Wild Americas - Revisited

From the onset, Wild Americas was always meant to be an open project which I continually expanded over time. Since I last showed the zoo, no less than four DLC packs were released, bringing a selection of new animals that fit the zoo's theme. In December, I laid out plans for an expansion featuring many of these new animals, but before I get into that, I'd like to show a few changes I made to the original zoo. Many of these changes were influenced by some very useful feedback from the wider community, so thank you for that!

Firstly, I removed the wooden ramp from the alligator pool which was a bit of an eyesore to say the least. I replaced it with a much more realistic concrete slope which the alligator can actually use to enter or leave the water. I also replaced the huge alligator I had in there with a much smaller one, as someone rightly pointed out that the enclosure was too small for it. It's still not the largest alligator enclosure in the world but it's a realistic size for a small British tropical house, nevertheless:

This next change is very minor in a game context but it would have a measurable impact in a real zoo: I deleted a section of path by the cougar enclosure. With the path before, after leaving the Desert House, you had the option of going in two directions; the left lead you towards the llamas, capybaras and cougar, whilst the right bypassed the llamas and capybaras completely. I simply deleted the path on the right so that guests didn't inadvertently bypass the llamas and capybaras. The path system now loops and passes by every animal enclosure in the park. Many zoos in real-life feature a looping path system as it means guests have a better chance of seeing every animal enclosure in the zoo:

The nearby llamas now have grass in their paddock as opposed to just dirt, something grazing animals like llamas would undoubtedly appreciate in real-life. I used the buffalo grass from the 1.12 Update instead of the regular grass as I feel it looks more realistic. I sunk some of it in the ground and painted some light dirt underneath to give off the impression that the llamas had grazed a lot of it short. I also considered the idea of deleting the fence between the llamas and capybaras to create a larger mixed enclosure but, honestly, I think I prefer them being separate:

Thanks to feedback from ZSHPlays in his walkthrough video of the zoo, I enlarged the capybara pond to make it more suitable for such a large group. I also extended the housing slightly as I thought the original was a little too small. Lastly, I added in the buffalo grass for a more realistic look:

The beaver pool now has a safety barrier, something which would definitely be there if it was a real zoo, not only to prevent the animals from escaping but also to prevent negligent guests from sticking their fingers into the water:

The final renovation was to the jaguar pool which is now much less faceted and steep:

In the next post, I'm going to start a tour of the new expansion, starting with the maned wolves!