Big Things Have Small Beginnings

[fountain]

Really great looking exhibits and zoo decor and walking arrangement for guests!    

[pukkie]

Really fabulous zoobuilding YoungerPrinceLothric

What a nice and original use of downloads honouring their designers

I love that

Can I ask you about the first screen under the link to Z.Z's tutorial

There is quite a nice amount of animal enrichment items I never seen before

Where did you find those?

 

Love the Aftrican habitat area absolutely stunning! Very creative and inspiring!

Thank you for sharing

 

[Fern]

That would be Exhibit Accessories which is by Loewenfrau at ZA.

[YoungerPrinceLothric]

We are sadly nearing the end where I've begun running out of space and have to either commit to my ideas or radically change them before too many guests move into the area and make that impossible. 

^ Here's an overhead view of Hawkkeye's Large-Billed Crows and Great Hornbills. Hornbills are one of my favorite species of birds and while I've mentioned I am not a zoologist and don't know very much about them, their appearance(s) have always been so striking to me as an aspiring creature designer who wants to design birdlike creatures for the fictional worlds I build. I was saddened to learn that some of Hawkkeye's earlier hornbill downloads weren't compatible with each other because I originally wanted to make a massive aviary showing them all off together (the Great, Knobbed, Helmeted, and Borsato's Rhinoceros Hornbill) but he knows more than me about animal compatibility so I just went with the Great for the time being. They have probably my favorite appearance out of them all. 

^ a close-up shot of several hornbills mingling with crows, foliage turned off

^ Here we have an overhead shot of the Desert Warthog and Addra Gazelles, again from Hawkkeye. I highly recommend taking the time to google addra gazelles because they are unbelievably gorgeous, as many North African gazelles are. Truly a sight to behold. I don't consider myself a 'furry' per se but I do feel a sort of 'kinship,' (for lack of a better word) with deer and antelope as a trans person, but I digress. I wanted to do something special for these guys and build them a shelter 'complex' of sorts out of RDingFT's Age of Empires Pile Walls mod, specifically the purple pieces. Some were sunken into the ground for height variation and despite the animals 'complaining' about the terrain height on the zookeeper suitability page, it hasn't lowered their happiness or overall suitability at all; they are high in the green. Combined with some statue pieces from Genki's Egypt Megapack mod and the gate shelter from toodlepop's Panda research mod, I'm very happy with my results. 
EDIT: I almost forgot to mention! Both of these species have an average-to-high breeding rate so for any curious users who want to use them in their own zoos, make sure you build them an exhibit big enough for them! The Addra breeding rate is higher and they will build you a large herd in no time. This may dissuade some users from combining them with other animals, unless you like the challenge. At the time of re-writing this, I have 11:

^ behind the 'maze' with the memory pavilion in the center, we have a multiplex theater courtesy of Jane. This area definitely needs some heavy editing because you can tell I overdid it with the rope lines. I'm going to have to look at some more images of theater setups IRL and compare them to see what I come up with next time I load up.

^ part of the 'road' where the multiplex is housed, with restaurants and convenience stores, beside the desert ungulate exhibit. I'm posting this one to make fun of myself because I didn't realize at first how awkward it looks to have both these buildings, the Frosty Palace most of all, pressed right up against the exhibit. This really isn't a big deal and I'd imagine most players wouldn't care like I do, but it looks silly to me, as though the cars are trapped with nowhere to go. ? This is more of me being anal and nitpicky because that isn't even the building's opening for guests to enter through. Purely graphical. I wasn't paying attention at the time lol.

^another featured building, surrounded by shrubbery and flowers to create a lush feeling. This time I was smart and didn't press the building right up against the back wall - it has two openings and guests can become trapped. 

^ Unfinished area for the zoo museum, next to the Pachyrhinosaurus and Regaliceratops exhibit. Somewhat overkill. I'm going to cut down on the flowers and switch out the tiered fountains for a water feature that isn't as 'busy.' They're beautiful in their own right but unnecessary here. Those elephant statues, African Bush and Indian, came from one of RDingFT's 3D Isometric Animal Statue packs. You just can't have a zoo without elephant statues, in my opinion. I isolated them from the combined file with the help of Zoot. Thanks again to @Goosifer for reminding me of that program's existence. It has helped cut down so much time organizing files.
That's all for tonight's update!

[pukkie]

I am totally with you on the elephant statues/ topiaries

But then I am all for any animal statues We don't have nearly enough animal topiaries

 

[fountain]

Gorgeous exhibits!

[YoungerPrinceLothric]

Today I have begun work on a new zoo – not because I'm abandoning this one (I'm not), but because A.) There are animals I've been dying to play with, namely cervidae, and B.) I ran out of space to show said animals off LOL. I will return to this one and make changes to it in time, but right now I wanted to show off what is perhaps the biggest exhibit I've made yet:

^These are two overhead angles of an exhibit showing Hawkkeye's Barasingha, his Indian Hog Deer, Khaydar's Indian Rhinoceros, and Hawkkeye's Sarus Crane. The crane is the reason all the animals are contained in an aviary. I feel that the screenshots don't do it justice to show off just how big this exhibit is; I wanted to make sure they had maximum room to reproduce and build herds without being crammed into a too-small habitat. Barasingha are said to build large herds and I wanted to make sure that I accommodate them. I still have spaces to fill, and the foliage I've already used will be replaced with different ones the next time I load in, but the animals are happy and well taken care of. 

 

^ For the sake of not overcomplicating things and killing my wrists, I placed water terrain instead of building a tank for the swimming animals. They're still very cute and fun to watch regardless, though I will admit I prefer to see their little legs kicking under the water's surface. The next cervidae exhibit WILL have a tank, just not this one.

Everyone gets along beautifully. There's a lot of fecal matter to clean up after, but I'm not experiencing any problems. 

^ This area will be gradually filled in with more neutral foliage. I'm not liking how empty it looks and it needs a makeover.
That's all for tonight!

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

Excellent work, the zoo is so lovely.  You have a great eye for detail.

[YoungerPrinceLothric]

Just a reminder—if you are curious about a scenery, building, or foliage mod, don't hesitate to ask! I know this thread was started so I can gush about the various animal mods without cluttering up the mod authors' original threads and show off what I'm working on, but I'm totally on board to talk about the rest of the mods I use too! 

[pukkie]

How does your zookeeper keep up with cleaning this big enclosure YoungerPrinceLothric?

Or do you have 2 assigned to this?