Al-Khalij Zoological Gardens are located in the Sahara desert, an inhospitable land of sandy dunes. Despite that, I have decided to turn it into a major tourist destination in Algeria.
So far we have a guest area where people can enjoy a shish kebab and some ice cream. I made sure to order some of those sonic ice cream with misaligned gumball eyes. There's also a reptile house with a chameleon of some sort, a cobra, and a turtle that's probably a red-eared slider, judging by its markings.
You hear a low boom.
You hear a metallic ching.
No, it's not a bronze colossus heading our way, it's the first animal I've rolled to display in the zoo - a kakapo (
Strigops habroptilus)! Actually two kakapos since we're participating in a breeding programme for those critically endangered parrots. I had to warn the zookeepers that kakapos like to mate with people's heads. They are flightless, so they do not require an aviary.
Keeper Hodges is currently engaging in filling a water dish while being observed by one of the kakapos. Hodges' head is in danger, yet he is commited to his duty, stoic and unwavering. Meanwhile the other kakapo is digging for worms in the provided pile of dirt as they usually do when they're hungry, which means most of the time. You know, birds have really fast metabolism. Kakapos are an exception, but they don't know that.
Most parrots have vibrant colloration so that people want to have them as pets and teach them swearing. The kakapo knows its species doesn't have a bright future, so it prefers to be dull green and hide in the vegetation where it can breed with its own kind instead of being tempted by sexy human heads.
The parrots like to chase each other around, however one of them doesn't know it should run away, not towards its partner. Parrots, due to their intelligence and longevity, are one of the contenders to replace humans in far future. The kakapo, while it can live up to 120 years, isn't particularly smart for a bird, let alone for a parrot.
Another animal I've rolled is the Scelidotherium (Scelidotherium leptocephalum), a large ground sloth from Pleistocene. It is a mylodont rather than a megathere, with closer relation to two-toed sloths than to the famous Megatherium or the three-toed sloth.
The exhibit is not exactly of traditional design. There is a roofed segment where the ice age sloths can hide from the scorching sun of Sahara. Let's see the enclosure from another angle:
Both the hideout and the animals are visible. Scelidotheres apparently enjoy playing around in water. I feed them a healthy combination of tree branches and bugs. The Scelidotherium had an elongated muzzle, perhaps good for sticking it to places where bugs gather.
Termites like to hang out in hollowed out logs, a perfect place for a long, sticky tongue of a ground sloth. Ground sloths used to be regarded as obligate herbivores that feed on leavesand such, but lately it's been widely accepted that they were in fact omnivorous. Admittedly, sloths don't make for great predators; scavenging, however, does not require chasing down prey, and insects aren't too fast, especially entire colonies.
Caves provided shelter for our ancestors, and so do they provide it for Scelidotheres. Unlike parrots, ground sloths are unlikely to take humanity's place as the dominant species though, but that's only because they are already extinct. Oh well.
The next enclosure is not for a little babby herbivore or even a large babby herbivore. What we've got here is a true blue predator that used to rip camels and horses to pieces in Miocene Florida.
It's the Barbourofelis (
Barbourofelis fricki) a false saber-toothed cat, not at all closely related to true saber-toothed cats, in fact not even a real cat. They had tiny brains but gigantic teeth. I mean, what else do you really need? Florida is full of old people, easy to hunt if not exactly nutritious.
Hungry girl. It's the first time we're displaying a real carnivore; I'm surprised I haven't rolled a lame one like a small snake of some kind. You can argue that the kakapo is a carnivore, but worms don't count as meat in my book, regardless of what hippie journos try to tell me.
It's nice to see guests enjoying themselves, but they seem to like the sloths too much. Go watch Barbourofelises, you low-poly nerds!
Ah shit, she pierced her own head with her claws! No wonder the guests don't wanna see that!
Al-Khalij Zoo isn't much right now, and because the map is only medium-sized it will never be a lot, but it can be glorious. Let's make it so! But not today.
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Topic: Zoo Tycoon 2 - Maple Bay Wildlife Park/Al-Khalij Zoological Gardens (Read 12338 times)