentioned above, I believe Glyptotherium would be a good alt for Glyptodon. Not many visual differences necessarily (Therium was a bit smaller I believe), but they do cover different areas, with Glyptotherium stretching to NA

[polar tinsel]

Pls don't tell me that those are the famed "leaks"...there could be anything in those purple spots 😥

[digital pendant]

honestly a good alt, its miocene, smaller and has different environmental requirements

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/408388800201621504/1424490924356014150/image.png?ex=68ee074e&is=68ecb5ce&hm=5d9b9af6fead38b52ec5a5f2916ea94a0880a2dddcdcc157a906ab0597617392 a bit of a shame this is the most decent reconstruction of it oof

it lived with thylacosmilus as well, its from a neat formation

[abstract compass]

goddamn he has chops for hair

[buoyant zenith]

They just vibing.

[digital pendant]

thats a common thing put on glyptodonts for some reason

[abstract compass]

[buoyant zenith]

First I ever heard of it now. Went to the Wiki for Doedic and went to the branch offs. Glad I found it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this!

[bold sinew]

Time for someone to comission a new reconstruction

idk who but I don't got the cash

[inner wedge]

no, but since they'd share rigs it would be fairly easy to make

[digital pendant]

glyptodon cant be made an alt from doedicurus lol

[inner wedge]

that's what i meant

[digital pendant]

ah read wrong

but yeah very different animals

[ancient dagger]

One of the best covers in Glee tbh

[digital pendant]

completely different scute configuration, would need a completely separate sculpt

[late swallow]

Would make a good cereal bowl

[buoyant zenith]

https://tenor.com/view/you-take-that-back-take-that-back-ross-geller-rachel-friends-gif-5982073129383985507

[inner wedge]

it's still accurate, the roadmap icons fit pretty much perfectly

only thing different is that they reworked the vivarium mechanics and managed to squeeze in half a dozen new animals

(and i'm confident we're gonna see other minis on release)

[buoyant zenith]

Anywho, if we got Doedic and Glypto as separate glyptodont species, that would be awesome and then have two alt genuses but hey, I am fine with whatever the devs would want.

[ancient dagger]

I'd be down for Leptictidium

[inner wedge]

imo it could fit alongside diictodon and peltephilus

[ancient dagger]

Agreed

[buoyant zenith]

Has anyone talked about Indohyus? Cuz I think that would be a cute addition too.

[ancient dagger]

A good, varied cast of mini mammals

[inner wedge]

if we get 4 new vivariums in 1.0 it could probably be those three plus either an insectivore or a herbivore dino depending on what diet thy choose for peltephilus

[buoyant zenith]

Honestly, more than half these mammals sound like something I would want to cuddle.

While I know these aren’t minis, I would def want to add the giant hamster from S. America and rabbit from Menorca.

[ancient dagger]

Lesothosaurus?

[inner wedge]

for me either sinosauropteryx or aquilops

unless we get one or both next update

[desert flame]

Update 16 will add a semi-aquatic mammal, which could be the Indohyus.
However, there are many possibilities, so it will remain a mystery until the trailer is released.

[buoyant zenith]

Love those red panda dinos.

[hollow flower]

Leptictidium is by far my most wanted vivarium animal discounting serpentine critters

The creature

[buoyant zenith]

It’s so cute. Love the bebes.

[buoyant zenith]

That trailer about to be so epic. I am SO ready.

[shell sonnet]

At this point I don't think it's Indohyus

As much as I'd like it to be

[hollow flower]

I think its either Castorocauda or Didelphodon

[shell sonnet]

I lean towards Castorocauda given that it's a bit more unique looking

[buoyant zenith]

I think that the vivs might open the door to the Palaeozoic too.

[late swallow]

Good chance

[hollow flower]

Well we are getting Tiktaalik with the next update

[late swallow]

True

[buoyant zenith]

I think with fuzzy therapsids and the small mammals of the Mesozoic, we’re gonna get a lot of fun new additions.

[neat iris]

Make it an ice cream bowl and then it’s a party

[buoyant zenith]

True, wasn’t remembering at that moment. Just zoned in on the idea of something like Thrinaxodon and such.

[hollow flower]

I do kind of wish we got a couple more skins for vivariums but it is what it is

[shell sonnet]

We're almost certainly getting Thrinaxodon, I'd bet money on it

[desert flame]

I can't wait meet animals.

[shell sonnet]

We have seen Compy in action

[neat iris]

Lystrosaurus

[shell sonnet]

That's not going to come with U16

[late swallow]

Puntable

[hollow furnace]

Would glyptodon and glyptotherium make sense as alts in theory

[shell sonnet]

Yes

There was a time when glyptotherium was considered part of the same genera

[digital pendant]

Yes they are extremely similar

Glyptotherium is smaller and has a more oval shell compared to glyptodon, but the scutes are near identical and the same goes to their facial anatomy

[neat iris]

I really hope spinosaurus isn’t the only species in its family that we get

[frosty heron]

Baryonyx is like 90% confirmed

[shell sonnet]

It's confirmed, Mau said it hasn't been cut

It's coming in U18

[frosty heron]

I remembered wrong, it is indeed fully confirmed. Disregard previous statement.

thanks for the correction!

[shell sonnet]

Not really a species request but we can get the burrow fossils of the Great Plains of the Miocene added as a decoration

[hollow flower]

What is it with the Miocene and having strange ichnofossils

Theres this and that spanish mega arthropod

[shell sonnet]

It's so cool. I don't know if this is a combo of two separate molds but damn, this would be a sweet find.

[late swallow]

Oh fuck yeah Devils Spiral

[shell sonnet]

Shame the vivariums are too shallow

[hollow flower]

For now

[plush nacelle]

Vivariums are apparently

2x metres deep in water or soil for biggest variants

[tulip umbra]

Kinda hope for Pampatherium as a good third

[shell sonnet]

Maybe, it is deeper than I remember

[plush nacelle]

Mau at least confirmed 2x meter water

And it looks comparable to terrestrial one

[late swallow]

On thr giant one yeah

But the others it's less than 2

[proper raven]

make glyptodon the edgier one with a spiked collar

[shell sonnet]

I think it's deeper in the back of the terrestrial but the front is not, perspective is really messing things up for me

[buoyant zenith]

https://tenor.com/view/larp-girl-post-apocalyptic-fallout-wastelands-mad-max-gif-18706197

Glyptodon in its emo era.

[late swallow]

Giwtwm

[ancient ibex]

The 3 smaller ones seem to be 1 meter deep, while the largest one looks like 2 meters deep

[plush nacelle]

With this big amount of water I am starting to think semi aquatic mammal is going to be that tiny seal

[shell sonnet]

What tiny seal?

[plush nacelle]

Praepusa?

Or some sort of early pinniped. Would match Mau word about us not being able to ever guess it

[shell sonnet]

I feel like that was done in a joking manner.

Personally, I think Castorocauda is still the safest bet.

[plush nacelle]

True. Mau is lying a lot

[late swallow]

It's Deinonychus coming in u17 guys

[plush nacelle]

I know deinonychus is reference to that reddit discussion

[steep tulip]

they adding nanotyrannus to u17 as reference to jfc (combat related)

[late swallow]

No mau literally misspoke yesterday morning

[shell sonnet]

I think the remaining U16 animals are at this point:

Castorocauda lutrasimilis - it's a semi-aquatic mammaliform and rather unique looking and kind of important
Thrinaxodon liorhinus - as the fuzzy triassic critter because it's one of the better known (and studied) cynodonts and a good choice for using those burrows.
Mononykus olecranus - thanks to the leak that the dinosaur ate insects and this is the best known of the dino anteaters
Tianyulong confuciusi - because it is a funky dinosaur being both a hetrodontosaur (which are weirdos thanks their teeth) as well as the only one from that group with evidence of fuzz

Hell if I know what the arboreal lizard is

[late swallow]

Couple good options

[hollow furnace]

My money would be on Drepeno

[late swallow]

I'm still not sold

I'm more feeling towards kuehnosuchus

[shell sonnet]

The diet is throwing me off because I'm struggling to think of a single notable lizardlike animal that ate meat

and lived in trees

[late swallow]

Got the right animal this time - are the H and N in the right spots? Don't care

[late swallow]

Megalancosaurus maybe?

[plush nacelle]

Eh. There was question about why there is no stegosaurus in game despite presence in old trailer with Nano answer in comments and some people though that it is coming alongside deinonychus or utah in U17

[steep tulip]

I cant believe suminia still holding up as my main option till now

[late swallow]

But then again mau said yesterday not to put too much stock in diets

[steep tulip]

while true, I doubt they putting a carnivore diet to something that mainly ate insects

[late swallow]

Contextually the frugi in 17

[plush nacelle]

No lizard

Mau lying

[shell sonnet]

Honestly, I'm leaning towards a glider at this point.

because visually that would be the most interesting and viewable without having to zoom in as much

[hollow furnace]

The evidence mounts…

[late swallow]

Megalanco ate smaller lizards as well

Well, "lizards"

Reptiles that looked like squamated

[steep tulip]

would make sense in a way considering all other arboreals can glide or fly, so its easier to set up

[steep tulip]

isnt that one like drepano as well

[plush nacelle]

Hm. But, if there is single tree in smallest vivarium and we assume lizard is going to use it then it really might be just drepano

[shell sonnet]

Any of these or their relatives like Weigeltisaurus or Kuehneosaurus seem like the best bet

[shell sonnet]

You could still have them glide to the ground around the tree, which would still be visually interesting.

[steep tulip]

cant find much on it eating smaller lizards

[late swallow]

Similar, but don't think it had the digging claw

[shell sonnet]

Also smaller

[late swallow]

#pk-discussion message

For posterity

[plush nacelle]

Something got me thinking it might be the case

Because, if animals are not using looped animation cycle it might be hard to animate arboreal animal to climb tree

While for gliding species it is just movement from point A on one tree to point B on another

[shell sonnet]

I know, but I also don't think they would lie about it either; it's one thing to say this is thing didn't just eat meat, it's another thing to list meat as a diet when it didn't do so

[late swallow]

Microraptor

[plush nacelle]

We might not see microraptor climbing

But fly from ground to tree branch

[late swallow]

Maybe, though we do see it now

Was micro capable of powered flight? Or just gliding?

[hollow furnace]

Powered flight

I likely evolved it independently from birds

[steep tulip]

May talked about it

A while ago

[plush nacelle]

I know last log mention climbing, but this is interesting case, because it would mean climbing animations for animals

That arent just part of one long loop

[steep tulip]

Oh

Yeah I doubt that tbh

[plush nacelle]

It also really depends on tree, because thin and unusual sized branches would make it harder compared to something PZ offers

[buoyant zenith]

I remember once making a customized habitat for both the minis and realized that I put the wrong species in each. Then I had to sell and replace with the correct species.

[faint oak]

Fact checked true

[inner wedge]

i hope the other dino is halskzaraptor so at least we have 3 amphibious minis

[inner wedge]

something like epidermipteryx and venetoraptor could fit

[shell sonnet]

All three of those are dinosaurs. Why use the term "lizard" instead of dinosaur for the arboreal animal for the hint? And I think the dinos are going to be Tianyulong and Mononykus.

[inner wedge]

nuh uh, veneto is lagerpetidae

even then i trust in halskzaraptor and suminia supremacy

[late swallow]

Nobu Tamura really went for it

I would in fact

Consider that funky

Look at those hands

Raccoon looking ass

[shell sonnet]

Considering the fact that semi-aquatic mammal is 99% the piscivore, I would say Haskza chances are low

[buoyant zenith]

What if it smells like a honey badger.

[steep tulip]

Arboreal lizard is eoscansor so we fill in our carboniferous rep too

(Everyone cheered)

[frosty heron]

unlikely but the way I would cry tears of joy

seals are so whimsical

[buoyant zenith]

Prehistoric seals aren't a want. They're a NEED.

[polar tinsel]

Plesitocene Podium: Gigantophitecus

Huge primates and dinosaurs go hand in hand since earliest iterations of King Kong, why miss out?

On a more serious note, this ape is most iconic Chinese pleistocene animal by far, would be first and potentially only primate in game, while definitely being only ape, which would be new and unique for roster.

Connection to Yeti myth made it a star in popular media. Gigantopithecus already showed up in ZT2, both Wildlife Park games and Ice Age movies.

Even tho it's present widely in popular media, there are still speculative angles to be explored by modeling and animating them. Like coat variations, where along the regular Orangutan-esque look, designers could delve into alternative and original colors and patterns.

Or animators could finally do it justice in that department, since in many interpretations Gigantophitecus was made bipedal and more akin to Yeti/Bigfoot, we could finally have realistic depiction in major paleo game.

Anyway I always loved designing monkey/ape habitats in zoo games, so fingers crossed I'll get to do it in this game sooner rather than later.

That would be it for this one. Until tomorrow 👋

Art by Agustin Diaz.

Previous podium: #1360542295228944414 message

[buoyant zenith]

Honestly one of my highest rated wants for the mammal roster but I also legit hope we get a bunch of ape species. There’s plenty of nice choices from the times they were in Europe.

Although, I could make an entire primate list so I might just do that.

[abstract compass]

i too want orangutang to be added to Pee Kay

[late swallow]

Gorillatang

Cool animal, apes are a bitch to do

[abstract compass]

i will only accept its addition if its throws its shit at the guests

thats true addition right there

[late swallow]

Real

And does the gorilla spin

[abstract compass]

https://tenor.com/view/dance-happy-gorilla-enjoying-dancing-gif-17773698

[polar tinsel]

Guest casualties update, we will be there

[polar tinsel]

True, seems that PZ struggled with their Orangutans, even after some tweaks to animations

[late swallow]

The face animations - monkeys and derivatives are incredibly expressive

[polar tinsel]

Oh yeah, didn't even think about that part

[neat iris]

And if it’s either a pirate or voiced by Christopher Walken

[plush nacelle]

Frontier didnt struggle

They just put orangutan on gorilla rig

Lmao

[quick ore]

I feel like calling it the most iconic pleistocene animal from China is a stretch

Palaeoloxodon is Right There

also as far as other primates go, there are also subfossil lemurs which have decent chances of getting added

in a perfect world I would want both Gigantopithecus and Archaeoindris

[polar tinsel]

Idk I feel like Gigantophitecus is head and shoulders above every other Chinese pleistocene animal when it comes to recognition, even Paleoloxodon. There are other primates out there, and many that I would love to see, but realistically speaking, and seeing other similar games, Giganto has the best shot

[polar tinsel]

They reused many other rigs with greater success, where you couldn't even tell, but they were either lazier with Orangutan or they really found their animations hard to pull off

And then there's also the fur issue

[amber field]

I think vivariums can handle even the bigger species Choristodera

[hollow furnace]

Whatever it takes to get Champsosaurus

[amber field]

one day ... one day

[tulip umbra]

Issue i see with apes like Gigantopithecus is that it would require brachiation which i highly doubt the devs would add

[fresh ember]

Pretty sure an adult Gigantopithecus was more-or-less too heavy for that.

[buoyant zenith]

Ok but assuming those giant sizes, would they even be able to???

[tulip umbra]

Idk tbh, i just kinda assumed cuz its an orangutan

[steep tulip]

Archaeoindris probably gonna need it tho
Considering it was quite similar to its arboreal cousins

[fresh ember]

They're about as related to orangs as gorillas are to chimpanzees.

[tulip umbra]

Smaller monkeys etc could possibly go in the vivariums (large)

[tulip umbra]

I thought they were very closely related, based solely on the jaw on teeth found

[buoyant zenith]

And even so, maybe the babies and juvies still didn’t really do that. I mean, since we never really found skeletons (damn those porcupines) maybe there was certain robustness too that wouldn’t have supported that lifestyle at any point.

[fresh ember]

They are in the sense that they both belong in Ponginae, but that's pretty much it.

[tulip umbra]

Was Dinopithicus arboreal?

Thats my biggest ape want

[late swallow]

Gg phone

[steep tulip]

Probably as much as a baboon

So not much

[late swallow]

Both Pongines, different tribes - Pongo in Pongini, and Gigantopithecus in Sivapithecini

[slim flare]

The porcupines actually brought them to the caves

Humans probably ground them up before the modern period

[steep tulip]

Paradolichopithecus is probably my most wanted prehistoric monkey

[buoyant zenith]

Time to go back in time but then, at that point, I would just drag a Gigantopithecus out of the past and just drop it in North America to get the Bigfoots into HD quality.

Actually, imagine tho if there was a Himalayan variant and it grew white fur and so we could have a yeti version?

[ancient ibex]

The split of Pongine tribes is far deeper than that of Hominine tribes as well; Giganto and orangutans had been separate things for almost as long as they had split from the African apes... goddammit Wikipedia stop removing cladograms

[buoyant zenith]

Imagine a science based wiki site and specifically for biology.

[ancient ibex]

Why

Wikipedia used to be great in bio in general and phylogenetics in particular, this is a recent development

I did a master's thesis on phylogenetics teaching back in 2016 and Wikipedia being at the forefront with it was a conclussion my director throughly agreed with

[steep tulip]

Its weird how sometimes I find a lot more info on wikipedia on my native language

[late swallow]

Yeah it being a list was very annoying

[ancient ibex]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hominoidea_lineage.svg At least it hasn't been deleted

[late swallow]

G. blacki Waa that recent compared to the rest of the genus? Wild

[faint oak]

BASED and REAL

[trail gyro]

I am back and here to humbly suggest Viatkogorgon

[slim flare]

Maybe after Dimetrodon

As a treat

[polar tinsel]

Pleistocene Podium: Megalonyx and Mylodon

I'm now aware that Megatherium is most likely coming to our game. I wouldn't be surprised if along with it we see Eremotherium as an alt that covers bit of North American range (and maybe offers hairless variant?). That would leave us with two biggest sloths species, but what about their smaller cousins?

When I talked about Dwarf Elephant, I already expressed love for the idea of having smaller alternatives for usually large animals. It enables flexibility in designing zoos, where we don't have to miss out on certain types of animals even if we don’t want to or don't have space for yet another mega habitat. Same goes for ground sloths.

Now I picked Megalonyx and Mylodon as variants to each other to fill this niche.

Specific species aren't as important to me, but if they do Megalonyx, I'm safely assuming it will be Jeffersoni. That one was spread out all over N. America (From Alaska to Mexico). Not to mention that one DNA research that found hints of presence in Siberia (whatever came of that?). That range covers many biomes and offers fantastic utility for all kinds of zoo sections. Not to that different climates it inhabited could give us model variations when it comes to lentgh of fur.

A species of Mylodon would be my alt. variant of choice. It would cover small sloth niche, this time for South America. I specifically prefer M. Darwinii because we seem to know that one the best: ideas of omnivorous diet, understanding of knuckle locomotion, intact skin, fur, nails and excrement.

That would be it for this one. Until tomorrow 👋

Art by Bzaiken.

Previous podium: #1360542295228944414 message

Now the only question that I have for people who know this things better: Are Megalonyx and Mylodon viable for alt variants? If not would you find inclusion of both individualy excessive?

[plush nacelle]

No

Both are to different to be alts

[sharp dock]

i love mylodon 😭

[digital pendant]

They are extremely different animals anatomically speaking for them to be alts

[flint sable]

Ye I was gonna say

They split like

25 million years ago iirc

[polar tinsel]

Oh wow, would've fooled me, but it just goes to show how out of depth I am. But then wouldn't they fulfill too similar of a niche to be included separately? I know I wouldn't mind

[flint sable]

possibly

they were quite different tho

also have the advantage of 2 seperate continents

but they would both definitely fill medium sized ground sloth yeah

I would personally prefer Megalonyx of the two since I would say people know about it better, it also has more of a history in paleontology which is always nice

and a really large and abnormal range for ground slothes, all teh way up to alaska

[flint sable]

about this, mylodon is closer to two toed slothes than it is to megalonyx

and megalonyx is closer to three toed sloth than it is to mylodon or two toed slothes

cool that two of the same lineage converged to such a degree

[polar tinsel]

Yeah, that is pretty cool. Idk why, I thought all ground sloths were closer to two Toed. Maybe because of skulls

[flint sable]

perhaps

[ancient ibex]

We learned that relatively recently

Tree sloths evolved twice, and so did giant ground sloths

Caribbean island ground sloths are also VERY distant to living sloths

[flint sable]

indeed

ironic the most basal ones survived the longest except for the tree ones

also technically tree slothes may have converged more than twice, since iirc a few of the smaller carribean slothes likely had arboreal habits

[ancient ibex]

Tree sloths are basal to Caribbean sloths, it goes both ways

[flint sable]

although they had a much more superficial resemblance to typical ground slothes

Neocnus\

pretty good pick for a mini imo

[ancient ibex]

(I believe this is technically parallel rather than convergent evolution ttbt, starting and ending points are both similar, but independant)

But that's just technicallites

[flint sable]

actually ground slothes are pretty easy to subdivide in terms of roster IMO

basically XL, L, M, S

XL being something like Megatherium and S being a vivarium sized or slightly larger

my picks would be the following for those 4

[ancient ibex]

Megatherium and Mylodon would be quite neat to have both ngl

[hollow flower]

Im gonna be honest I have very little knowledge of ground sloth evolution

[flint sable]

XL: Megatherium (duh)
L: Megalonyx
M: Nothrotheriops or Megalocnus (either one, both are goated)
S: Neocnus

my personal picks

[left spear]

Is there any extinct "normal" sloth?

Could be a fun viv

[hollow flower]

Last I heard one of their groups was actually made in north america before the great biotic interchange?

[flint sable]

iirc theres a few extinct species in the living genera

[left spear]

Those could be fun as vivs then

[ancient ibex]

Thalassocnus is likely a nothrotheriid

[flint sable]

ye, megalonyx and freinds arrived in north america several million years before they connected

[flint sable]

I entirely forgot about Thalassocnus lol

[hollow flower]

Very strange

[flint sable]

but hes special cause

watur

so

[ancient ibex]

The 2 living groups of sloths are also quite distinct anyway

AD, do they get different common names over there? I believe you are on native range of both?

But, yeah, sloths have potential for multiple animals and for those to feel different

[digital pendant]

They are usually just called pereza or peresozo

[polar tinsel]

At the end of the day, I'd have to agree with mister, that Megalonyx would be preferable if we were made to choose between two medium species, it would suck to miss out on Mylodon tho

[digital pendant]

I aint aware of other names, but making a list would be ungodly tedious possibly

[ancient ibex]

Ah, same as here then, thanks!

(Spain tends to go with quite clinical common names for LatAm fauna)

[digital pendant]

And yeah im in the native range of both genera

I have seen three toeds in the wild in 3 occasions

[ancient ibex]

Heh, as somebody in a temperate area, that's awesome!

[left spear]

South America is general has peak fauna

Only thing i'd miss would be Quebrantahuesos (i really like them ok) and Lynxes

[ancient ibex]

Boneshatterer is a metal name for the bearded vulture I swear

[left spear]

And the metal name really fits and makes sense for the animal if only paleontologists learned from that

[ancient ibex]

I believe I've seen gennets and perhaps a mongoose, but those are old introductions most likely; bunch of iberian endemisms, but the larger ones are goats anyway

[ancient ibex]

Hell, its binomial is just "bearded eagle-vulture"

Anyway, sloths and armadillos have plenty of potential additions, but I don't think anteaters have much to offer?

[left spear]

Talking about beardied good devs give Argent/Terator a bearded skin i beg you 🙏

[polar tinsel]

To be honest I personally never heard of any extinct anteaters

[left spear]

I think there's a pleistocene species which ig for normal kingdom but yeah not much to scratch there

[polar tinsel]

It's weird how they missed out on gigantic specimens, perhaps due to diet?

[left spear]

Gonna see if there's any RE

[ancient ibex]

They are quite specialized

The giant anteater is after all a tamandua that became terrestrial, and it isn't much larger

Yeah, the one thing is a larger ground silky anteater

Anteaters by definition have to have existed for as long as sloths, but, hyperspecialists

Pilosa being covered by sloths is fair enough

[left spear]

I've been looking through Vermilingua and It doesn't seem like, most interesting thing i found was Palaeomyrmidon which is a Terrestrial pygmy sloth

Only a skull from Argentina

From the pliocene

Superficially it appears to just be a tamandua so idk

[polar tinsel]

Seems that sloths covered most niches out of all xenathrans, anteaters missed out on giant size and armadillos don't have tree climbing species, while sloths have both and then some

[left spear]

Sloths were also the only ones going semiaquatic

[ancient ibex]

Funny how the woolly armadillo is still extant

[digital pendant]

There is neotamandua from the miocene

Which is basically just a regular tamandua

[ancient ibex]

But yeah, anteaters are both specialists AND conservative, if it works it works

[digital pendant]

Dont have to change much if it works

[ancient ibex]

Peltephilus is unironically an interesting choice

[digital pendant]

Now if something would be a worthy alt would be megatherium species

Lots of andean species

[left spear]

Parents gave up on naming after the first child

[digital pendant]

Could use boreal biome and be hella fluffy

[ancient ibex]

"Myrmecophaga" literally means "ant eater" fwiw

[digital pendant]

While the species we all know, americanum, remains the standard grassland one everyone knows

[left spear]

Megatherium could have a really fun biome distribution yeah

[tulip umbra]

Ever since the leak, even if it was misinterpreted im hoping we get peltephilus for vivaria

[digital pendant]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/408388800201621504/1425298934682751098/image.png?ex=68f04f12&is=68eefd92&hm=4981bff71f26964dee47bb6a522e620e700d796887c0ced81a3fa0dc1b50fe8c& all the guys on the left lived in the andean region

[left spear]

Grassland, boreal, temperate and tropical, maybe coastal too?

[digital pendant]

Scrubland instead of coastal

[ancient ibex]

Peltephilus and Ceratogaulus are IMO awesome vivarium choices

[left spear]

Oh yeah scrub

[ancient ibex]

So is Leptictidium

And a bunch of weird pangolin relatives

[tulip umbra]

Indeed, it seems like cenozoic vivaria are gonna be very lacking

These would be great

[silver steeple]

Ceratogaulus my GOAT

[silver steeple]

https://tenor.com/view/its-always-sunny-gif-8651146

[left spear]

If we don't get Meko as a viv i will be depressed

It's the perfect out of place Cenozoic viv

[tulip umbra]

Based on the descriptions, the only real cenozoic possibility currently is the semi aquatic mammal. So not much

[left spear]

Honestly there aren't that many real posibilities for the semi to be cenozoic

[silver steeple]

If you're talking only about the stuff coming in U16 yes

[tulip umbra]

A small prehistoric beaver like Paleocastor, the sea mink are the only things to come to mind

[left spear]

Either that or Obdurodon

[tulip umbra]

I do hope they come with hidden surprise vivaria as well

[left spear]

But 90% of the chances are taken by didelphodon/castorocauda

[tulip umbra]

Oh yea nearly forgot about him

[silver steeple]

Obdurodon would be peak as hell

[shell sonnet]

Paleocastor is terrestrial

[left spear]

Tbh Both i find very unlike but i think it's more likely the lizard is a ceno

[late swallow]

The arboreal lizard?

[shell sonnet]

There's not much there either;

[left spear]

Tho this relies on the assumption the lizard is indeed a squamate which most probably It isn't

[late swallow]

I'd assume not

[left spear]

Yes, and yes i know it's almost surely either one of the gliders or drepano

[shell sonnet]

I mean at this point, I think the lizard is a glider

[late swallow]

The gliders really have the best support

[shell sonnet]

Makes more sense than the rest from in terms of how it would look in game

[late swallow]

Most Drepanosauromorphs are incredibly small, so that's a tough thing to do well

[left spear]

If It were indeed a squamate It would probably be either Gigarcanum or a snake since there aren't many arboreal squamates to choose from really

[left spear]

I mean tbh i would be fine with drepano itself only

[shell sonnet]

Gigarcanum would be RE

[left spear]

RE species don't need to come in a RE dlc

[tulip umbra]

My bad, i meant Steneofiber

[left spear]

Otherwise we aren't getting things like Steller's or Baiji ever

[late swallow]

https://tenor.com/view/are-you-sure-about-that-gif-17735709754501735355

[left spear]

Or Haasts for that matter

[late swallow]

Aside from the small exceptions, I don't see why they would do RE additions outside of a specialised DLC, especially during EA

[shell sonnet]

Yes, but those that can't be included because of locomotion problems. I find that different than the gecko.

[tulip umbra]

I imagine the lizard will be small enough to fit in the 4x4 vivarium

[left spear]

Any of those candidates would fit in a 4x4

[tulip umbra]

Imagine the largest vivarium then with 50 lizards though

[left spear]

Unless the snake is titano which It lets be real as funny as It would be It isn't

[shell sonnet]

Except something like Saniwa

[late swallow]

Mau's already said it's not

[late swallow]

Foureyes

[left spear]

Honestly i wouldn't mind something like Lapitiguana, some good Oceania rep and amazing filler.

[left spear]

Wait could It be Palaeosaniwa?

That would fit very well and add the first HC mini

[late swallow]

Idk that's kinda big, isn't it

[shell sonnet]

Maybe, the issue is I don't know much about how they lived

[left spear]

Could go either way

[late swallow]

Snout-vent is almost a metre

[left spear]

I wouldn't mind It as a exhibit could go either way

My concern would be baby size

[left spear]

It's around large Tiktaalik size so idk

[late swallow]

Yeah it's at that interesting spot

But it's not the lizard we're getting guaranteed

[polar tinsel]

Mekosuchus is goated choice, top of the list of my vivarium wishes

[left spear]

Oh ik but unlike any Ceno one i do think It has a real if small chance of being the u16 animal

[left spear]

New Caledonia in general is just too peak

[shell sonnet]

Does any remember when the leak about one of the mini dinos being an insectivore occurred

I want to track it down to the source

[late swallow]

If it behaved akin to it's modern relatives, it's a burrower

[left spear]

I mean i'd assume the burrows would be large enough

[late swallow]

We're getting an arboreal lizard

[left spear]

ƪh

True

[late swallow]

Y'know, in the trees

[left spear]

Nvm then

[late swallow]

Ash superscript a h

Great name for a kid elon

[shell sonnet]

Mau did say at one point we'd get a Permian animal for EA.... hmmm, maybe Coelurosauravus or Weigeltisaurus

[late swallow]

Did he?

[left spear]

Yeah

[left spear]

Like i think almost 2 years ago

Okay not close lol

[left spear]

Don't think Suminia counts as a lizard

[shell sonnet]

I mean it could simply mean lizard like

[left spear]

Yeah but like i wouldn't call Suminia lizard like

[shell sonnet]

Castorocauda isn't technically a mammal

[late swallow]

This means we're getting Mark Zuckerberg

[shell sonnet]

Mark Zuckerberg isn't a lizard, he's an invertebrate

[late swallow]

Idk did you see him drink water in front of congress

Pretty lizard like

[left spear]

He's a lizard like mollusk

[late swallow]

Anyway

I don't really think suminia fits the 'lizard-like' bill personally

[silver steeple]

I agree

To me, it's still gotta be a reptile at least

[late swallow]

Or like

Along that stem

[buoyant zenith]

I remember hearing about a North American red panda before. And also, I think if we had some of the small American primates from the Eocene, that would be cool.

[amber field]

hope torosaurus comes one day

[shell sonnet]

Notharctus tenebrosus is a must have

[buoyant zenith]

I know that most red pandas here in North America are kept outdoors so I don’t know if this one would need a vivarium but could be a nice choice anyways.

[late swallow]

Wild restoration

[amber field]

Yeah, it is a bit exaggerated here , but it has more upright stance than trik

[slim flare]

Wdym

[amber field]

I mean, it's different that tirk

[slim flare]

No they’re not

There’s no known difference in the body of Triceratops and Torosaurus

[late swallow]

They're large ceratopsids, the only difference is in the skulls really

[steep tulip]

Tbh did anyone look at torosaurus post cranial material seriously

Or any other ceratopsian for that matter

[silver steeple]

Because the post crania isn't studied in basically any large ceratopsian

[slim flare]

And we only have like one for Torosaurus, no?

[silver steeple]

With absolute certainty probably

[slim flare]

I mean yeah there’s a billion Ceratopsid bones, a handful are probably secretly Toro

[amber field]

Even so, Torosaurus is a cool animal and one of my favorite ceratopsian

[ancient ibex]

Trike and Toro are also incredibly close, Triceratopsini is a Lancian biota radiation

[amber field]

so technically it's easy to add it ?

[late swallow]

Could be

[amber field]

[late swallow]

a skull change, and some horn adjustments

But it wouldn't be for a long while

[ancient ibex]

Toro and Achelou are IMO extra alt material

[late swallow]

Achelou for Pachyrhinosaurus I'd assume

[ancient ibex]

Yep

[late swallow]

Einio and Achelou are super neat

[amber field]

https://tenor.com/view/rebecca-jack-black-ill-be-waiting-half-stance-funny-gif-17917419

[late swallow]

Damn Nacho Libre

[ancient ibex]

The Styraco-Pachyrhino sequence is awesome

[late swallow]

It really is

What the fuck is Einio doing with that nosehorn

[ancient ibex]

Penta-Trike has a few more gaps I believe

[late swallow]

My guess is opening letters

[ancient ibex]

FWIW, Toro has plenty of diversity, and the "if associated with pierced frill Toro, otherwise Trike" is a diagnosis I'm keen will have misassigned specimens

[ancient ibex]

Getting the pecking order sorted out?

[amber field]

Penta is cool one too .

[shell sonnet]

Penta, Chasmo (both species), done and done

[ancient ibex]

Chasmosaurus' lineage was doing weird stuff with the horns tho

As usual, we need more stuff from ~72 MYA

[late swallow]

Chas is DPF yeah? Or Horseshoe

[hollow furnace]

DPF

[late swallow]

I think it's really funny how of the 3 we have ingame from DPF, para didn't meet either of the others

.. nevermind I read the chart wrong

Why is reading so hard

[ancient ibex]

Para and Cory don't overlap with Styraco, pretty much (but they do with Centro, which may have evolved into Styraco)

[late swallow]

We don't have cory

We have labeo

Which had a bit of overlap with para and existed mostly contemporary with styra

[ancient ibex]

I know, was mentioning the popular species

[late swallow]

Fair

I'd really like to see Euoplo

[shell sonnet]

With a Scolosaurus alt, yeah

[plush nacelle]

This vivarium clip

Lizard is definitely glider

[steep tulip]

Then they might have labeled an insectivore as a carnivore

Don't think any gliding "lizard" was eating much more than arthropods

[shell sonnet]

Kuehneosaurus has a SVL of about 55 cm, Kuehneosuchus is about the same size in length if a bit bigger. Coelurosauravus has an 18 cm SVL and Weigeltisaurus would even bigger than that. There are some varanid even smaller than these guys that will snack upon small lizards like Varanus caudolineatus

So I don't think it's out of the picture for them to be carnivores, though I think the teeth do suggest a diet of anthropods first and foremost

[late swallow]

Is V. caudolineatus the snacker or the snackee

[shell sonnet]

snacker

It is true that modern day gliding lizards are insectivores but they're also smaller

[late swallow]

A lot smaller

Draco hits like what, 5-10cm SVL?

[steep tulip]

What is SVL?

[shell sonnet]

Snout to vent length

It's a way of stating the animal's size without including the tail

[steep tulip]

Oh I see

[buoyant zenith]

https://tenor.com/view/sniff-sniffing-sniff-sni-dog-let-me-do-it-for-you-dog-gif-27487196

[late swallow]

Yeah like 20cm total and they're very tail heavy for length

[shell sonnet]

D. blanfordii can reach about 12 cms SVL

23 cm with the tail

but that's still smaller than the prehistoric gliders I'm thinking of

[late swallow]

much

By like 5 in the case of Kuehnosaurus

[shell sonnet]

I personally lean towards the two Permian gliders (if only because of Mau's statement and their fossils are better) but I wish it was Kuehneosuchus

[buoyant zenith]

Can’t wait to get the giant fungi if we mimic specific Palaeozoic habitats.

[steep tulip]

How big is weigeltisaurus again

[shell sonnet]

I don't know to be honest.

[late swallow]

Give me the fungus adjacent Prototaxites

[late swallow]

👑 dropped this king

[shell sonnet]

I've never found a good measurement and I'm not trained to interpret length from individual bones. But based on its skull and other mentions in papers I could find, it's bigger than Coelurosauravus

To be more specfic; the skull of Coelurosauravus is 3.4 to 3.7 cm in length, the skull of Weigeltisaurus is 6 cm

[late swallow]

Not a single goddamn word on this Wikipedia page even estimates length

[shell sonnet]

There's also the issue that from 1987 to 2015, they were synonymous
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284156582_Substantiation_of_Validity_of_the_Late_Permian_Genus_Weigeltisaurus_Kuhn_1939_Reptilia_Weigeltisauridae

[late swallow]

Separate species though

[shell sonnet]

Yeah, but most books for the public don't bother to go deeper than species

[late swallow]

Why would they, the public doesn't care about specifics

/s

So, scaling the estimated 35cm of Coelurosauravus based on the length of the skull from 3.5 cm to the 6cm skull of Wigeltisaurus

Looking at very rough estimate of ~60cm, or about 2 ft

Snout to tail, assuming same proportions

I'd go ±10cm on that estimate

[steep tulip]

Thought the same
I checked a couple of papers and not a single one mentions its total length

[shell sonnet]

It's pretty sizable glider for a tree dweller

[flint sable]

fr

my state has no xenarthrans 🥀

however if global warming keeps letting nine bandeds expand their range we might have some sooner or later

already sighted in some neighboring states

[shell sonnet]

I see their corpses on the side of the road, so they're already here

[late swallow]

Shame

[flint sable]

unfortunate

what state?

im in MN btw

they are rarely sighted in Iowa which is the state immediately south of us

[shell sonnet]

South of Iowa, North of Texas (don't want to get more specific than that)

[late swallow]

Oh hey I'm near there too

Don't think I've seen any armadillers tho

[polar tinsel]

If glyptodons survived to modern day would we just call them Armado?

[ancient ibex]

Armadón

[shell sonnet]

Armadeddon

[flint sable]

I always thought of the Armadigran

since "Dillo" means little one, hence the name Armadillo (Armored Little One)

or something like that

but Gran means Great or Big

so Armadigran would be Armored Big One

a bit uncreative I know but makes somewhat decent sense

at least IMO

[late swallow]

I'm gonna let the person with 30+ years of Spanish handle that

[digital pendant]

They would probably have a different name

[polar tinsel]

Well of course, I was just playing off of Armadillo name

[steep tulip]

Big hairy turtle

[kind oriole]

Maybe a name in Mapudungun would take precedent, in similar way how quetzal is derived of a different indigenous language

[ancient ibex]

Armadillos are tatús in a sizeable part of their range after all

[digital pendant]

Armadillos do have a shit ton of regional names

Here we call them cachicamos

[ancient ibex]

And, at the end of the day, capybaras aren't called Guinea bigs; both them and cavyys have plenty of regional names, but I don't think they end up referencing each other, so the same may have happened if Glyptodonts were alive

[digital pendant]

100%

[late swallow]

well they should be

while we're at it, i want the Guinea biggest

[steep tulip]

As someone else has pointed out in the main chat
The vivarium got also ropes around the trees
It's possible the lizard is just purely arboreal without gliding and just walks on the ropes

[late swallow]

multiple modes of locomotion

[steep tulip]

Or maybe they use both lol

Yeah

[shell sonnet]

I'd also point out that was I think for the second smallest viviarium, who knows what the 4X4 is like

[late swallow]

yeah that's the 4x8

[ancient ibex]

Josephoartigasia, like the pacarana, are more of a chinchilla tho

The NA capybara, on the other hand... 🤔

[late swallow]

These are the ones I was talking about

Hydrochoerus hesperotiganites and Neochoerus

[digital pendant]

there are actual bigger extinct capybara

phugatherium was a very big extinct relative of capybaras that had proportionally longer legs

[feral cedar]

This discussion has got me googling extinct capybaras and learning there's a faunal stage called Rancholabrean

[flint sable]

indeed

[flint sable]

for some reason he looks

[flint sable]

unimpressed

and superior

[digital pendant]

you can see the massive size difference in skulls with the living capybaras all the way to the right

[ancient ibex]

Now I wonder if Guinea fits maras also have giant extinct members of their group

[plush nacelle]

The main reason why I think this is glider due to these ropes allegadely being enrichment structures

So in theory animal should function relatively well without them

For people who do want to build more naturalistic vivariums

[autumn turret]

idk in my opinion it would be cool if instead of adding ceratosaurus, they added an older member that is similar (ish) to it, most notably saltriovenator, but still something reasonably different. you could also takes some creative liberties with it more then cerato, due to the sparse material, so i think this would be a cool choice.

some form of large phytosaur could also supplement the overused crocodile like creatures such as sarcosuchus, deinosuchus, and purrusaurus. instead something like collososuchus could be added, or if you werent looking at the reptilian route, prionosuchus would also work well in my eyes

[quick ore]

Prionosuchus as an exhibit animal would be problematic

because of its reproductive mode

[autumn turret]

and its size, it would be far better suited too a semi aquatic role closer to spinosaurus

[quick ore]

how is Prionosuchus better as a semi aquatic than a crocodilian like Deinosuchus?

[autumn turret]

I never said it was better, i specifically wanted to trying and use something less known and less overused, such as Deinosuchus in particular