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Let's go! :D After the success of the last zoo, I had successfully proven my capabilities, and the fact that I could be definitely be trusted with more land and locations, if you ignored the brief oviraptor hiccup. Which was mostly ignored, hooray! We were given a snowy, forested island full of sheer cliff faces and long drops (and $35k). We were told that this location was deemed perfect for a zoo, particularly extinct flight-capable creatures. This immediately made me think of any number of flying reptiles, even though extinct birds exist. ...How do people even get here? How did we get here? The path into the zoo is literally just a cliff jutting out into the ocean... None of that is really important. I got rather excited, very quickly, at this idea. It took me only a few moments before I was throwing a quetzalcoatlus exhibit right into the center. This was very expensive, as one may have anticipated. The budgeting team was crying as once again promptly ate into most of our starting money, like I had with the first zoo, but I couldn't hear them. I was too enamored with my very expensive azhdarchids. I personally decided to name them AM and HAL 9000, and nobody was able to stop me before that became their official names. I've been told that it was a "poor idea" and "some kind of ill omen." Sure, we had to fire the scientist shortly after hatching because money was low, but. Counter-point: Those are wyverns. The quetzalcoatlus exhibit had been completed by February. Everything considered, things were actually going pretty well. It had only been a short few months and the quetzals were full-grown. The zoo had not yet seen a lot of decoration, somewhat unsurprisingly, I suppose. The entrance saw some attention, with a news stand added by the entrance, just like the last zoo. This contains updates on the zoo, recent paleontological discoveries, and of course a bunch of advertisements telling you that you should check out our mostly-oviraptorosaur zoo, you would love it and should totally do that. The small food court area -- which may or may not be permanent -- has had a minor addition with some flowerbeds and appropriate pterosaur statues that are, unfortunately, hidden from most angles. But they're there. Another path has been added, preparing for an expansion westward. The scientist has also been re-hired, to help us keep AM and HAL, well. Alive. The second exhibit was planned out. There would be two in this region, but it was logical to only construct one at a time. At the end of this path would be a restaurant for guests, but as there were no exhibits and no reason for people to head this way --something that would not stop them from running to the edge of the empty path to stare into the snow -- one would not yet be built. Though, shortly after this photo was taken, I cordoned the area off and decorated it a little, since I assumed it wouldn't be too long before we had that area up and running. This exhibit would, if all went according to our plan, host two tupandactyluses in the near future. It was June, and we only had one kind of pterosaur. I was getting a bit antsy. It wasn't a big deal though, really. I was slowly preparing an exhibit for the tupandactyls, which was not particularly eventful. ...Though not everything occurring in the park was boring. Surprisingly, the quetzals had laid an egg. Before anyone could say anything, I dubbed it Skynet. This was not a popular decision for some reason. I said that everyone was a party pooper and just didn't understand my beautiful and grand vision. There was an immediate bankruptcy on account of pterosaur purchasing. I affirm I had nothing to do with this, and the overnight manifestation of two tupandactylus eggs in an empty exhibit set aside for them was merely a strange coincidence. The start of November, while putting together the exhibit with what money I could scrounge up, had us suddenly gaining a sum of money from a generous mystery donator1. With the exhibit finally constructed, the restaurant was added nearby. This proved wildly profitable, to my surprise. Obviously, that had been the point, but I had not anticipated nearly a thousand in immediate profit. Most of the food court was kept, namely the pizzeria and the bathroom. With the addition of a restaurant, and seeing how very few guests liked buying soda at any price, and that building was oozing money, the drink stand was torn down. Reviews and questionnaires showed us that this action did not majorly impact average guest thirst. By the start of the second year, the tupans had grown into adulthood, and the third exhibit was constructed. The exhibit currently sits empty; it's likely that this will be the nyctosaurus area. This is planned to be an especially small zoo, even when compared to the previous, with only a handful of exhibits. But it still has a way to go before it becomes necessary to move on. I think some entertainment and decoration for guests might be in order for the near future. --------------- 1 I know where the money came from, but it baffles me a little. It was the award for having an animal in an exhibit of max suitability, yet I don't actually know what triggered it. I was busy outfitting the tupandactylus exhibit at the time with flora. They were still in the yellow, so it wasn't them, and I didn't touch the quetzal exhibit until after the award. The quetzals had 96-97 suitability at any given time, I'm guessing maybe on the amount of poop in an exhibit, but either way it varied a little. Is the trigger point for that award 98 or something? Also, I really like that these zarawatto-made pterosaurs can "fly" (technically, swim) over water. That's a neat detail.

As Jeff gazes upon his photos, he realizes that they're all corrupted. Huh. That's not good. Well, after these initial images for the first year, the rest will not, in fact, be a corrupted mess. I didn't want to trash all the progress shots -- I can't exactly go back in time to take them again-- so alas we will have to deal. I'll try and make them clearer. This was supposed to be a relatively simple thing D: I want to try actually making something zoo-like, since usually I play scenarios and just slap some paths and exhibits wherever. It may not look good, but it gets the job done. I'm not playing a scenario, though, I want to do freeform. So it may not be perfect, but I'd like to try actually making actual zoos with particular focus -- in this case, a set of small zoos of extinct animals. Right now it's only one, but we'll move on to other zoos as I deem them completed. Anyway! Moving on! Into character. Finding funding -- and space -- for a dinosaur zoo is rough, if you weren't aware. Especially if reviving extinct animals is a known practice and not just the work of science fiction novels. Thankfully, we got a small plot of mostly-empty jungle and $20,000 from a kind, public benefactor. One caveat, though -- they didn't want any kind of negative public image reflecting on them if a spinosaurus or some other large theropod managed to escape and eat people. So... we are only allowed, quote, "only small dinosaurs." Very helpful. First order of business: new paths and some kind of amenities. One* amenity. At this point it was determined that we would be getting incisivosaurus -- they are definitely small, and not likely to break out of an exhibit or chew on guests. Plus they are rainforest creatures, so that's one way to cut costs. Basic frame of the exhibit is built, plus a raised viewing platform. Two eggs and a scientist to care for said eggs. At this point, we were running low on money and only had a few thousand to our name. They hatched, and the exhibit was created. The corrupted images make it hard to tell, but they ARE in there. At some point we added another for a total of three. We also fired the scientist because we simply couldn't afford to pay them $1000 a month. The second those eggs hatched, they were gone. Money was very, very tight. We earned some more and even managed to get, at one point, back up to our starting $20,000. Of course the incisivosaurs couldn't just be ignored, but by that point we could buy a compost building to help with paying the scientists. We also built a newsstand for zoo and dinosaur info, though I confess I have no idea when that was added. With a somewhat stable amount of money, the second exhibit was planned out. This would be another member of oviraptorosauria... oviraptor. I assumed rock fencing would be enough to keep them in, as oviraptor species are not exactly large. This would, later, prove to be a bad idea. For now, though, everything seemed to be fine. Oviraptors -- a pair -- hatched. The exhibit was built. Thankfully they are rather low maintenance and don't want a thousand plants. We had to build the exhibit in stages, fence and terrain before pausing to wait to get cash... then the oviraptors, then all their required items when they hatched. Anyway, at this point I wanted a change of pace. I was tired of making oviraptorosaur exhibits. I begged. I cried. I pleaded with our benefactor to please let us put some kind of modern bird in. They're dinosaurs! Everyone knows birds are related to dinosaurs and that's an oft-repeated fact, but they are quite literally therapods in dinosauria. Dinosaurs aren't extinct, technically! Let us show the public this -- these birdlike dinosaurs alongside modern ones! I eventually got them to agree. We could have turkeys. :/ And only turkeys. Honestly I think some family member had birds they didn't want anymore. Whatever the reason, I disappointedly accepted this and made a turkey-aviary. I wanted some kind of bird of prey, but whatever, fine I guess. Except right after accepting the four turkeys, the oviraptors clawed out of the solid rock and into the zoo. That was not pleasant. That led to emergency fence-reinforcements, dinosaur capturing, and guest-soothing. With a grand total of $8 left in the bank. That was mostly because I didn't notice we had run so low on funds. Isn't that kind of person who you want running YOUR zoo? :D Finally, though, here's where I am now (isn't color beautiful?). This is the second year of the zoo, with $2000. This might not seem like a lot, but honestly, the zoo has been sitting at the $4k--$8k mark for most of its operation. The turkeys will get foliage soon, and we can start planning some non-exhibit areas. Maybe a garden? Or some other kind of entertainment? Hm... maybe I'll spend some time just landscaping the area. It's looking a bit bare.

I would recommend using this fence to keep the guests where you want. It is a cheap fence at $1 a piece. It was created to plan exhibits out. Here is a list of all the awards and what you get. http://www.ztcdd.org/DD/index.php?topic=7159.0 Trigger points would vary depending on the award. The site is an http so ignore any warnings you may get. There are no ads there.

Four exhibits have been spruced up!: mononykus, parksosaurus, jeholosaurus, and nanosaurus. The rock walls on that one side of the parksosaurus exhibit has been removed to kind of blend it with the empty body of water neighboring it. They look a lot nicer now. Especially the nanos and parksos. I'll be heading onto the next zoo soon.

Just search my google drive for pigeon, dove, and Luzon bleeding heart. You´ll find plenty of pigeons to your friend´s liking. She´s welcome.

A fresh new day, fresh new dinosaurs. Caudipteryxes are snugly tucked away in their new pit exhibit, which right now resembles a flat empty plains area. That's fine; they'll get more when they hatch. We won't know what they like and react well to until then, after all! And there's the exhibit -- mostly finished, as some things will be refined at a later date. That isn't important, though. All in all, I am pleased with this -- it's a rather nice place. It also seems like I'm unintentionally doing an oviraptorosaur biome tour -- the plan is to do protarchaeopteryx next when it comes time for that, so hopefully that trend kind of continues. I think it's a creature of the rainforest, alas. The turkeys continue to haunt me. There were a few new additions to old exhibits, to set up stronger populations (and because we all have no idea how long these creatures live, or if they will breed). Two chirostenotes were added... ... As well as two new oviraptors. This seemed logical to me. We've had them for a while and they don't seem especially keen on making more oviraptors, so we will have to do the work instead. But this peaceful silence was not to last. While I quietly puttered away at my own projects, easy and content, I ignored most of the messages my staff desperately sent my way. I hired a new scientist when it seemed necessary and restructured so that the other two focused on two exhibits each, with the new hire wandering around as needed. More maintenance workers, with the food court getting more traction and the other staff busy fixing fences... it was simply necessary. I headed to the front of the zoo. Hm. That's a lot of turkeys. ... "You know what? Not my problem," it said, the man who was meant to be running a zoo. "It'll be fine." The zookeeper looks at me with desperate eyes, begging for some kind of assistance with the fifty-odd birds surrounding them. I pretend I can't see. Anywayyy, construction time!! We're adding some things behind the incisivosaurus exhibit. We have to move this way, and it feels like a decent enough central point to do so. We now also have a gift shop after three years. Up until this point, people have been taking home zoo magazines and informative pamphlets on dinosaur revival as souvenirs. With some negotiation, I managed to convince our good friends the Unnamed Mystery Investor (UMI) to let us have another modern bird. Again nothing too raptorial, as we got golden pheasants. Still, they are quite beautiful birds, so I won't complain about them. A secondary aviary -- this time, you can actually walk into it -- has been constructed, right across from the incisivosaurus backend and against the zoo wall. I think I'll build pit exhibits on either side of it, but we'll see how that ends up. .... do you guys hear something? .... yeah, I bet it's overcrowded, Wild Turkey 56 (why did we name it that). Frankly it's probably time to deal with these guys, this is absolutely some kind of animal rights issue. I am amazed that we've managed to fit over 60 birds in here (I think we were at 61?) with nobody saying anything about it, or the birds actually being unhappy. Looking at the logged list of animals, we have about 80 and most of them are turkeys. There's also the golden pheasants which are already multiplying -- honestly I should just keep on top of that. So commences The Great Bird Sale of July, Year 3. This is after. That looks so much nicer. I named a lot of them beautiful things, like all the zoo creatures, so it was hard to choose who to keep. I didn't mention this but I've been naming all the animals; the chirostenotes are, as an example, all named after various peppers. It would break my heard to decide if I should sell Carolina Reaper or Jalapeno. This is why I decided to keep some of the most important birds, like AGONY, Horse3, and Thanksgiving. I just couldn't let them go. And this is where we end it for today. Not a lot done, and it's not quite the end of the year, but I feel like this is a perfectly good spot to relax for a while. I think the protarchaeopteryx exhibit will go in that northwest corner. Maybe not filling all of it, but it seems like a nice empty spot for another oviraptorosaur!! Give it up for oviraptorosaursia, which is full of small feathered birdlike guys! I think this is the last one, but there may be one other hiding away somewhere I have yet to notice on our lengthy list of potential animals. While the images likely do not show it well, decorative foliage (and fencing) has been added to the other side of the zoo -- it just isn't trees.

Ah, thank you! I've been having a lot of fun with this zoo so far. Finally gives me an excuse to use all these extinct animals mods I've been hoarding. I wanted to play some more before another post, but I accidentally closed out of the game. Whoops! Posts come early I guess. At least I just saved beforehand. Ahem. With the oviraptor escape over and done with, things are uneventfully chugging along. Our money has returned quickly, thanks to the enthusiastic guests. With it, we were able to landscape a little -- not perfect, but a touch of greenery does a lot for the area and makes it look more complete. Even if it's only ferns and trees. I mean, we're in a jungle! It should feel more lush. And less... well, less like a flat plane with exhibits. More flowers were considered as an option and quickly discarded -- that made it feel too manicured. All the incisivosaurs gathered around the food. Nothing much is happening here, they're just so small and rarely congregate together that I had to snag a photo before they vanished into the rainforest grasses again. There's five -- four adopted, and one that was born. Of course, as fun as it is to look at small dinosaurs, we need to continue our expansion. An added viewing area for the oviraptors, and a food court. It'll be empty for some time, but talking to some guests has revealed that by the time they get over to this area they're hungry and thirsty. With expansions and more exhibits planned and underway, it really feels inevitable that this could potentially become a future problem area. Especially since the only place to get food, drink (and a bathroom but that's not important) is still that one rainforest restaurant. It has to be crowded by now. Though at this point it was determined that we should continue with the oviraptorosaurs. There's quite a few more, and while some of them are definitely larger in scale, the majority of them seem to be on the smaller side. While a zoo only filled with them is probably not viable, it's a fun idea to play with while we can. Maybe I can beg for another modern bird to fill the gaps. After lowering the ground for purely aesthetic reasons and building an equally low viewing area for them, the next oviraptorosaur was added: chirostenotes. I was not aware of how expensive deciduous ground was, which led to an awkward patch of rainforest right in the middle. It was quickly filled in, but the blunder was embarrassing on my part. When the money recovered somewhat, a second scientist was hired. While there are only two chirostenotes(es?) and two oviraptors, there are five incisivosaurs making a mess all the time. I am regularly notified at the exhibit having no food. But with a mostly stable budget, another thousand is no issue. ... make that six incisivosaurs. With a bonus peek at the rapidly-multiplying turkeys. While I lost count at some point, I do believe we are, in the present, up to about twenty of them. If they mind the increasingly small space, they haven't shown any signs of it. This angle also makes it easier to see the fencing that's been added to the path edges! It is year three. I guess I didn't pause to take any photos of the completed chirostenotes exhibit... oops. With a decent amount of money consistently coming in, though, my mind has been on expanding, and when I finished the last exhibit I went almost immediately to the next. When you have money, it turns out, it makes the whole dinosaur zoo thing much easier to manage. The next area under construction is what will be the caudipteryx exhibit. As you may have guessed, it is also a member of oviraptorosauria. It's in a bare-bones state, not even a full exhibit yet... but it's coming along. Construction will be finished soon for sure, seeing as how we presently have more than $2,000 to our name. Here is an overhead view of the entire zoo, where you can see the finished chirostenotes area, the soon-to-be fifth exhibit, and the current turkey horde. I suppose january is a fine enough place to stop for an update, but being briefly kicked out against my will to do so is certainly an irritant. The western side of the zoo will have greenery added sometime after the caudipteryx area is finished.