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[Rainseeker]

Lancensis and I are starting a new community-wide project in hopes to add some huge diversity to the animal population in DF.  Our goal is to add as many animals as possible to DF, but I think a tangible goal at this point is to add 1000 animals.  (I'm not sure what this would do to the game speed.  Maybe Toady One can add some light to this.)  If everyone makes it their goal to create just one or two, it would be add up to something amazing!

This post will be edited later for guidelines for submissions to the Ark, but for now I'm going to post a list of animals we would like to see in the game.  I'm not going to edit for animals that are already there, I'm just going to slam out a list.  The idea is that someone will "adopt" an animal and create it, and make it as realistic as possible. 

This project won't officially begin until the new version of DF comes out sometime in December or January of next year.

Basic Guidelines:

1. Once it's done, the Subject Line will display the animal's name, then if possible general animal family for organizational purposes.  Examples:  "Emperor Penguin / Bird" or "Black Bear / Bear" or "Platypus / Semi-aquatic animal(?)".  We're not looking for scientific accuracy, just good organization.

2. The text of the animal's code should be pasted into a spoiler so we can save space.

3. I'll keep the list at the start so it will be easy to see what's been done.  Send new animal lists to me over the messaging system and I'll paste them in.  Try to do a search to make sure they're not there.  If you send me an animal idea, I'll assume you're right and put it in, I don't have time to verify for every one.

[Rainseeker]

Okay, here is the start of the list.  Here are some websites I gleaned from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/ -or- http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/.  I'm sure there are many more.

I'm using Toady's lime green so that we can tell what's been done or already in the game.  Let me know if I should add or green out any as we go along.

The "(Ex)" tag will represent extinction.

Four-Hoofed Mammals:
Horse
Mule
Donkey
Pronghorn
Dwarf Pronghorn
Bison
Mountain Goat
Muskox
Bighorn Sheep
Dall's Sheep
Moose
Stag Moose
Elk
Mule Deer
White-tailed Deer
Caribou
Javalina (Collared Peccary)
Quagga (Ex) - similar to a zebra
Tarpan (Ex) - Asian wild horse
Zebra


Crocodilians
Gharial
Caiman
Black caiman (much bigger)

Turtles
Terrapin turtle (SCARY!)
Gopher tortoise
Giant tortoise (stand-in for Galapagos tortoise and other large tortoises)
Sea turtle
Leatherback turtle
Snapping turtle
Musk turtle
Snakeneck turtle
Box turtle
Painted turtle
Softshell turtle

Monotremes
Platypus
Echidna

Marsupials
Opossum
Quoll (could maybe be used as stand-in for the inconveniently named Tasmanian devil)
Spotted-tail Quoll
Numbat
Bilby
Lesser Bilby (Ex)
Bandicoot
Koala
Wombat
Sugar glider
Ringtail possum
Grey Kangaroo
Red Kangaroo
Thylacine (Ex)

Rodents
Marsh Rice Rat
Montane Hutia (Ex)
Pika

Amphibians
Common Frog
Moor Frog
Marsh Frog
Pool Frog
Edible Frog
American Bullfrog
Leopard Frog
Bicoloured Frog
Tailed Frog
Firebellied Toad
Midwife Toad
New Zealand Primitive Frog
Long-Nosed Horned Frog
Garlic Toad
Parsley Frog
Clawed Frog
Starfingered Toad
Burrowing Toad
Spadefoot Toad
Marsupial Frog
Hairy Frog
Gold Frog
Natterjack Toad
Cane Toad

Unorganized Australian Animals - (help with this)
Long-nosed Potoroo (Wallaby Rat)
Quokka
Dingo
White-footed Rabbit-rat (Ex)
Short-tailed Hopping Mouse (Ex)
River Dolphin - Friendly river animals, something not likely to maul fishermen
Giant Elk - Nonlocational name for the Irish Elk, one of the largest deer with the largest set of antlers
Thylacine -  already mentioned, the Tasmanian Tiger
Kakapo - Not extinct, but it's the largest parrot, flightless and has unique mating rituals

Cephalopod
Greater Blue Ringed Octopus
Mimic Octopus (perhaps different castes for it's different mimics?)
North Pacific Giant Octopus (but I guess the North Pacific part can be left out)


Unorganized Extinct Animals - (help with this)
Flores Cave Rat (Ex) - this would be fun for caves
Steller's Sea Cow - Weird!  Perfect for DF.  Wouldn't it be hilarious to be attacked by skeletal sea cows?
Emperor Rat (Ex)

Birds
Dodo (Ex)
Elephant Bird (Ex)
Passenger Pigeon (Ex)
Kakapo

[smjjames]

Cool, theres already tons of critters scattered around the mods Enough to fill out entire ecosystems, sort of.

When the new version comes out with the arena thing, I may try my hand at creating some beasts or something.

[Mephansteras]

Sure, I'll be adding in a bunch of stuff (both real and fantasy) to my mod in the upcoming version anyway, so I'd be happy to submit them as I make them.

[Footkerchief]

I was considering a similar project, and I was going to start by including (roughly) one representative of each extant family in Vertebrata.  If you try to go taxonomically deeper than that, you run into a lot of names based on Earth locations/people.  For example, if you're working through Castoridae (beavers), it's much better to just use a generic beaver than to include an "American beaver" and a "European beaver."  Of course, sometimes it IS nice to have individual species, especially when there are significant physical/behavioral differences, such as grizzly bears vs. brown bears.

Basically, the list of creatures will have a very large impact on the flavor of the mod, so choose carefully.  I'd be willing to help out, of course.

[Wirevix]

Sometimes for animals with names like European beaver, you can find interesting local names that you can substitute in, or even use part of the scientific species name - ex., since the European beaver is Castor fiber, you could call it a "fiber beaver."  Unfortunately some animals, like the North American beaver, even have place-names in their scientific name (Castor canadensis) and don't have any good local names (as far as I know they're just called "beavers.")  But eh, something to look into when naming animals.

I used said technique myself while doing a personal-use mod to add a huge load of spiders - I wanted to include the Brazilian wandering spider for its deadliness, so I used the Portuguese-originating (according to wikipedia anyway) local name "armed spider."  It sounded more fitting anyway.

[Lancensis]

Why not just Wandering Spider?

Figuring out how specific to get with species/subspecies is pretty tricky. I was dithering around with the rats/mice for a while. Mind you, it doesn't really hurt the game to have excessive numbers of raw entries (that I've ever seen) so I guess if someone wants to make entries for each of the two dozen or so types of mole, more power to them. I suppose there's a bit of bias towards how specific we get with animals. I mean, it doesn't sound wierd to have a "lizard" or a "beetle" entry in the game, but it'd feel strange to have an "ungulate" or a "carnivore" creature, even though it's just as vague taxonomically. Basically, I suppose the more the author is interested in a type of animal, the more specific it'll get. I didn't even consider putting down another type of beaver, but I'm planning on adding a fair few bats, and god knows how you can tell them apart.

As for the place-specific names, I haven't discussed it with Rainseeker yet, but Wirevix's method is probably the best. Usually if an animal needs to have its locale specified in the name, it's probably close enough to its immediate relatives to just lump them together. I think the main problem is with things like eurasia's "Common Lizard". Viviparous Lizard doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, and it's apparantly not considered a member of the Lacerta genus anymore. Maybe Wall Lizard? I think they're sometimes called that.

Anyway, yeah. Spam Rainseeker with ideas.

[Jervous]

Can they be fantasy animals? Like the sasquatch, for example.

[LegoLord]

Can they be fantasy animals? Like the sasquatch, for example.

That's already in DF.

Also, dibs on the Kangaroo and Bengal Tiger, if those get on the list.  To answer a question that will be answered:  Yes, we do need the Bengal variety of tigers specifically.  We need all of the varieties.  I just know more about Bengals.

Ligers would be cool, but I'm less willing to do those.

[Jervous]

Thanks that was a great answer I was giving the example of a fantasy animal.

[Footkerchief]

Thanks that was a great answer I was giving the example of a fantasy animal.

Probably no.  One of the stated goals in the OP is realism.  If this included everyone's random fantasy creatures, a) there would be no clear guidelines on inclusion and b) it would be like every other creature pack out there.

[Jervous]

Thank you. I probably might add in a few animals, probably my favourites and obscure ones.

[Fieari]

I'd love to contribute to the project, but not for 40d.  When the new version comes out, adding fauna will be far more interesting, and given the new version's proximity, more useful too.

I'd hesitate to add birds to the project yet though, because feathers haven't been properly added yet.

[Lancensis]

It's for the next version. We're just getting a prelminary list of animals up first.

You're right about birds being a bit wierd. They don't actually have any ears or nostrils either at the moment. One thing I'll be particularly glad about is the poisons. Personally, I've been loathe to add (venomous) snakes and stuff untill the new toxin system is added, since a rattlesnake that simply temporarily paralyses a dwarf is just sad.

[Rainseeker]

Can they be fantasy animals? Like the sasquatch, for example.

We're trying to keep it a repository for real creatures.  I suppose someone could create a sister project with a compilation of fantasy creatures that aren't in the game.